Amador Cellars - Our Winery


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OUR WINERY - ABOUT AMADOR CELLARS

Amador Cellars is a unique winery located in the heart of Amador County’s lush Shenandoah Valley wine country. Built in 2003 of rice straw and concrete the winery and tasting room conveys Old World architecture and style that emphasizes simplicity, utility and function. Its two foot thick and sixteen foot tall walls impart mass and depth while the roof is covered in corrugated steel that was allowed to rust naturally giving the structure a timeless quality. It sits on a knoll overlooking rolling vineyards in the shade of a stand of Valley Oak. A perfect spot for enjoying a picnic and fine wine.

At 1500 feet in elevation on soils derived from decomposed granite our estate vineyards are farmed to yield small crops of extraordinary tasting fruit -- the perfect beginning to vinting great wines. Our wines are made in a style that emphasizes varietal character of the fruit augmented by subtle oak and vanilla flavors from oak barrel aging. All of our winegrape is harvested by hand at the peak of ripeness, fermented in either oak barrels, open top bins or stainless steel tanks for 5 to 12 days and then aged in oak barrels for 8 to 20 months. We focus our attention on varieties that do well in Amador’s warm climate -- Zinfandel, Italian and Rhone Valley varieties.

Our winery and tasting room is open to visitors every Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment by calling (209) 245-6150. Celebrate weddings, special events or a special business gathering! Please come join us for wine tasting, beautiful views and an unique Old World wine tasting experience.

OUR WINERY - FRIENDLY STAFF

The Amador Cellars Tasting Room is staffed by owner/winemaker Larry Long and his wife, Linda. Larry's 84 year old father, Bill Sr. (fondly known as "Pops"!), is regularly present to serve barrel samples and to describe the unique straw bale winery construction to our guests. Linda Fechner, Larry's friendly and engaging sister, provides guests with a memorable wine tasting experience. Other family members and friends can be counted on to chip in and help at special events. If you are lucky, Bailey and Kali, our friendly Winery Dog wills escort you from the parking area to our tasting room door.

OUR WINERY - STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION

DESIGN - My wife and I began the design phase of our winery in 2002. We knew we wanted it to be simple, timeless and functional. Also, we wanted the winery to be scaled to emphasize wine quality not quantity. Fortunately, earlier in the same year, we had met Gary Back and Cullen Burda, the top two principles with Integrated Structures Inc., an architectural and engineering firm promoting the creation of unique structures with "authentic character and palpable spirit." The rest is history, as they say! By early 2003 we had a design for a 2000 square foot winery with a 550 square foot covered crush pad. Construction began in the spring of the same year. The key ingredient in their creative design -- rice straw bales! BENEFITS - The winery walls are constructed of rice straw bales covered with steel reinforced concrete. The benefits of the resulting 2 foot thick walls are: 1) old world and timeless archetypes; 2) insulation value of R-50; 3) high thermal mass enhancing interior temperature stability; 4) structural strength capable of withstanding earthquakes; and 5) high fire safety rating. The roof is almost as interesting but no straw. Its constructed of Douglass fir trusses, with mortise and tenon joinery, handcrafted at the job site, then sanded and sealed with linseed oil and hoisted into place by crane. Spanning the trusses are perlins and on top of them 8" thick structurally insulated panels with an R-30 insulation rating. The cupola serves as a great way to naturally vent hot air and the outside roof covering of untreated corrugated steel has been the talk of the neighborhood.



LINKS Integrated Structures, Inc. Architectural, engineering and construction firm located in Berkeley, CA. Designed and constructed Amador Cellars. www.integratedstructures.com "Bale Construction Turns Straw into Gold," by Jane Firstenfeld, Wines & Vines, April 2005, a story featuring Amador Cellars. http://www.winesandvines.com "Amador Cellars, Integrated Structures Erect Straw Bale Winery," by Ted Rieger, Senior Feature Editor, Vineyard and Winery Management, January/February, 2004, a story featuring Amador Cellars. http://www.vwm-online.com Amador Vintners Association, Trade Association for Amador Cellars and other wineries in Amador County. http://www.amadorwine.com