The task of reviewing wine estate architecture probably falls into the same bracket as chocolate taster or motoring correspondent. The job, however, is not without its dangers.
The urge to taste the product of the vine is very real but once indulged all memory of the task at hand evaporates. So a certain discipline is required, with a focus on the buildings and less on the product.
After 1990 South Africa began to assert itself in the production of wine in the New World. Allied with tourism, it followed that vineyard design began to evolve in a very different way to the traditional idea of a wine farm.
Economic forces too have had a profound effect on the composition of this typology. The tradition of the owner-family combining production with a residence is fading fast on account of the massive investment required to build a new winery, generally putting them out of the range of a single person.
The new wineries are themselves now corporations, combining restaurants, merchandising and other facilities deemed necessary to sell wine in an increasingly aggressive world market. Borrowing a saying from publishing: how to make a small fortune in wine — start with a large one.
The estates of Rustenberg and Tokara were the early proponents of change but architecture moves more slowly and wineries do not exist isolated from the forces that affect the rest of building design. The development of technology and materials have has a profound effect on the design of buildings.
Probably the only common element that binds winery design is its necessary process-driven structure. Berry collection, fermentation tanks and maturation cellars are possibly all that binds this genre of architecture. The modern farm is as sleek as a high-tech laboratory, debunking the romantic notion of an old rambling French vineyard. And even when this concept is pursued, it is merely a façade to shield what actually happens. The control of bacteria is critical in the making of wine, which requires the interiors, at least, to be sterile and brimming with stainless steel.
Perhaps the only other element linking wineries of the Western Cape is location. One would be hard-pressed to find a winery here, the setting of which was not spectacular. That aside, the design of wineries is subject to the same forces that operate on any other contemporary architectural design.
South African wine heritage Âcommenced in the late 17th century with vines brought by the early Huguenot settlers. The architecture reflected the Calvinist ideals they brought with them, spawning one of the very few indigenous South African architectural styles.
The origins lie in the townhouse façades of Amsterdam, with an evolved aesthetic of thatch and severe white, with little decoration beyond the curlicues of the gables. The contemporary architecture has transformed into essays of interpreted traditional styles and new visions of concrete and glass.
This architectural genre generally remains understated; however, it is interpreted in a manner reflecting the ethos of the owners. Even the production process itself is interpreted in a variety of manners, some with gravity feed and others not. Responsible use of building materials, large use of water and alternative energy uses are also finding an Âinfluence on this architecture.
The focus of the book is contemporary vineyards and the photographs were shot from May to July 2010, during the Cape winter when the land tends to be greener than the rest of the year. The landscape is very seductive and the photographs are beautiful. Whereas they seek to reveal this beauty, the text tries to balance the danger of aestheticism.
Although there has been an explosion of wine estates in South Africa over the past two decades, this book explores only 18 of them and they tend to be concentrated around Stellenbosch/Franschhoek, with a few exceptions. Hopefully the book reveals the innate beauty that exists in the region and the fantastic opportunity for travel in the world’s smallest floral kingdom.
Modern Wineries of South Africa by Hugh Fraser with photographs by Craig Fraser is published by Quivertree. www.