Wineries whit architecture

A name can lead to a building. In this case, two crossing concrete lines in the landscape to match the name and the logo of a new wine production house: Caminhos Cruzados, crossed paths. This winery, run by Nuno Pinto Cardoso, is located in Quinta da Teixuga, right in the heart of the Dão Region, and environmental sustainability is among its attributes. To this end, it boasts some technical secrets to reveal, such as skylights that optimise the use of natural light, tanks in which to store rainwater, generous windows that facilitate air circulation and, of course, reinforced concrete to retain heat. Another of its secrets lies in the absence of pillars, following a method analogous to the construction of bridges, a way of optimising the interior space.

It is one of the latest wineries within this batch, but has quickly become a national icon. This is because the project for Herdade do Freixo, by Diogo Valssassina, was prolific in creation of points of interest. Not only beginning with its underground distribution, which hides it under the warm Alentejan soil, but also for the spiral interior, where through which the visitors can circulate slowly. In fact, this spiral has been enjoyed the most varied of comparisons, from the Guggenheim Museum in New York, to a giant corkscrew, which is perhaps a way of seeking an explanation for something so unusual and striking. What is certain is that social media comes alive when it comes across this winery, with its neutral palettes improving its photogenic qualities, conferring to the place an almost monastic feel in how it treats light – and the weather.

The Adega Casa da Torre, in Vila Nova de Famalicão, is an ode to wood. The architect Carlos Castanheira uses it here profusely, as he has done in several projects he has designed, while maintaining an organic and vaguely oriental elegance, capable of engaging the visitors from the very outset. The building extends a winery that previously existed, breathing new life and possibilities into the space. Although the shape of the roof suggests more of a domestic space than a workplace, this impression is soon rebutted in the interior, where rationality takes control in the distribution of spaces and winemaking elements of the wine production. The transparency of the building is also of interest, between the wooden slats and the stone walls, which blurs the boundaries between the interior and the exterior.

The storage and ageing warehouse at Quinta do Portal was designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira, the architect also responsible for the Adega Mayor. Its calling card is its cork and shale, that changes with the passage of time and coating an imposing reinforced concrete structure. Emotion and reason on the same plane, superimposed on an ordered fusion of lines and curves, giving the wine no less than five thousand square metres of time to grow old graciously. It stands in Sabrosa, in the Douro Valley, and also features a tasting room and an auditorium.

It was the first large winery designer in Portugual and boasts the design of the first Portuguese Pritzker winner: Álvaro Siza Vieira. Opened in 2007, it can be said that it marked a new era in the construction of wineries in this country, a territory where nowadays the choice is rich and of world renown. The Adega Mayor it first begins through its dimensions, forming a mighty 40 by 120-metre rectangle. It has, however, a serene whiteness able to write off its large scale, as well as a fine profile in harmony with the lines landscape. Its panoramic terrace is another highlight, which has a water feature to receive the Alentejo light, as well as a zigzaging bench from which to enjoy this patch of peace and quiet.

It is in one of the oldest estates in the Douro, built in 1716 and once owned by Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira. The winery and the cask cellar of the Quinta do Vallado therefore reconciles two historic times, resulting from the restoration of old buildings and the construction of new ones, in a marked interaction of languages. Interestingly, this is a winery that works by gravity, taking advantage of the height difference in terraced land, and this dialogue with the land also extends to the covering of the facades of the new buildings, made entirely in shale. And if on the outside are the straight lines that predominate, inside the vaulted shape softens the concrete and communicates with the barrels. The project was by Oporto-based firm Menos é Mais Arquitectos.

The black brick flooring merges the Alves de Sousa Winery into its surroundings. It is, after all, in the heart of the Douro and here shale marks not only the territory, but also the collective imagination. To explain this project, architect António Belém Lima used the Vitruvian Triad, defined by Vitruvius in ancient Rome to establish the fundamental principles of architecture: Firmitas, Utilitas and Venustas. It is, therefore, a work that openly strives for the balance between stability, utility and beauty, in that the scenic context of this building could not be forgotten. Indeed to view the surrounding scenery, there is a panoramic terrace looking over the valleys, ideal for wine tastings and long conversations. As for the interior, the general public there is a shop and a tasting room, which the architect António Belém Lima has linked to the wine production spaces, giving each corner its functional  and visual register.

The Gran Cruz Winery was built in a former construction site, in Alijó, restoring class to a place once neglected. This respect for the landscape is clear to see in all aspects of the project, undertaken by architect Alexandre Burmester, the most remarkable facet of this stance being the extreme care taken in interconnecting contemporary architecture with the traditional forms of the region. It is a complex building, a fluid sum of pieces, joining two wineries and a logistical storage centre in the same space. To disguise its scale, it takes advantage of  the  sloping land, distributing it more gently, as well as offering the eye a transparent façade that lightens its dimensions. The result is plain to see, with 3300 metres of wood, 35 kilometres of stainless steel pipes and 5180 cubic metres of concrete being used, all in harmonious aesthetic communion, according to the functional requirements of each inner area and perfectly integrated into a region classified as World Heritage by UNESCO.