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Architects: Arnaldo + João Pimentel Barbosa
- Area: 2420 m²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:João Morgado
Text description provided by the architects. Created in 2021, MWC – Menin Wine Company, was born in Gouvinhas - Douro valley. It was therefore decided to carry out the construction of a building for a winemaking center, to be located close to the existing housing complex of the Quinta.
The winery was developed to make full use of gravity when transshipping wine through the different stages of production. The grapes' reception area is carried out at the highest level of the existing land, and, taking advantage of the topography, the output of the finished product takes place at a substantially lower level.
The project was conceived to minimize the volumetric impact of the construction and create as little as possible disruption in a unique landscape like the Douro. As such, three of the four façades are underground, purposefully buried so that the building benefits from the thermal conditions that the solution allows, as it is intended, for storage and aging of wine in wooden casks. This solution also diminishes the visual impact that a structure entirely emerging from the land would have, with the 1st floor and the reception area only partially emerging from the land, therefore not disturbing the harmony within the surrounding landscape. As such, the materials used for the external façades were determinant, choosing a solution of concrete, with a pigment like the color of wine lees and vineyard autumn leaves, the region's schist masonry, together with wood, always present in a wine cellar were the materials chosen for the composition of this building.
The building, which only vinifies the wine produced there, is subdivided into three areas: grape reception, winemaking, and barrel storage, also including staff facilities, tasting and laboratory rooms. After entering the reception, one follows the circuit, emerging into the winemaking area, where you find the wine presses and winemaking vats, and finally the storage and the pomace pressing area. At a lower level you will find the warehouse for vats and aging barrels (both for table wine and Port wine).
The various floors can be accessed via a central staircase, allowing for a better use of space and rationalization of the circulation between the different areas.
