Newton Vineyard
Founded in 1977 by English-born Peter Newton, the site for the new Newton Winery sits on an hillside site on Spring Mountain, with expansive views of the Napa Valley. The terraced mountain estate has less than one-fifth of its 490 acres planted to vines; the rest remains in its native forested state. Designed to blend into the mountain environment and incorporate a diversity of cultural influences, the original winery was 80 percent underground, with an elaborate cave system. In 2001, the winery was purchased by French luxury brand LVMH.
Set atop the ridge line, the design for the winery expansion captures the beauty of the valley’s curves, reflecting and expanding upon Peter Newton’s idea of nature and precision, “taking nature’s elements, made beautiful over time.” Using the founder’s original garden as a central axis guiding the placement of hospitality, production and offices, the new winery spans a gap in the ridge, forming a connection between the property’s natural and man-made elements. From the ridge top hospitality center, visitors can look down upon the valleys to either side.
Undulating screens on the face of the curved structures mirror the outline of the hills and the unique terracing of the vineyards as they spill down the hillside. Upper-level tasting terraces take advantage of the views, while an underground level provides an entirely different experience. Two tasting rooms – the “old world” tasting room and the “new world” tasting room, radiate from a central underground lobby in sweeping curves. Two portals on opposite sides of the ridge offer access, allow natural light to penetrate into the caves, and create a dramatic sense of juxtaposition between the sunlit hillside and cavernous underground environment.