Spatial sensations in Rioja winery architecture, old and new
“[Bodegas Juan Alcorta] is a very modern building, but we have tried to evoke the spatial sensations of traditional bodega architecture in Rioja. In part, it was inspired by some of those bodegas’ most spatially interesting moments, but translated into a contemporary space.
“For example, when you walk into our barrel room there is a window that opens up suddenly to the surrounding landscape, which is an homage to Bodegas López de Heredia, where, after walking through a long, narrow sandstone tunnel, a door opens out onto the Ebro river, which also gives you that shock—that sensation of a sudden encounter with the outside world.”
—Architect Ignacio Quemada, designer of Bodegas Juan Alcorta, from an interview I conducted with him at his offices in San Sebastián in September 2007 (my translation).
PHOTOS: Top, the barrel room at Bodegas Juan Alcorta, outside Logroño (courtesy Jill Paradiso). Bottom, the calado at Bodegas R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia in Haro (courtesy of the bodega).