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Wineries Taking the LEED

Donna Heiderstadt -- Interior Design, 10/1/2012 2:00:00 AM

Cade winery CADE Estate Winery by Signum Architecture in Napa Valley, CA.

Four years after the debut of their LEED Gold-certified CADE Estate Winery, Napa Valley entrepreneurs and PlumpJack Winery co-founders Gavin Newsom and Gordon Getty are unveiling a new winery and hospitality center for their Odette Estate. The project, set for completion in late 2013, is commssioned from CADE's architect, Juancarlos Fernandez of Signum Architecture. They are not the only U.S. wine-makers currently embracing sustainability across the board from viticulture to architecture. From Oregon's Willamette Valley to rural Virginia, wineries are investing in sustainable design, both as a commitment to the environment and as an expression of creative vision.

The entry to CADE winery by Signum Architecture.Fernandez's design for the 2009 CADE, the first winery in Napa to be awarded LEED-Gold Certification, eschewed nonrenewable materials in favor of recycled steel, concrete mixed with fly ash, cork flooring, and hundreds of square feet of structural glass and solar panels. His plans for Odette Estate's winery include an 8,500-square-foot green roof, natural lighting throughout the building, solar-water heating, a high-volume,low-speed fan to provide summer cooling and winter heat distribution. The winery will also feature a 30,000-watt photovoltaic solar array on part of the roof and recycled shipping containers used as office space.

A rendering of the green roof for Odette Estate

Odette Estate debuted this year on 36 acres that were formerly Steltzer Vineyards in Napa's Stag's Leap District. The property's vineyards are being replanted for conversion to 100 percent organic farming and LEED certification. Its renovated tasting room, which opened in August, was designed by Kimberley Nunn and Dan Worden of Napa-based Shopworks and reflects an updated California ranch style.

"We believe that winemaking should honor the land, both aesthetically and ecologically," says John Conover, general manager and partner in CADE Estate and Odette Estate. "Odette Estate's dramatic, modern design will encourage visitors to explore both its natural and architectural spaces."

In Oregon's Willamette Valley, Stoller Family Estate is also continuing its LEED-certified design efforts with recent opening of its new tasting room. Designed by Ernest R. Munch Architect Urban Planner of Portland, the same firm that designed its winery in 2006 (the first to be LEED Gold-Certified in the U.S.), the 4,000-square-foot building features 236 solar panels on its roof and support columns salvaged from an old Portland warehouse. The panels, manufactured in the U.S. by SunPower, generate 100 percent of the tasting room's electricity.