Frank Gehry-Designed Hall Winery
Officially Breaks Ground in Napa Valley
Landmark Project
Combines Provocative Architecture with World-Class Winemaking
To Celebrate Art, Wine and Napa Valley Environment
ST.
HELENA, Calif., July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- After
four years of extensive planning and design, world-renowned
architect Frank O. Gehry and associate Edwin Chan joined
vintners Craig and Kathryn Hall to break ground Friday
on the new Hall Winery in Napa Valley. The centerpiece
of the new winery will be a 10,073 square-foot Frank
Gehry-designed building composed of glass, stone, plaster
and wood and crowned by distinctive undulating trellising
that will echo the mountains and vineyards of Napa Valley
in the background.
Gehry,
known for his intrepid exploration of form, is lauded
for projects such as the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain,
the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and other
celebrated works. Scheduled to open in 2010, the St.
Helena project will house one of the most advanced wineries
in California, restore the historic buildings currently
on the site and incorporate sustainable, energy-efficient
design to achieve LEED certification by the U.S. Green
Building Council.
The
groundbreaking event, in addition to formally launching
the construction, unveiled Gehry's many working models
and allowed the architects and vintners the opportunity
to share, first-hand, their inspiration and vision for
the project. Margrit Mondavi, with husband Robert Mondavi
close by, served as the moderator for a presentation
by Gehry, Chan and the Halls.
"During
our first site visit to the Hall Winery, it became immediately
apparent that the master plan for the new winery must
complement the natural setting of the Napa Valley and
take advantage of and emphasize the spectacular views
of the neighboring Mayacamas mountain range, while integrating
all new buildings with the site's significant historic
resources," said Gehry. "With the artful combination
of the historic and the new, the natural and the human-made,
it is our intention that the new Hall Winery will be
an experience that is unique to and harmonious with
the beauty of the Napa Valley."
"From
the beginning, we were thrilled with the ideas the Gehry
team presented," stated Kathryn Hall. "With
his design, Frank has succeeded beautifully in creating
a building that inspires the senses and at the same
time is sensitive to the natural beauty of Napa Valley.
We are also delighted with the way Frank and Edwin Chan
have incorporated the historical nature of the property
into the design."
The
Halls -- Kathryn is the former ambassador to Austria
under presidents Clinton and Bush and Craig is an entrepreneur,
investor and author -- have been vineyard owners in
Napa Valley since 1995. The couple purchased their St.
Helena property, the former Napa Valley Cooperative
Winery, in 2003, which sits on 33 acres on Highway 29
just south of the town of St. Helena. The new winery
will be built in three phases on the site, allowing
the Halls to continue making wine using the existing
facilities and to operate their current tasting room
until the new winery is complete.
"Working
with Frank Gehry and his team has been a joy and a dream,"
noted Craig Hall. "It has been an inspiration to
us to have a front-row seat for the creation of a work
of art. We have a lot of construction work ahead of
us, but we are delighted with the design."
Beginning
Saturday and continuing through the construction process,
Hall Winery will offer special daily tours of the Gehry
project. Visitors who pre-arrange tours at the winery
will have the opportunity to view an exhibition of the
designs, concepts and processes undertaken by the Halls
and Gehry Partners during the past four years. This
exhibition will include photographs, drawings and nearly
40 models, which were built through the design process.
In addition, the tour will include a tasting of current-release
Hall wines and a tasting of wines from barrels. The
fee for the tour, exhibition and tastings is $25 per
person. A special complimentary tour of the architectural
exhibit alone will be offered once a week on Sundays.
Tours, tastings and visits to the exhibition can be
arranged by calling Hall Winery at 707-967-2620.
When
the new Hall Winery opens it will be one of the most
advanced wineries in California, with state-of-the-art
facilities designed for ultra-premium wine production.
Napa Valley architect Jon Lail worked closely with the
Gehry team to design the functional winery structures,
which include a unique fermentation building for high-end
winemaking and gentle handling through gravity-flow
delivery of grapes.
Hall wines are distributed in major markets throughout
the U.S. The Halls have a second winemaking facility
in Napa Valley, Hall Rutherford, which was completed
in 2005. Additional information is available at http://www.hallwines.com.