World’s most extravagant wineries

Next month Château Margaux will officially unveil its new winery and cellar, designed by British architect Sir Norman Foster.

Sir Foster’s Bodegas Portia in Ribera Del Duero

The first major project to take place at the first growth estate since it was built more than 200 years ago, Foster + Partners has revamped its cellar, built a new winery and visitor centre.

In addition, a number of buildings have been renovated by Foster’s team including the estate’s historic Orangerie, its oldest structure, with the existing winery connected to a new underground “vinothèque” for wine storage.

Best known for his work renovating the Berlin Reichstag, the main court at the British Museum and the Hearst Tower in New York, Foster said of this project: “A new building for the production of primarily white wine extends from the eastern wing of the existing winery complex, balancing the overall composition. Its highly flexible, open enclosure is shaped by the different wine-making processes and includes a new research and development centre.”

Tours of the new facilities are expected to be offered to guests from June.

So as work at one iconic winery project is completed, we take a look at some of the most extravagant, ambitious and inspiring building projects at wineries across the world.

Scroll through for our pick of the best….

Dominus Dominus Estate, Napa Valley, US

Designed by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, best known for their work on the De Young Museum in San Francisco, the Dominus Estate is perhaps one of the most striking, yet understated wineries included on this list. Completed in 1997, the winery was designed to blend into its landscape offering panoramic views of the vineyard and hillside. The winery itself features “gabion” exterior cladding filled with basalt rocked sourced from a nearby canyon, which provide insulation from heat and cold, and allow natural light to filter into the building.

The design duo were also responsible for the “bird’s nest” stadium for the 2001 Beijing Olympics, for which they were awarded the Pritzker prize.

Bodegas Portia, Ribera del Duero, Spain

Château Margaux is not the only winery to have benefited from the eye of world-renowned architect Sir Norman Foster. In 2010 Bodegas Portia in Ribera del Duero opened its Foster-designed doors for the first time. Made from concrete, wood, steel and glass, the winery sits across three floors which stretch out into a star shape. Each of its three branches dedicated to a different area; production, fermentation and maturation. At its core, which stands the hopper of the harvested grapes, is a shop, tasting room, auditorium, meeting rooms and cafeteria.

Foster said of the building: “Bodegas Portia is our first winery, so we had no preconceptions about how it should work. It was an opportunity to start from first principles – to examine the different stages of wine production and to try to create the ideal conditions for them to unfold.”

Lopez de Heredia – Zaha Hadid

At 138 years old, Rafael López de Heredia Tondonia Winery is one of the oldest wineries in the Spanish region of La Rioja. In 2002, the winery marked its 125th anniversary by commissioning Zaha Hadid Architects to build a new pavilion, blending the old with the new. Described by the winery as a “Cathedral” to wine, the winery’s buildings stand below and above ground – a rabbit warren of vaulted corridors and staircases. Its underground cellars descend to an overall depth of 15m with a total of 12,900 oak barrels stored “in the heart of a mountain” within its cellars. Zaha Hadid’s brief was to design an exterior structure to preserve and protect the winery’s historic old store, which would later become its current wine store and tasting room.

Commenting on the project, Zaha Hadid Architects said: “Originally commissioned to contain an older pavilion restored from the early 20th century, this became a bridge between the past, present and future evolution of its world-famous bodegas.”

Viña Perez Cruz , Maipo Alto Valley, Chile

Chile’s Viña Perez Cruz was designed not only for the purpose of winemaking, but to “harmonize with the environment and avoid an abrupt intrusion into the rural landscape”, according to the winery. The vision of Chilean architect José Cruz Ovalle, a former sculptor, the 6,000 m2 winery features a wooden roof supported by curved pillars, designed to allow for free flow air to keep the winery cool.

Boutari Winery, Santorini, Greece

Established in 1989, the Boutari Winery is known for its distinctive white dome, typical of its coastal location of the Greek island of Santorini. The Boutari company, which owns six further wineries, began its exploration of Santorini’s vineyards, one of the few that has never been affected by phylloxera, in the mid 1980s. Its vineyard, which covers an area of approximately six hectares, was planted for the first time in 1992, deliberately sparse with about 2,500 vines per hectare. Varieties include Assyrtiko, Athiri and Aidani. The winery is open to the public with guided tours available.

Leo Hillinger, Austria

In 2004, Leo Hillinger commissioned Austrian architects Gerner°Gerner Plus to design his winery in Jois, just outside of Vienna in Switzerland. Completed in 2004 after just one year’s construction, the futuristic winery is embedded into a hillside and boasts a “floating cube” as its tasting room which hovers atop a narrow V beam above the ground. Gerner°Gerner Plus used the earth’s climate to their advantage, burying the the majority of the L-shaped building deep into the ground before gravelling it over and planting vines on top. A total of 24,000 m3 of earth was excavated to make Hillinger’s vision a reality.

In keeping with its penchant for boundary breaking architecture and design, in 2013 the winery commissioned Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid to design a  bespoke wine bottle for Hillinger’s Icon Hill 2009, of which just 999 bottles were made. The bottle’s elongated form is inspired by the shape of a drop of wine.

Medhurst, Yarra Valley, Australia

Medhurst Winery in Victoria’s Yarra Valley is the first project completed by fledgling firm Folk Architects. The state-of-the-art winery features underground barrel storage and “sits in harmony with its hillside setting”, with concrete blades cutting across the landscape.

Describing its design, Folk Architects said: “The building is embedded into a north facing slope, and defined by a series of horizontal elements that follow the contours of the site. Nestled quietly into the existing hill to reduce its visual impact on the landscape, the building accentuates its natural setting by framing views to the surrounding Warramate forest.”

A landscaped green roof disguises a subterranean barrel store offering thermal insulation for the wine stored below, reducing the requirement for mechanical cooling. It also provides a raised terrace from which to take in views of the surrounding landscape. Adding to its green credentials, the winery roof captures around 500,000 litres of water annually which is stored and filtered for use in wine production.

Château Cos d’Estournel, Saint-Estéphe, Bordeaux, France

A marked departure from the modern, cutting-edge wineries featured in this list, Cos d’Estournel is perhaps the most extravagant winery of all. Located in the the Saint-Estèphe appellation of Bordeaux, this second growth estate boasts an exotic grandeur all of its own, owning to its rich past. Louis Gaspard d’Estournel, a wealthy merchant who amassed his fortune in Asia, redesigned the winery in 1811 to remind him of his time in the Far East. As such, he erected Asian pagodas across the estate, leading to him earning the title of ‘the Maharajah of Saint-Estèphe’.

In 1852, carrying heavy debts accrued through developing the estate, Louis sold the estate to a London banker called Martyns. Having changed hands several times in between, since 2000 the estate has been owned by Michel Reybier who has continued to uphold its avant-garde style, first initiated by Louis Gaspard d’Estournel.