Hello archi lovers!
This time it is a somewhat different post because the place is not a usual one, but the truth is that we can find good examples of architecture and design in multiple places and spaces, why not in a winery?
I discovered this when, during my brief trip to the city of Valladolid (my previous post) in the region of Castilla y León, in Spain, I also visited an important winery. PROTOS is a well-known brand of Spanish wines, one of those with a designation of origin named ”Ribera del Duero” (the Duero River passes through that area) and one of the best.
There are not only good wines but also many spectacular wineries in themselves, it is known that some are built by renowned international architects, and there are several in this area. Like this one that also has the peculiarity of combining two worlds, the wisdom of history and avant-garde industrial design.
We arrive at the area, to other town named Peñafiel, and looking ahead on the road we see the centuries-old Peñafiel Castle high up, but why is the entrance at the bottom of the hill? Because underneath there is the old winery.
This is a deep excavation where the robust American or French oak barrels have been stored for a long, long time. In stone tunnels, dark and humid, and these are the good conditions for good wine to be produced later.
The curious thing is that these tunnels (there are two) cross underground the road where we arrived and we end up coming out on the other side, and suddenly we have taken a trip back in time, because here we find a modern industrial design, with tile-shaped arches giant with wooden beams and exposed structures.
The intense wood color that really stands out (a yellow touch specially inside), and this might fit well with the sunflowers that we saw in the wide fields before arriving, perhaps the architects were inspired by this. Or maybe in Terminal T4 of the Adolfo Suárez-Barajas Airport in Madrid because it has a very similar style when you are inside.
In fact, the authors of both designs are the same, a prestigious Richard Rogers and others, who were the architects of said spaces.
In the winery, now that we are shown this area, we see that under the arches there is also a lot of space for storing pallets, boxes of wines prepared for sale but also for presentation to all those who visit these facilities. There are spaces for conferences, to taste some wines and more.
Thus the experience is completed both visually and tastefully. Between vaulted wooden ceilings, arched beams and glass spaces. Simple but groundbreaking at the same time, especially if we think back to the beginning, in a castle, history under a hill, stone tunnels full of wine waiting for decades and an underground connection with the avant-garde, practical and impressive present, in the middle of the Castilian countryside.
EXTRA: For your information, in this area there are other wineries that can also be visited, such as Matarromera, where there are small exhibition fields and some illustrative museum with many interesting data as well.
