ENVIRONS
The new wine cellar Antinori di Bargino has been designed by Archea Associati. The winery is hidden in amongst the wide hilly landscape near Bargino. All one can see as the eye sweeps over the panorama is one large undulating shape barely visible to the onlooker, while all the huge interior spaces constitute a well-lighted, and very cool underground center of great visual suggestion.
The edifice, designed by the architect, Giovanni Bò of Asti, strikes one for the modernity of the spaces, which are simple thanks to the use of common materials, such as the basalt tiles covering the floor of the entire building or the iron tubes of the old oil pipeline recycled as supporting columns, and at the same time exemplary as works of contemporary art. In the introductory rooms one can admire the huge table for wine tasting, but moving on to the cellars the philosophy doesn’t change that much. Everything is spotless and functional, designed from scratch to minimize the stress to which the wine is exposed to and to rationalize production. The structure is functional and technologically innovative, as for example the air conditioning system incorporated into the floor, “the first of its kind in Italy”.
Rocca di Frassinello was born after Castellare di Castellina, in the heart of the Chianti Classico region, right in the middle of Tuscan Maremma, between Bolgheri to the north and Scansano (known for its Morellino) to the south. This cellar was designed by Renzo Piano… On the highest hill in Rocca di Frassinello’s amphitheater, in front of Giuncarico, a town in the "comune" di Gavorrano, the architect Piano, who has himself produced Dolcetto and loves wine as much as pure lines in architecture, conceived a cellar of surprising simplicity, with a revolutionary division of space and the utmost attention paid to the wine-making process, that occurs with the grapes falling from on high.
The Mortelle farm is found in the heart of southernmost Maremma, in the province of Grosseto, near Castiglione della Pescaia. It covers 270 hectares of which 160 are vineyards producing wine typically linked to this area, both strong and refined at the same time. At Mortelle there are 15 hectares of organically cultivated orchards (growing peaches, plums, apricots, pears and blueberries) and two artificial lakes, the biggest of which measuring 6 hectares with all around low hills covered by olive trees and various shrubs. The Mortelle farm follows the best farming traditions, combining these with an eco-sustainable approach.
Petra, the word for stone in Latin. The project behind the Petra farm was turning into reality an idea conceived by Vittorio Moretti, entrepeneur and producer, entrusted to the architect, Mario Botta. In his mind this was to be first of all a place for the transformation and aging of wine, but also a center of welcoming, a place for exchanging cultural information and experiences, and last but not least, it was to convey the values of the company. This is why Petra can be defined as architecture at the service of the technological and expressive needs of the producer.
