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WINEMAKING TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT 64 WINES&VINES October 2017 A s Bart Araujo was talking about the vision behind his new winery in Napa Valley, he had to pause and make sure a concrete truck was able to make it through the correct gate at the property. When Wines & Vines visited on a warm afternoon in mid-July, not everything was finished, and the truck was there to pour concrete for a chicken coop, shed and other outbuildings that would be clustered near a fruit orchard. The chickens, orchard and a planned vegetable garden are intended to support the winery's commercial kitchen as well as evoke the property's past. When husband and wife Bart and Daphne Araujo purchased the 12-acre property on Zinfandel Lane southeast of St. Helena in 2013, they were buying the last parcel of the historic Wheeler Farms, which in the 1800s stretched over 2,000 acres and in- cluded a winery that was established in 1880. Back then, the ranch had its own railroad depot, Zinfandel Station, and a mix of crops that included prunes and table grapes. The property came with 9 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, but Araujo removed a half acre of vines for the garden because it was so important to him to have a bit of agricultural diversity. In addition to the garden, he also imported 80 olive trees. "The concept here is we wanted to have a state-of-the-art winemak- ing and hospitality facility, but we wanted the architecture— both building and landscape—to be reflective of the historical nature of the property," he said. "I really wanted people to have an agricultural experience, not just a wine experience." The Araujos bought the property after they sold their namesake winery, Araujo Estate, and the famed Eisele Vineyard near Calistoga to Artémis, the holding group founded by French billionaire Fran- cois Pinault. Artémis also owns Bordeaux first growth Chateau Latour, Chateau Siaurac in Bordeaux, Domaine d'Eugenie in Burgundy and Chateau-Grillet in the Rhône Valley. The Eisele sale took place in 2013. At the time, the Araujos said they planned to invest in vineyard property and continue to make wine. They had no plans to build a winery. But serendipitously, the couple learned of an opportunity to buy the Wheeler Farms property, which was already approved for a winery permit. Land, plans and a permit A group of Japanese investors had decided to abandon its plans for a new winery and was ready to sell. The winery permit al- lowed for a 50,000-gallon winery, commercial kitchen and a generous number of events and annual visitors. The permit had been granted shortly after the recession, when Napa County officials were eager to allow new wineries to be built. The permit had remained viable because the original partners had invested enough over the years in planning and architectural work. "We knew we were going to make wine, but having a new winery wasn't really high on the priority list. Then this came along, and it was perfect," Araujo said. "All that heavy lifting was done, so it was very attractive and it allowed us to really create a new state-of-the-art facility for making our wine." The property purchase came with an architectural design by the firm Taylor Lombardo Architects, which has offices in San Francisco and Napa and has designed several wineries. Araujo envisioned the winery not just as the home of his family's new brand, Accendo, but also as a home for several other wineries. He saw the potential of a custom-crush opera- tion (or atelier, as he likes to call it) for a "group of like-minded people who are all true artists in their profession, which in this case just happens to be winemaking." To provide the space for the type of winemaking studio Araujo wanted, the plan had to be tweaked just a bit for extra barrel- Wheeler Farms Well-equipped custom-crush facility in Napa Valley is a new start for former owners of Araujo Estate By Andrew Adams TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT