To the right is a rough-up of what I’ll be taking back to our architect later this week. Some interesting features starting from the top:
* The covered shed and receiving areas were added later in the design process, but are a pretty fantastic idea. Basically the roof will continue past the end of the building, over the driveway and connect with the shed on the other side. All the credit goes to John for the idea, who noted that the Pelligrini Family Winery has a covered receiving area which helps with dealing with both heat and wastewater issues. All in all, it should make the crush more pleasant for everyone involved.
* The initial 8 foot drop will aid us in our pre and post destem sorting and help ensure that only the best grapes get to the fermenters.
* The grapes will be fermented in MacroBins, keeping with our vision for small lots of hand crafted wine. This is also an example of another of John’s cool winery ideas: nothing save the blending tanks will be nailed down, and flexibility will be a major feature of the work areas.
* On the right hand side are two modestly-sized rooms for a lab and office.
* The second drop, anywhere from 4-5 feet, will be used during the pressing of the wine which will occur in 3 relatively small bladder presses. Barrels will be filled in the lower cellar and fork lifted out of the side door on the left and up to the second level for storage in the upper cellar. No pumps will be used to facilitate gentle handling of the wine. With forklift lanes factored in, we should have plenty of room for growth, all the way up to the self-imposed limits I’ve already set (less than 10K cases).
* The door at the bottom (currently it is on the bottom right, but will be moved to the left hand side) will allow for a mobile bottling and labeling truck to back in and exit with ease (we think!).
* We’ll be painting the exterior stucco walls a very light yellow and ivy crawlers will be planted to add some visual interest. We’ll also be installing solar panels all along the roof. Our hope is to grab enough solar energy to roll the meter backwards, but a lot will depend on how efficient we can make our operation.
Exciting stuff! Now just need to get cracking on the use permit…
[...] The final photo shows a cad version of the winery sketch I posted earlier. I’m not sure if we will keep the forklift ramp as we can also simply lift our barrels up the 4 feet to the second level without having to leave the interior of the winery. I’ll have to mull it over. [...]
Haven’t seen much action down there. What’s up? Still planning circulation for grape delivery on the north end of the building? Wonder if that could be changed. Noise and all. Heard Del Starrett is doing design….still the case?
Josh, I work for a plumbing mechanical contractor in Sonoma County and saw an article regarding this site in North Bay Biz Magazine and I thought I would check it out. I see people commenting on your winery design and was wondering if we may be able to help out. We have over 200 winery related projects that we have been involved with and I was wondering if we may be able to help you design / build the plumbing segments of your project? Let me know if you are at all interested and I can send some information out to you if you wish. Thanks for your time.
Phil Bacci
Trimyc Mechanical