Hall Winery

From WikiCover

After four years of extensive planning and design, world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and associate Edwin Chan joined vintners Craig and Kathryn Hall to break ground July 27, 2007 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.

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.

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.

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.

Website: http://www.hallwines.com/