This wine cellar, dedicated to the production, barrel ageing and bottling of quality wines is located in the middle of the estate on its highest point and has magnificent views of the vineyards, Gredos mountain and Otero village. The buildings layout caters for the network of existing vineyards and roads. The volume of the tall production premises was minimised by building them partly underground thereby improving indoor hygrothermal conditions, facilitating grape deliveries by gravity and segregating traffic and functions into different levels (production facilities 4.50m underground and administration and visitors at ground level).

The submerged position of the production level permits the separation of traffic and functions. The visitors' area is at the entrance level. Educational tours of each of the aisles begin here without interfering with everyday work at the warehouse. The administrative and laboratory areas are located at this level in rooms that visually control the production zones. All the wine production takes place at the basement level, 4.5 m below ground. The production stages (fermentation, ageing and preservation, bottling and storage) take place in various parallel aisles designed to permit future extensions. The characteristic use of each of these aisles is reflected in the materials used in the various building systems of their walls; wood in the cask aisle, sheet metal in the fermentation deposits aisle and glass in the bottling aisle.

Above the aisles is a transversal building that organizes the schedule of visits, social and administrative zones on the ground floor and the various service units and production support in the basement and general services area. The walls of this building are made from prefabricated concrete, which serves as a backdrop for the materials used in the aisles. A large central opening in the layout of the entrance road, overlooking the vineyards and the olive grove at the back of the warehouse, serves as a reception area for the grapes. Through the tour of the transversal building and by exploiting the difference in levels with production level, visitors learn about wine making. They can observe the various aisles through continuous glass fronts without interfering with workers in the warehouse.

Both the volumetry, building systems and materials used in the building have been chosen on the basis of criteria that permit low costs and rapid completion, since the warehouse was due to begin operating 6 months after the start of building. In the visitors area, fine materials have been used, treating it as a representative display zone that includes the sale and promotion of the wine produced.

Team:

Architects: IDOM

Photographer: Miguel de Guzmán