It’s been a long haul; kilos of paper, entire days of queuing, metres of red tape, more hoops and hurdles than I care to recall, but at long last the plans for our new cellar have been approved. This means that we will be breaking ground in the next few months and with an enormous dollop of good fortune we may be vinifying and aging on site in 2011. Barrel tastings ahoy!

 The planning permission has been particularly difficult to obtain because we are close enough to Montalcino town to be considered within the town walls which means that we are subject to all of the restrictions regarding changes to the urban environment. We have had to have geological surveys on the land since part of the cellar will be underground. The town council has also just changed a lot of the cards on the table but the trials and tribulations of the last 14 months (yes, 14 months!) can be set aside while we ready ourselves for the new stresses and worries of having a building site on the property, cleverly planned to coincide with the arrival of our third child.

The new building has been conceived to blend beautifully into the landscape, combining simple elegance with functionality and the best of modern technology.

Montalcino architect Marco Pignattai designed the new cellar in close co-operation with our winemaker, Paolo Vagaggini. “I was inspired by country churches” he says “simple shapes, sloping roofs and perfect integration with the surroundings.”  It will have solar panels and be self sufficient in terms of energy production with both photovoltaic modules to convert sunlight into electricity and solar thermal collectors to heat water. The whole structure has been planned and insulated to be as energy efficient as possible.

Bring it on!

Ps. I had originally thought of writing this piece of joyous tidings as a kind of birth notice, with the weight of the paperwork involved and detailing the elephantine gestation period of this project. I have been undone by detail since I have now discovered that the only animal that nearly has a 14 month gestation period is the zebra… not such a good metaphor!

http://www.yourveterinaryclinic.com/page14/gestation-period.html