Editor's note: The Business Journal features profiles of North Bay construction projects that are complete or nearly so. Send details to jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or fax to 707-521-5292.
9200 Highway 128, Philo 95466; 707-895-3202; ww.goldeneyewinery.com
Owner: Duckhorn Wine Co., St. Helena
Description: a 25,000-square-foot pre-engineered metal wine production facility with barrel storage, laboratory, fermentation, bottling and offices. Production capacity is 50,000 cases per year.
Completion: July 2009
General contractor: Nordby Construction, Santa Rosa
Architect: Verdier Architects, Boonville
Engineering: civil - Ron Franz Engineering, Ukiah; electrical - Ray Slaughter & Associates, Petaluma; mechanical - The Engineering Partnership, Santa Rosa; structural (slab) - DLF Engineers and Contractors, Healdsburg
Cost: $5.2 million
Duckhorn Wine Co.'s new winery in Mendocino County's Anderson Valley winegrowing region has been registered with the U.S. Green Building Council for certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system for new construction, or LEED-NC. Verdier Architects, which has designed a number of boutique wineries, and Zach Rasmuson, Goldeneye vice president, general manager and winemaker, aimed project features to achieve "silver" level certification, which is the second of four levels in the LEED system. If certified, it would be the first winery to earn that distinction in Mendocino County.
"I started here in 2003, and we embraced LEED from the outset," Mr. Rasmuson said. "It is easier to design for LEED than try to do it later."
The new winery replaces the one that has been operating in a wooden barn and metal buildings. Currently, 15,000 cases of the Goldeneye brand are produced on the property annually and 10,000 cases of the Migration brand.
Design features targeted at LEED certification include a 28-kilowatt solar electricity array to power the winery, an all-recycled-steel structure sourced through Soule Building Systems of Cotati, insulated panels for the building, cork linoleum floors in the offices instead of vinyl, removable entryway floormats integrated into the slab of the production facility, screening for windows, soil used from the site, low-flow fixtures, paints low in volatile organic compounds (VOC) and Forest Stewardship Council-certified redwood for board-and-batten siding and interior wainscoting.
In 2004 the Duckhorn family had 148 acres of second-growth redwood on a 202-acre vineyard property certified as a Smart Wood Forest, and wood for the planned winery was harvested and stored.
Another design feature of the new winery, important in the groundwater-thirsty Boonville area, is rainwater harvesting, according to Mr. Rasmuson. Gutters will direct rainwater to the ponds used for irrigation and frost-protection.
Design work on Goldeneye spanned five years, including the 2007 sale of a majority stake in the company to GI Partners. Construction started in August 2008 and ended July 1. The facility is set to be ready for the 2009 harvest.
The first Goldeneye vineyards were acquired in 1996, and now vineyard acreage totals 220. The first commercial vintage, 1997 Goldeneye pinot noir, was released in 2000.
