Louis M. Martini unveils new tasting rooms

Napa Valley wine brand Louis M. Martini has revamped its historic winery, installing spectacular new tasting rooms, a study specifically for wine education, spaces dedicated to food and wine pairings, and a new wine shop.

Originally build in 1933 and one of the first wineries to open after the end of Prohibition, the St Helena-based winery has been redeveloped and restored to preserve Louis M. Martini’s heritage in Napa, and showcase its range of iconic Cabernet Sauvignons.

The ten year restoration project was undertaken by award-winning architect Howard Backen, and officially opened on 29 March.

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The design has preserved the original structure of the building, but has stripped back remnants of the later additions to make it lighter and airer. It includes an open plan atrium with high ceilings that integrates the winery’s entrance with its gardens, opening onto the new tasting rooms. This features a 30 foot high glass wall providing views into the new barrel cellar, behind the Crown Bar. Reclaimed material such as the winery’s original terracotta wall tiles are juxtaposed against more contemporary materials to give the room an airy feel, but it includes interactive ‘bottle’ stations, which provides information about the vineyard any particular bottle is from, technical data and tasting notes on a screen.

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The tasting room showcases a selection of Louis M. Martini’s award winning wines, including the Louis M. Martini Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, the Louis M. Martini Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 and Louis M. Martini Lot 1. The vineyards are situated on some of the most coveted sites in Napa and Sonoma and harvested selectively as blocks mature, either at night or in the early morning to ensure they remain firm and give a premium character to each wine. The stark difference in temperature in the vineyard between day and night helps ensure the wine have good tannin structure, great balance, character and a pure natural acidity, which can be hard to achieve in a warm climate.

Louis M. Martini has been part of US wine company E&J Gallo Winery since 2002.

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The expansion of the winery also includes the Founders Room, Heritage Lounge and Wine Study, a state-of-the-art, multimedia space that can seats 36 people, which is dedicated to professional wine education.

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Some of the educational experience being run in the new space includes an exploration of Louis M. Martini, the versatility of Cabernet and a Riedel Glass workshop, as well as “immersive” food and wine tasting experiences. In additional personal sommeliers conduct specially curated tastings based on visitors’ interests from select library wines and barrel samples in the Founder’s Room.

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Outside in the gardens there is Heritage Lounge and Terrace, which includes a covered area complete with a fire pit, with an expansive open-air tasting area, the Martini Park, set to open in the coming months.