Casa de Uco Winery

Location:
Tunuyan, Uco Valley, Mendoza at 1,250 meters above sea level.

The Concept:
Casa de Uco Winery borns with the concept of producing high quality wines which really expresses the authenticity of their own vineyards and soils.
For this reason it was decided to build a small, didactic and simple winery that would have small volumen vats & taanks of different materials. By this way the winery would be very useful to do a lot of research by fermenting parcels and soils independenty.
One of the premise was to build a winery in which wine amateurs and enthusiasts could easily understand how a winery works and how the grape turns into wine.
The architecture is a modern style building with a simple industrial design. Thought as a “telescopic barn”, having sections that could slide inside one another.? This idea is based on having the best use of natural light, ventilation and minimum use of energy.
From the Visitor Center guests can see the whole process of vinification in just one line.

The Structure & Architectural design
The building is a very simple structure. The aesthetic resources used to create this "telescopic barn" were minimal. The rhythmic growth varied as internal functions changed, allowing ventilation, illumination, and the complete presence of the winery in the main continuous interior.
The enclosure is a large concrete pool 100 meters long, with iron metal structure and metal compound panels granting a very high thermal insulation capacity.
The winery’s orientation from west to east allow controlled sunlight, indirect lighting and ventilation by "Venturi effect" taking advantage of the predominant Zonda winds.
As its growth reaches the west, the general body gets into the mountain, putting the “Barrel Cellar” totally underground which increases its required thermal stability. This is ideal for barrel and bottles storage.
When entering the winery at the social and touristic area, it has three views with three different themes. Towards the south, the vast vineyards that transcend into the Uco Valley; to the west the majestic Andes Mountain range, and towards the inside, the perception of the winery’s functionality. From here starts the walking tour of the winery, which was thought as a didactic tour where with a simple glance and walk one can understand the way a wine is naturally produced.
The continuous interior space in only interrupted by a glass bridge look out area, which is the lab and office of the facility.
Adjacent to the main building sits a patio courtyard that holds the machine room and water tanks.

Project and direction: Arq. Alberto Tonconogy y asociados.
Collaborators: Arq. Nicolas Bozzano - Arq. Martina Veiga