Architecture designed to serve the wine's needs
The unique architecture of Château Pédesclaux is also a technological achievement, with a 100% gravity-fed winery, custom-designed to produce better wine.
In their determination to breathe new life into this Classified Growth, the Lorenzetti family found a natural ally in celebrated architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, who responded with a pure and unpretentious solution that incorporated the aesthetic of transparency that defines the property. If the 21st century buildings of Pédesclaux represent a work of architecture in their own right, they are also a technological achievement. In the new, gravity-fed winery, Wilmotte has thought of everything that will help to preserve the aromas of the grapes. This is where the essence of the Pédesclaux terroir achieves its fullest expression.
A REVOLUTION
Contrast and transparency
Under the smooth surface of glass held in place by steel corner brackets shines the pale stone polished by time and by wind. Behind the light framework, the upward-thrusting curves are reminiscent of a dovecote. The contrasting browns and whites, reflecting back the vines, are the hallmark of the innovative architecture of Pédesclaux’s second structure: the angled vine stocks with their topping of bronze appear to be a visual response to this winery made entirely of glass. Two wings of glass symbolise Pédesclaux’s upward trajectory. The intention is that the clarity of the place will be reflected in the clarity of the wine, offering a pure connection between interior and exterior. The two buildings serve to underline the importance of minimal intervention; this is architecture that succeeds in putting the most modern materials and methods to work preserving the best of traditional winemaking.
THE SLOW PASSAGE OF TIME
A perfectly designed tool for making wine
Gravity brings out the best in the grapes, helping time do its work in the depths of the cellar: it is a subtle art to enable them to fall gently, without human intervention. The integrity of the final product is preserved, thanks to equipment that is at the cutting edge of technology. Each plot is vinified independently, in 116 double-height stainless-steel tronconic vats that allow the batches to be kept separate, so that each individual terroir achieves its fullest expression. A system of four elevated vats allows the wine to move smoothly from one place to the next. The grapes are cosseted from their entrance into the fermenting room until they reach the bottle.
A 100% gravity-fed winery : how does it work ?
In order to understand how the 100% gravity-fed winery works, follow the grapes’ journey from harvest to barrel.
THE MAN BEHIND THE REINCARNATION
Wilmotte: unlimited precision and transparency
How to give a 19th-century wine the chance to shine today? “By giving it the gift of a 21st-century winery!” is Jean-Michel Wilmotte’s response. At Pédesclaux the architect, town planner and designer has signed his name to a project that places “production at the heart of the estate within a high-performance building that is entirely fit for purpose and makes a harmonious whole with both the château and its surroundings”. This impressive building, completed in 2014, marries beauty with exceptional technical achievement: 2,000 sq m of high-tech machinery organised on several levels.
