Building the Red Mountain Tasting Room
Upon entering the Red Mountain Tasting room your eye is immediately drawn to two things, the view and the wine wall. Many visitors have asked us over the years, “how long have you been here? The building looks so new.” As we celebrate our Red Mountain Tasting Room turning 10 years old this month I sat down with Charlie and asked him a few questions about the design and planning that went into creating the layout of the tasting room.
The vision of the tasting room
“The tasting room looks exactly how we designed it. We have a contemporary label and we wanted it to translate into the design of the tasting room.” There were two guys involved in the original design, Joe Farmer and John Hoke. The two of them worked for several months on the design of the building and everything you see here, the finished product “was by design.”
Unique components that changed over the years
The tasting room was never meant to be a functional production facility; however, we did store barrels in what is now The Fidelitas Library. The barrels were stacked and gave visitors a chance to see what a production facility might be like. This was the largest change we made as of recently, the barrels were removed from the tasting room several years ago and we now have The Fidelitas Library in its place. The room itself wasn’t functional before and now we are able to share our not only our brand but the history of Fidelitas with every visitor. It gives us the opportunity to look back at how far our brand has come since its first vintage in 2000.
Unique concepts that went into the design and construction
Bryan Alford tells a story of sitting out on the patio and studying the sunset from different angles, how did that play a role on the design. “He did, and we ended up changing the angle. If you can imagine how low the vineyard line is, that’s how low the tasting room would have been. We decided to bring in additional dirt and elevate the structure giving us a view that looks down at our Fidelitas Estate Vineyard.
Future dreams and concepts for the next 10 years
The patio is our next big project over the next few years. If you’ve ever experienced summer on Red Mountain, the largest concern is the heat. “We would try and do something with the patio to create more shading. It’s just too hot and with the winds it’s challenging. It’s something we are still open to doing. As far as what we wanted, this was it. It’s still relevant and reflects our label and who we are.
“I’ve visited many tasting rooms over the years and admired their designs but at the end of the day, this is our home. It’s comfortable and is a true reflection of our brand and who we are.”-Charlie
