Quinta do Vale Cellar
Location
Douro Valley
Year
2021
Area
1,150 m²
Client
Quinta do Vale
Status
Completed
(01) Overview
The restoration of an eighteenth-century wine cellar, with one new opening that brings a shaft of daylight to the barrels.
The cellar had been altered many times, most recently with a steel roof in the 1970s. We removed every addition, numbered each of the 4,300 schist stones that had fallen, and returned them to the walls.
A single new opening
The only new element is a narrow slot cut into the south wall. For twenty minutes around midday, a blade of sun crosses the barrel hall; the rest of the day the room stays dark and cool, as wine requires.
A blackened steel door and stair connect the cellar to a new tasting room above, set back from the old walls so the two never touch.
Recognition
Shortlisted for the 2022 Europa Nostra Award for Conservation.
(02) More work
