Wine Industry Report

The celebrated British artist compares his project to a large flower

Renowned British architect Norman Foster recently unveiled his design for Bodega Portia, Grupo Faustino’s new premises in Ribera del Duero, located in the town of Gumiel de Izán and due to open in 2008. With this project Lord Foster joins other prestigious architects, such as Calatrava, Moneo, Gehry, Maziéres or Rogers in creating cutting-edge wineries in Spain.

The winery is backed by a € 25 m investment, will cover 11,300 sq m and will produce 1 m bottles of wine a year.

At the presentation, Norman Foster set aside his photographs, charts and slides. Instead, he drew his design by hand on an advertising board. The winery will have a central core with three large petals rising from it. Each petal will house a central gallery, where visitors will be able to follow a single variety’s progress, or even chase a grape around the entire building. Additional facilities include a restaurant, shops and exhibition halls.

The wings housing the aging cellars, fitted with barrels and bottles, are partially underground. Great importance has been attached to the effects of gravity in the winemaking process, in addition to the most favourable conditions for ageing. The fermenting wing faces the road.

The project “is highly respectful of the landscape. There is dialogue established between the building’s inner world and its surroundings”. One of the architect’s major challenges was “the contrast between the bright and warm exterior and the cool and shady interior”.

Grupo Faustino is a family-owned winemaking company that makes and exports first-rate wines and runs seven wineries in Spain’s top four appellations: Rioja, Navarra, La Mancha y Ribera del Duero. They currently export 49 percent of their production to other EU markets and stand as the first exporter of Gran Reserva wines under QDO Rioja.

The choice of a leading international architect such as Norman Foster honours Faustino’s long-lived commitment towards quality and front-line design. According to MD José Luís Fernández de Jubera, “We have struck the perfect equation: quality, design and avant-garde”.