Dierberg Winery

Santa Ynez Valley, California

Robert Klammer, project ARchitect for b3 Architects (Barry Berkus, AIA)

The red tile roof tops, stone masonry and round towers of this 20,000 square foot winery in Santa Ynez, California makes one feel as though they are wine tasting in provincial France. Surrounding the grand inner courtyard of the winery are a tasting room, office spaces, a testing lab and a kitchen. The winery also boasts 27,000 square feet of wine caves built into the adjacent hillside. The caves serve to store aging wine barrels and provide space for curating a private wine library. 

Design Rendering by Robert Klammer, Architect

designing with the wine making process in mind

The method of gravity flow wine production uses a multi-level floor plan to allow gravity to carry the wine from upper to lower levels and serves to minimize the disruption the grape juice. To make this process possible we designed the winery with three-levels and took advantage of building into the adjacent hillside to access the upper level where grapes are first delivered to be crushed and pressed. Using gravity the grape juice flows from the upper level into large tanks on the second level for the first fermentation. When the juice is ready for it’s final fermentation, it flows to the lower level to be barreled. Barrels are either stored in the winery or are transported into the wine caves for aging.

Photography: Peter Malinowski