Wineries Taking the LEED (Continued)

Donna Heiderstadt -- Interior Design, 10/1/2012 4:27:00 PM

Stoller Family Estate's tasting room in Oregon by architect Ernest Munch.

Also of note is the undulating wood ceiling, which mimics the rolling hills of the vineyard and is accented by small pendulant lights meant to represent evening stars. It is reclaimed timber from the 2002 Biscuit Fire that scorched more than 500,000 acres in Southern Oregon. A wall of North-facing floor-to-ceiling windows provides natural light (artificial lighting is controlled by motion sensors) and vineyard views.

"We take the preservation of our agricultural land very seriously," says Bill Stoller, who founded the winery in 1993. "Our new tasting room continues this tradition by integrating environmental conservation and sustainability with high-efficiency design."

In Virginia, LEED Platinum certification - the first for a winery on the East Coast - was recently awarded to the one-year-old tasting room at Cooper Vineyards in Louisa, about 40 minutes from Charlottesville. Designed by Richmond-based Baskervill, the 3,500-square-foot tasting room features two-story North-facing walls of glass and ample deck space, creating an indoor/outdoor experience for visitors.

Cooper Vineyards in Louisa, Virginia, by Michael Pellis Architecture."I think the most impressive aspect of the building is the sophistication that it brings to a rural area," says Jeff Cooper, co-owner of the winery with Jacques Hogue. "We are approaching agriculture with thought and planning, and a beautiful and technologically sophisticated building expresses our approach."

Architect Michael Pellis notes that the building's most effective green feature is its envelope of structurally insulated panels (SIPs). "In one year, the building is using 67 percent less energy for heating and cooling than a similar, standard-code-minimum building," he says.

Other sustainable elements include a rainwater harvesting system that filters water for irrigation and the tasting room's toilets; solar panels that generate 15 percent of the building's electrical needs; a geothermal HVAC system; and energy efficient lighting and solar tubes. Materials are natural stone and native cypress as well as other reclaimed, recycled and locally sourced materials, and the tasting bar's counter tops are concrete.

While the Virginia humidity makes it impossible for Cooper Vineyards to grow grapes organically, the winery does approach viticulture sustainably, says Cooper. "Our winery building has no graywater to be ponded or run off into streams," he notes. "We took a more expensive approach in design to create subterranean holding tank and drain field to minimize any environmental effects."

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