MFLA Landscape Design Studio and the most sustainable winery in the USA
How to generate great wine with no weighing far too considerably on the ecosystem? This query was at the very heart of the Alexander Valley Silver Oak Winery job, which is included to the owners’ other wineries in Napa and Sonoma. Positioned at the foundation of the Alexander Valley hills, the 45-hectare Alexander Valley Silver Oak Winery was conceived to “frame the vineyards”, maximizing and preserving the natural ecology of the location.
The Munden Fry Landscape Associates business hence attentively developed an agricultural landscape appropriate for the community day weather and which fits flawlessly with the architecture developed by the Piechota Architecture studio. This near collaboration led to a vineyard in which the manufacturing facility and the tasting rooms are correctly and sensitively built-in into the landscape. All though also incorporating an agricultural vocabulary that reinforces the authenticity of the location.
From the extremely beginning it was clear that the owners’ aspiration was to produce a vineyard that was not only outstanding in terms of its wine generation, but which, using into account the urgent concern of weather alter and its dire consequences, could also grow to be one of the most sustainable wineries in the entire world. As the MFLA architects clarify: “The problem was how to take an vitality hungry monoculture and completely transform it into a sustainably numerous ecosystem though letting the winery to generate a steady generate and offer a memorable, academic experience for guests.”
The scope of the landscape undertaking contains the growth of the vineyard’s grasp strategy, the format of the vines, the vehicular and pedestrian circulation, the spot of the output and tasting structures, the parking and the areas for visitors and guests and events. It is agriculture by itself that guided not only the style possibilities, but which also serves to guide readers for the duration of the tasting itinerary.
In fact, MFLA determined to maintain and increase the ecological factors of the website, this sort of as the above 10,000-square-metre pond that serves as the principal drinking water resource for the vineyards. A further overall body of water operates together the tasting room and features normal cooling, as nicely as wonderfully reflecting the architectural factors of the vineyard.
The well-informed use of native vegetation accustomed to the area dry climate planted alongside the site’s drainage channels support to conserve water as perfectly as to keep rain h2o. These alternatives let the California-based Alexander Valley Silver Oak Winery to take pleasure on staying the only “zero internet water and energy” winery in the United States. In addition, the landscape architects cautiously picked plants that naturally hold dangerous insects absent from the vineyards, hence dramatically lessening the use of pesticides and advertising and marketing biodiversity.
The Silver Oak Winery, which has obtained the LEED Platinum and Residing Developing Challenge certifications, offers a scarce mix: MFLA, commencing from the pure id of the website, combined with the client’s environmentally-focused objectives, was capable to respond with a layout that supports a vivid and sustainable ecology. At the similar time, the Silver Oak Winery meets the requirements of a operating and successful manufacturing facility, as nicely as presenting an inviting room for connoisseurs of fantastic wines.
Christiane Bürklein
Landscape Architect: Munden Fry Landscape Associates

Architects: Piechota Architecture

Common Contractor: Cello & Maudru Landscaping

Lighting Designers: EJA Lighting Style

Civil Engineer: Summit Engineering

Area: Healdsburg, California, United states of america

12 months: 2018

Graphic Credits: Joe Fletcher, Patrik Argast