Winery in Douro

The architecture concept

Our architects were hired to design the rehabilitation and expansion with a new construction of a winery in the Douro region, Portugal, more specifically in S. João da Pesqueira. Thus, the architecture project has two aspects. On one hand, the intention is to reorganize the existing cellar. On the other hand, it is intended to expand all aspects of production and exploration. The strategy was thus based on the creation of an overall architectural language that allows the Quevedo brand to be associated with a unique and emblematic building.

The building seeks to recover the Douro’s constructive tradition of longitudinal space that have grown over time around agricultural patios. In this way the built set consists of a sequence of volumes of greater or lesser dimension that generate the perception of a small village in the Douro. The architectural project therefore manages to transform an enormous scale building into a set of buildings properly integrated into the surroundings.

The agro-industrial components

An agro-industrial building facility like a winery nowadays has a strong industrial component. In this sense, it is very important that the architecture firm masters the latest winemaking technologies, wine storage, bottling, packaging, logistics and finally even the tourist activity.

The building on the ground floor has a production line that starts at winemaking, next to it has deposits and then has bottling and packaging, thus reducing all harmful crossings to agro-industrial activity. In the northern area are meeting and tasting spaces that welcome tourist activity. In the cellars are the oldest wine deposits and wine tastings linked to the tourist activity. There is also a mezzanine route over the entire industrial activity where tourists can observe the entire production process without interfering with the safety and productivity of the facilities.

The fundamental components of the winery have been taken care of in perfect detail:

-Vinification

We opted for a ship that allows maximum flexibility and incorporation of recent technology.

-Deposits

We develop maximum thermal control and energy efficiency, ensuring excellent quality for wine.

-Bottling

We created a ‘U’ shaped line, guaranteeing minimum labor and maximum efficiency.

-Packaging

We have developed an optimized pallet and aisle spacing in order to increase storage capacity.

-Tourism

The tourist activity develops in parallel with the industrial one. But it progresses without interfering with the processes of transformation or transportation of products.