The Facility

Construction on the Valdemar Estates facility started in March 2018, and it opened to the public on April 27, 2019.   

It has a total of 24,555 square feet of floor space. The ground floor consists of the wine production area, barrel rooms, entry way, and bottle storage. The mezzanine second level in the production area consists of the lab, pump room, elevator machine room, electrical room, and storage. The tasting room, kitchen, restrooms, and office space reside on the third floor. In addition to occupied floor space, the patio adds another 3,000 square feet of outdoor seating with beautiful views of the Blue Mountains.  

The reflection pool and the 58-foot-long waterfall wall create a beautiful setting on the patio. These water features provide relaxing, ambient sound. Along with the misters that line the seating areas, they also serve to cool the air in the hot summer months.   

The architectural design features even more modern, functional, and sustainable elements. The winery is built into the hillside to reduce cooling requirements for the barrel and wine storage areas. The walls are composed of two layers of concrete with insulation sandwiched in between. This design prevents transmission of external heat and cold to interior spaces. The tower-liken building lantern signals the winery’s presence along the highway while dropping natural light into the entry way to draw visitors toward the grand staircase and up to the tasting room. The treads on the staircase are reclaimed wood from a potato shed in the Tri-Cities area.  

The black, wood siding on the western exterior was created with a Japanese method called shou sugi ban. Its charred surface provides fire- and pest-resistance in a natural, nontoxic way. It can last 80 to 100 years without maintenance, and much longer if it is refinished with oil every 10 to 15 years.  

In the tasting room, the wall panels are made from fibers of the Wisconsin Aspen tree, one of the most sustainably-harvested trees of its kind. Glass, French doors unify the indoor and outdoor spaces. Similarly, large wood and glass doors unify visitors with the winemaking process, allowing views into the barrel rooms and the production area.  

The wine production area features an indoor crush pad, which allows staff members to crush fruit in any weather. There is a cold storage room on the South end where bins of grapes reside until they are ready to destem. Wine production requires a great deal of water, especially for cleaning. Low flow plumbing fixtures and fittings throughout the building reduce water consumption by 50 percent, and waste water is filtered on site and released back into the ground to recharge the water table.   

The roof of the facility is designed for the addition of solar panels. In the near future, the winery will be entirely powered by the sun.