The
Winery and Cellars
The buildings housing the winery and cellars were built between
1916 and 1929. They have been declared Cultural Heritage sites
by the Valencian Government. Sensitive restoration and redevelopment
of the buildings began in 1997, incorporating the latest winemaking
technology without altering the original architectural lines.
The Winery
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The building occupied by the winery was purpose-designed
in 1915 by the engineer Janini, one-time director
of the Requena Enology and Viticulture Station.
The building was erected in 1916.
The building is supported by load-bearing walls
in stone masonry, with a pitched roof in lath and
plaster covered by Moorish tiles, supported on cast
iron trusses and Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis)
rafters. The walls are tiled up to a height of around
two metres. The underground vats are made from plastered
adobe brick and the vault is made from the same
material. Their capacities range from 6000 to 65,000
litres. The winery has a racking tunnel through
which the vats are emptied with, in the centre,
a larger space housing the press. The maceration
vats each have two cocks to facilitate racking and
a hatch for removing the skins. The building is
flanked by two side-aisles housing the laboratory
and grape marc tanks. The winemaking and storage
capacity of the winery is designed to be 800,000
litres.
The building was redeveloped using, as far as possible,
materials identical to the originals. For example,
the roof was partially replaced using old Moorish
tiles and Aleppo pine rafters from demolition sites,
with a lath and plaster support for the tiles.
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 When
the building was redeveloped, the functions of some areas
were reorganised, with the unloading bay for grapes taking
the place formerly occupied by the marc tanks, and the
old doors in front of each maceration vat through which
the grapes used to be delivered being converted into large
windows, while retaining the original openings to preserve
the lines of the building.
Today, the entire system for receiving grapes (hopper,
destemmer, ducting, etc) is stainless steel. The original
vats are still used because of their excellent properties
for producing fine wines, their thermal qualities stemming
from their underground location, and their facility for
de-vatting and racking. In 2003, two 11,000 litre refrigerated
stainless steel vats were installed. At the same time,
cooling equipment was installed to allow the fermentation
temperature throughout the winery to be controlled. |
Ageing Cellars
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| The ageing cellars are situated in the basement
of an old flour mill built in the modernista style
in 1928 by Don Enrique Iranzo Pérez, the
grandfather of the present owners.
This 4-floor building with side-aisles has load-bearing
walls in stone and mortar masonry. The hipped roof,
covered in Moorish tiles, is supported on Spanish-style
trusses in melix pine. The floors and ceilings of
all the floors are clad in Flemish shingles and
the windows are composed of small panes with melix
pine glazing bars.
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The building has been adapted to
accommodate not only the ageing cellars but also
storerooms for finished products and ancillary materials,
a tasting room and shop, and an exhibition of objects
and documents passed down through the Iranzo family,
tracing the family’s history since the 17th
century and recording some of the history of the
district in which the estate is situated.
The modernisation of the building has been carried
out without altering the original architectural
design and retaining some of the original mill machinery,
making it possible to visualise the building as
it was originally designed. The roof was restored
using wood from wine fermentation vats from the
early 20th century, which gives it a remarkable
reddish appearance that perfectly matches the building’s
new use. |
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The ageing cellars proper occupy the semi-basement,
which due to its northerly aspect, the thickness
of its walls and the fact that they is partly underground,
provide the perfect temperature and humidity conditions
for ageing wines. The cellars have over 100 Bordeaux
barrels of new American oak.
The former granary and dovehouse have been adapted
as offices.
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