3 of the bestâ€¦ wine+design

From the grape to the glass, good wine is part science, part poetry. No wonder it inspires great design

words by Sophy Grimshaw

Vinopolis – London

Purpose-built under a Victorian railway viaduct in the 1990s by aristocratic-sounding wine merchant Duncan Vaughan-Arbuckle, Vinopolis promotes wine appreciation “for everyone”. Billed, rather vaguely, as “London’s unique wine tasting attraction”, the institution hosts wine tasting tours from â‚¬23 that are part education, part recreation. There are also rooms dedicated to tasting different beers, malts and cocktails, two onsite bars, and a restaurant supplied with fresh produce from nearby Borough Market.

The building’s structural twists and turns are designed to create intrigue and a sense of travel, reflecting Vaughan-Arbuckle’s vision of a space where people could tour the wines of the world under one roof, from Europe to the US, Australia to South Africa. Tours are self-guided, with experts residing in their respective tasting rooms. In the building’s belly are the Great Halls: slightly spooky event spaces that are transformed for private functions.

Vinopolis
1 Bank End, London, +44 (0)8702 414040 www.vinopolis.co.uk

Petra Winery – Suvereto, Italy

Petra Winery in Suvereto, near Florence, is the father/ daughter business of Vittorio and Francesca Moretti. The distinctive building was completed in 2003 by Swiss architect Mario Botta, known for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Botta says the project was “a new version of the old houses in Tuscany, where the vineyards were an important part of the whole architectural design.” Petra’s red bricks are a local building material, but Botta departed from tradition to create a building with a tilted, disc-like roof said to abstractly resemble a flower leaning into the sun. At night, the steep outdoor staircase is lit an appropriately claret-like shade of neon.

Petra Winery
San Lorenzo Alto 131, Suvereto, Italy +39 056 584 5308

Hischier Weine – Wallis, Switzerland

Planned, built and opened all within the space of last year, Hischier Weine’s multi-purpose wine bar and business space in Brig-Glis, Wallis, Switzerland (where the nearest airports are Milan and Geneva), is the work of Steinmann & Schmid architects. “During the planning process Hischier Weine became not only a wine bar and shop for the public, but a multifunctional space for storage, tastings, exhibitions, meetings and more,” Herbert Schmid tells Sterling. “We created a large space which could be subdivided into smaller units with curtains.” Good light, for reading bottle labels and noting the colours of wines in the glass was another concern during the design process. “The bottles are presented in a clear, white light, both to the public in the front room and on shelves in storage rooms,” explains Schmid. The storage room in question is no mere heap of boxes, but an elegant display area incorporating exhibitions on different grape varieties. Do try to stay sober just long enough to appreciate it…