I'm planning on building from ground up a small to mid size winery and tasting room, and was wondering if anyone has experience or information on a good floor plan for my winemaking operations. I've been thinking about a lot of different ways and plans, but before I contact an architect I would like to have a good idea of what I want and what I need. I'm currently thinking about something 50' to 70' long, and a width of 25' to 30 '. I know everyone has a wish list, or what they would have done differently. I'm looking for better idea's than I currently am kicking around.
Here's a layout of our place, designed by Dr. Axel Arneson, built in 1972 and we've found to function rather well. The top of the diagram is one level (10ft.) above the bottom (walk-out basement type of design). His design was formulated from many travels through the European countryside. It utilizes some gravity flow and virtually mother nature's entire range in climatic temperature.
Please excuse the yahoo; only place I have this on the web... yet:
Your wine cellar looks very practical. Do you have a 3d drawing and dimensions? For example how high is your crushing pad? Are all the basements at the same level? Where are the reds stored? Is the barrel storage only empty barrels?
so, Clyde...what's the "private room" for? :-) to enjoy your wine with your favourite significant other? or just a room to cool off in if you taste-tested too much?
As a former chemical engineer working on industrial plants, we used hazard tape to help visualising proposals in the field.
The same approach can be used once you've got a basic design for your winery - use hazard tape to mark out walls and tanks etc. on a large flat surface (eg a football field, concrete basketball court or similar). Then you can try walking around, moving equipment around etc. It will give you a very inexpensive feel for whether your facility will be big enough, and help with the ergonomics of the place.
A big advantage is that you can fix errors early - errors identified on a drawing board are really simple to fix. Put the effort in up front, spend the money on planning, decent drawings, even consultants can sometimes be cost-effective!
No, not yet. I found a graphic program late last winter. Only chance I usually get for doing these types of things would be during the winter. We'll see if something comes from this coming chill season!
It's on the upper level and main cellar is 10 ft high. It's the only part of that floorplan that is on the upper level.
Are all the
Yes, the cellar floor is all on the same level. One area of the chilling cellar has an elevated ceiling.
Everything goes into the chilling cellar for much of the winter to be cold stabilized. Reds are then racked into barrel storage.
Nope. All full at this point.
The barrels are a bit dark (not the focus of the picture) but the following pic shows our barrel rack(s).
Clyde, I looked out your web site and found it very well done. To be expected after viewing the shots of your wine room. You also have a great looking property.
What temperature are your main cellar and chill room and how do you regulate the temperatures?
Hi, Cylde... went to your website.... VERY NICE PLACE! I'm jealous.... great place, doing wine. very nice setting... working with the love of your life together on the second love of your life! providing a place for the public to enjoy your hobby along with you...
Congratulations! Life must be very satistfying for you! God bless!
Thanx for noticing. It's all truely more than I had dreamed.
55 to 65F
-5 to 95F
and how do you regulate
The main cellar gets A/C "leaking" down from the salesroom/storeroom area on the floor above. On cool nights/mornings like we've been experiencing lately, I vent the main cellar through it's main door combined with the one attaching the chilling cellar.
The chilling cellar has large garage doors at each end; one to the outdoors and the other to the main cellar. The original design had a flat roof above the cellar area between the winery and the apartment. The destemmer crusher was mounted next to a platform just in back of this roof, and a hatchway through the roof provided access for the must hose to enter the cellar. This hatch was also used to vent the chilling cellar during cold stabilization. This combination of Missouri winter, flow through design and a box fan has proved quite effective at lowering wine temperatures to the
21F range. Knock wood, but so far only one wine has not made it to cold stability. Our winter in 99 was not terribly cold and one tank, at the warm end of the cellar, didn't shed all it's tartrates.
This summer we managed the largest building modification since our arrival. For the most part, it's been five years of just cleaning up and keep things in running order. But the portion of the chilling cellar that's located between the two buildings now has an 18 ft cathedral ceiling. Within the next month I'll install a thermostatic controlled fan in the higher area of this addition, which should help move the air through efficiently.
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