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WINEMAKING TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT 102 WINES&VINES November 2015 4 PRIMARY BARREL ROOM Hawley uses a few coopers including Taransaud, Boutes, Hermitage, Francois Freres and Tonnellerie de Jarnac. Once the wine is in barrels, he said he doesn't rack. The barrels are filled in place and later emp- tied in place. "We don't move our wine." Adjacent to the cellar is the primary barrel-storage room, finished with concrete. As Hawley noted with the fermentation tanks, concrete is excellent at maintaining tempera- ture. "There's a lot of concrete here, so once it gets to temperature, it kind of hangs out here," he said of the barrel room. To ensure the wines finish malolactic fermentation, Hawley said the Laws installed radiant heating by SCI in the floor. Large fans in the ceiling circulate the warm air, and the system has proved to be far more efficient than pushing hot air out of ducts in the walls. "It's actually incredibly energy efficient," he said. 5 SECOND BARREL ROOM Large, roll-up doors to the primary barrel room provide access to an open area where SLO Bottling Services of San Luis Obispo can park a mobile rig for bottling. None of the Law wines are filtered prior to bottling. "It's really as simple as we can make it," Hawley said. Near the doorway and bottling area is a large drain for barrel washing with an Aaqua- tools system. Hawley said instead of washing barrels where they've been laid down for racking, it's proved better to keep that job limited to one area. Each two-barrel rack is brought over to the washing area, and taking that extra step limits the mess of barrel washing and the amount of water used. When Wines & Vines visited Law Estate in spring 2014, the barrels holding the 2013 vin- tage were laid down one high in another con- crete barrel room. This room, however, had a curved roof, recessed decorative lighting and a private glass-walled tasting area in the back. When visitors first arrive at the winery, they get a glimpse of this room through glass doors before heading up a flight of stairs to the main tasting area. In addition to providing more barrel storage, the private tasting room is a subtle suggestion for visitors to "aspire" to private tastings or other perks reserved for wine club members and VIP guests. Interior design was by the international firm HBA, which has an office in San Francisco. Current production at Law Estate is around 4,200 cases, but the winery has the space and infrastructure to reach 10,000 cases. While the winery is a showpiece of design and winemak- ing equipment, Hawley stressed it also is a lean, efficient operation in which costs were often matched by efficiencies to save money on water, energy and labor. "We didn't just come up here to spend money for the sake of spend- ing money; everything had to pencil out," he said. "This isn't a trophy winery, this is a pro- duction winery that's expected to sell a certain quality of wine and pay people for their liveli- hood." This barrel room provides conditions similar to a cave and includes a private tasting area. Fermentations are con- ducted in concrete tanks or small, open-top tanks.