MODERN DESIGN: The contemporary tasting room (shown here) and the winery were designed by acclaimed San Franciscobased Taylor Lombardo Architects.
WINE DESTINATION: Presqu’ile Winery’s modern tasting room and front patio provide plenty of seating for visitors coming to taste world-class wine handcrafted in the Santa Maria Valley.
SUBTERRANEAN SYSTEM: A unique cave system connects Presqu’ile’s tasting room to the winery above, which is accessible via elevator or stairs. The underground portion is about 235 feet long and naturally maintains a consistent 58 degrees yearround—just right for storing wine barrels.
GRAPE EXPECTATIONS: This is the receiving level where newly harvested grapes will first enter the winery to be gently processed. “Grapes go into the tank. After fermentation, we draw off the juice. It all goes into the cave through stainless steel pipes,� owner Matt Murphy said.
SIMPLY STATE-OF-THE-ART: The multi-level, gravity-flow winery incorporates a simple, gentle method of making wine. “The whole facility was designed around, stylistically, the kind of wine that we like and the kind of wine that we want to make,” owner Madison Murphy said. “We’re trying to make food-friendly wines, well balanced wines.”
EGGCELLENT AGING: Winery President Matt Murphy (right), with his father, Madison Murphy (left), discusses the large concrete eggs that Presqu’ile uses in making sauvignon blanc. “They breathe like oak, and so that oxygen interaction helps round out the palate,” Matt Murphy said. “And they just look pretty cool.”
PRESQU’ILE’S PEAK: This is the view from the Outlook Terrace in Presqu’ile’s winery, a location visited on tours available through the tasting room.
WINE TANKS: Presqu’ile Winery has enough stainless steel tanks to allow winemakers the ultimate flexibility to make many small lots of wine, either vineyard-block specific or grape-clone specific.
PRESQU’ILE POND: The water in the large pond behind Presqu’ile’s winery complex can be used in firefighting efforts, if the need ever arises.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: The 30,000-square-foot winery complex took three years to complete. “This whole thing is in our view—kind of an unrelenting pursuit of quality—starting in the vineyard,” owner Madison Murphy said.
CLUB PARADISE: Presqu’ile’s wine club members have access to a beautifully landscaped private outdoor area complete with a bocce ball court and horseshoe pit.
PRESQU’ILE PATIO: Visitors to the tasting room can sit down on the front patio in the various seating arrangements to enjoy some elegant Presqu’ile pinot noir, chardonnay, or sauvignon blanc.
VINEYARD VISTAS: Presqu’ile’s winery complex enjoys stunning views of the Santa Maria Valley, with peeks of the ocean to the west on a clear day.
SET THE STAGE: Presqu’ile’s outdoor amphitheater next to the tasting room has a variety of uses: wine tasting, concerts, and weddings.
LOCALLY SOURCED: The entire project incorporates tons of sandstone from a quarry in Lompoc. Every piece was cut and laid by hand over the course of about seven months.