Our clients always dreamed of making their wine onsite, and to be able to share their beautiful views with their customers. With over 30 feet of elevation difference between their entry gate and the owner’s residence, there was ample room to create a cave for winery operations, allowing for a tasting area above it that could take advantage of 180-degrees of uninterrupted views of the Redwood-forested Santa Cruz Mountains.

Simplicity and practicality were very important for this project. The cave was designed to be easy to work in and to illustrate the wine-making process almost at a glance, without frills. The tasting area offers more drama. It was conceived as an outdoor area perched on the edge of the slope, with a small pavilion tucked at the edge of the tree line, to house a small retail space and a kitchenette where the owners will offer small, locally sourced food pairings with their wines.