Our winery mixes early California history and traditional French chateaux. The building’s exterior, with its redwood board and batten construction, blends nicely with the old farm buildings. The interior, with its plaster walls, concrete barrel rails, and earth-connected floor trenches filled with river rocks, is patterned after a traditional French wine cellar.
A night cooling system is used to maintain ideal temperature. Even on days when the temperature reaches 100 degrees, the cool evening air automatically cools the room. Humidity in the 80% range is maintained by periodically spraying the concrete floor with water.
Winery effluent is processed on site and fed through a system of emitters to redwood trees on the property. This is the first time a system of this nature has been installed in Napa County. The lees and other organic effluent drain into a septic tank where it is treated with crushed oyster shells to help neutralize acidity. It is then pumped to individual emitters buried in the root zones of 20 redwood trees adjacent to the winery building. From there, the solutes are taken up by the roots and transpired through the needles into the atmosphere.
