ADAMVS Winery-Cypress House and Wine Library
Angwin, CAADAMVS Winery is comprised of 10 small vineyard blocks spread across 80 stunning acres in the famed Howell Mountain AVA. Certified organic and biodynamically farmed, they produce sophisticated Cabernet Sauvignons that routinely score in the high 90s.
The same attention to detail and desire for excellence extends to their tasting experience. The intimate Cypress House tasting room and adjoining Wine Library designed for the site by Melander Architects are each simultaneously awe inspiring and comfortable, and palpably connected to the terroir and the history of the place. Both buildings feature retractable roofs, further connecting the interiors to the surrounding mature oaks and sky. Vintage Land Rovers stand ready to carry guests to the far reaches of the rugged property, through the vineyard blocks, past the insectary pollinator gardens and cattle pastures to the chicken coops and their guardian donkeys, Buttercup and McGee. In this first phase of our work with ADAMVS we reworked the tasting room landscape to bring it up to the level of the wine, the architecture and the site.
Planting around the Cypress House was simplified and softened to highlight the architecture and create a feeling that the light-filled pavilion floats in a sea of Pennisetum ornamental grasses. The meadow that creates the foreground view for both buildings was transformed into a meadow of evergreen Lomandra grasses punctuated with flowering perennials Sneezeweed and Purpletop, to evoke the specific colors of the three distinctive ADAMVS labels. A sprinkling of Milkweeds attract and sustain Monarch and other butterflies. A grapestake fence with ornamental ‘Roger’s Red’ grape vines was added to screen the guest parking area from the tasting experience, while several existing Olive and Fig trees were transplanted to open and frame views. An herbal border around the Library, and the reorganized onsite fruit orchard supply the raw materials for food pairings and preserves offered at their tasting room. Along the road to the chicken coop and donkeys, a 500-foot stretch of vineyard-side planting was redesigned for maximum pollinator habitat as part of the biodynamic system.
Architecture: Melander Architects
Construction: Cello & Maudru Construction
Landscape Installation: Bertotti Landscaping