The competition Monte D’Oiro Wine Tasting Room by Bee Breeders is to design a tasting room that will function as space for guests to meet and sample wines from the vineyard.
The Tasting Room is a new addition to the Monte D’Oiro Winery. The overall spatial experience hides under this large volume, also a green roof, using two layers of aesthetics: exposed concrete floors and unitized glass walls. The tasting room plays on the idea of fragile perception. The green roof has a collection of grapes available at the winery. This creates an interesting relation between fresh grapes versus fermented grapes. The room is a liminal connection between the inner and outer, an aperture that reveals a scene beyond, or a scene within, an impermeable membrane of sorts that is disguised into the surroundings. The design of this tasting room mimics a dynamic environment. Drinking wine here becomes part of this long ritualistic journey that one takes from tasting the fresh fruit to tasting the wine and finally walking out towards the vineyards. It brings together the parts that are usually kept separated.
This project creates a large green roof which creates a lifted ground plane under which lies the wine tasting room. As one approaches the site the building almost disappears into the land, while the entry and a series of ramps take one down the slope of the hill and towards the vineyard. A large canopy containing interior and exterior spaces acts as descending terraces and offers views to the vineyards and a multitude of casual areas for wine tasting. The bar sits in the middle level to negotiate easy access and a great view of the vineyards.
Drawing inspiration from the aesthetics of the dark wine bottle and antique weaved wine basket holders, the color palette of the interiors use hues of red for the cushions and tones on brown for the shelves which contrast the stark gray concrete of the floors and ceiling. The wine tasting room becomes the site of eventuality being a connection between the winery and the vineyards.
