Helwig Vineyards

Plymouth, California

Helwig Vineyards & Winery will offer a whole new way to experience wine in Amador County when it is completed in 2011. Situated on a 44 acre site on Shenandoah Road, the property offers spectacular views of the Sierra Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. The project will also include the first commercial wine cave in the County. Visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the wine-making process through guided tours of the winery building and the wine cave.

A sweeping road will take visitors through the newly planted vineyard on the rolling hillside, culminating at the building complex located on the top of the knoll. Four residential-scale structures include the Tasting Building, Special Events Building, Winery Building and Picnic Pavilion are located to maximize views in all directions. In footprint, these buildings form the Helwig's signature "H" on the land with the grand staircase entry to the wine cave featured between the Tasting and Special Events buildings and a landscaped courtyard space as the central unifying element.

The architecture reflects the character and history of Amador County with familiar shapes and the use of rustic materials. Shed roofs will be clad with standing seam metal roofs and exterior walls will combine board and batten wood siding, which will weather over time to a soft silver gray, with galvanized corrugated siding. All materials have been selected to reflect the character of a simpler time. Deep overhangs create sheltered porches outside each building for visitors to sit and enjoy a glass of wine. Oak and pine harvested during the clearing of the site for the vineyards will be repurposed into decorative barn door sliders, the Main Tasting bar surface, interior siding, and other special details.

The winery building will be two stories with an observation balcony on the upper level to allow visitors the opportunity to look down into the working production floor of the winery. The large steel fermenting tanks will sit side-by-side against the temperate retaining wall created by nestling the lower level of the building into the hillside for better energy efficiency. Wine production will occur on the ground floor of the building, as well as on the covered exterior Crush Pad, and within the wine cave. A stairway will connect the working floor to the wine cave floor set thirteen feet lower for workers to travel quickly between areas with piping installed for the wine to make the same trip down to the cave to fill the barrels.

The wine cave will serve as both a storage facility for the many wine varieties aging in barrels and as a special entertainment facility for guests. A large private dining area will be set just off the main portal entry across from a private wine library offering a quintessential way to celebrate wine. The north portal's courtyard has been deliberately designed to be grand in scale to allow for special events to occur in a level area carved from the hillside with views to the north.

Careful thought has also been placed into outdoor spaces to provide visitors an opportunity to experience the beautiful surroundings in different settings. The Picnic Pavilion is a covered shelter complete with a fireplace and BBQ that is open on all sides to the views. The center courtyard will offer two levels of outdoor landscaped space protected from the winds. Pathways will lead visitors throughout the property to the separate buildings and further down the hill to an open-air amphitheater for concerts and cultural events. A large focus of the design has been placed on creating a variety of spaces for wine club events, weddings, corporate retreats or other special occasions.

Construction is already underway for the wine cave and building construction is slated to commence in late summer of 2010. When completed, Helwig Vineyards will be a casual winery experience for visitors, allowing the chance to not only drink great wine, but drink in the beautiful surroundings.

Website: www.helwigwinery.com
Contractor: Sunseri Associates, Inc.
Wine Cave Contractor: Glen Ragsdale Underground Associates, Inc.