Niner Wine Estates’ Winery

Niner Wine Estates opened a new winery in spring 2010 in Paso Robles, California, US. It consists of a demonstration winery, production winery and a hospitality centre. Niner Wine Estates is a family-owned winery founded in 2001.

It produces artisan wines from the fruits grown at the estate vineyards. The famous red wine brands of the company include Fog Catcher, a blend of Bordeaux varieties.

The Paso Robles winery sprawls over 140-acre of land. The total area occupied by the facility is 75,000ft².

The improvements to the winery and associated 32-acre site received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification from the US Green Building Council in April 2011. The winery can produce about 50,000 cases a year.

Winery design features

The winemaking facility consists of three buildings designed with a number of sustainable features. It is one of the most technologically advanced of its kind in the state. It consists of a fermentation area, barrel storage facility, distribution and bottling space and administrative offices. It also has a boutique winery for conducting events and producing speciality wines.

The hospitality centre offers direct sales of the wines produced at the site. It has a commercial kitchen, break-out tasting room, spaces for storage and support, wine tasting room and administrative offices.

The wine-making process takes advantage of the passive cooling techniques, daylighting, orientation and gravity. Clean and efficient burning boilers and R-410A refrigerant are used for heating and cooling purposes to reduce environmental impacts.

The flexible refrigeration system can provide cooling up to 28°F in fermentation tanks and also allow heating for malolactic fermentation in the barrel storage area.

A mezzanine concrete level is suspended from the ceiling. It has four fruit receiving bays and lies above the red fermentation array to allow delivery of the fruits to the tanks by gravity.

Other sustainable features of the buildings include their shaded location in deep hillside meadow lands, reducing the energy required to maintain the winemaking environment, insulated walls and roofs, night air cellar cooling system, wastewater treatment system for vineyard irrigation, rainfall catchment and storage system.

The indoor fixtures are designed to save 30% water. The building uses 35% green power for operations. Energy efficient lighting, occupancy sensors and 56 skylights to allow day light into the winery have been used.

Site of the Niner Wine Estates winery

The winery is located on an L-shaped meadow site connected by two roadways. It is surrounded by estate vineyards and hills. The eastern slope of the estate was chosen as it was the coolest and shadiest area and allowed partial submerging of the winery. It allows usage of gravity to sort and deliver fruits. The hospitality centre has a natural ambience and provides views of the scenic Highway 46.

Processing the fruits of the vineyard

The winery uses both traditional processes and the latest technologies to produce wine. The grapes are collected from the Heart Hill Vineyard and Bootjack Ranch grown in the estate.

The fruits receiving area conveys about half a ton of grape clusters from the upper mezzanine floor into the facility. Use of gravity to facilitate the movement of the grapes preserves the quality and freshness of the fruits. It also reduces the energy required for conveying.

The red fruit handling system, supplied by P&L Specialties, consists of material flowing, fruit delivering and sorting systems. The system is designed to convey fruit with utmost gentleness.

The fruit is delivered to the handling system by bin dumpers. The handling system is comprised of a cluster sorting table, berry sorting table, sorting machines, destemmer, materials other than grapes (MOG) removal machine and crush rollers.

The rollers of the machine can be adjusted as required. The crushed fruits are delivered to the fermentation tanks through the mezzanine floor by using rotating conveyors. The fermentation area consists of four circular arrays of tanks with 55 red fermentors of capacities ranging from 3t to 18t. The winery requires about 8.6 gallons of water a case.

Construction / contractors

The building is constructed using about 80% of recycled wastes, locally produced and low-emitting materials.

Low volatile organic compound (VOC) coatings, paints, flooring and adhesives have been used. The air quality of the interiors complies with ASHRAE standards.

The winery was designed by Steven D. Pults, AIA and Associates. The construction team included Brummel, Myrick & Associates, The Palt Company, Thoma Engineering, North Coast Engineering, Wallace Group, Specialty Construction and Caminiti Landscape.

The LEED certification and modelling services were provided by In Balance Green Consulting. The rainwater collection and wastewater reclamation system was designed by Wallace Group. Tensile columns that support the mezzanine level were designed by Artisan Engineering.

The refrigeration and mechanical systems were designed by Applied Process Cooling Corporation (APPCO) and Brummel-Myrick & Associates. The mechanical systems management is provided by Johnson Controls Building Automation System.