Quixote Winery is a boutique

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

in the Stags Leap District of

Napa Valley Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in Napa County in California's Wine Country. It was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) on January 27, 1981. Napa Valley is considered one of the premier ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The winery produces organic

red wine Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties. The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice from most purple grap ...

in the premium segment, and also features unusual, eclectic architecture and label design.

Production and facilities

Quixote Winery produces Petite Sirah (Quixote spells it as Petite Syrah) and

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

varietal wines, under the "Quixote" label. Fruit is sourced from the , sustainably-farmed Stags’ Leap District estate

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

that was planted in 1996 located between

Stags' Leap Winery Stags' Leap Winery is a winery located near Yountville, California, United States, in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley. The winery's estate vineyard was first planted in 1893. In 1997, Stags' Leap was purchased by Beringer Wine Estates, ...

and Shafer Vineyards. The wine, which retails between $85 to $225 per bottle ($40 for Rose), are highly rated and have received numerous awards.

Food and Wine Magazine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and se ...

rated Quixote one of the twenty best new wineries in the world between 1999 and 2004. The winery building, including grounds, is the only United States project built by

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Music of Vienna, musical styles in the city * Viennese Waltz, genre of ballroom dance * V ...

architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000). Among other unusual touches, the winery is designed in a whimsical, exotic way with

ceramic tiles Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...

, irregularly rounded and painted columns, and deliberately uneven floors designed for their tactile effect on occupants' feet. There are no right angles, except in the basement. The design style has been called phantasmagoric,

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

, and Dr. Seuss-like, and also likened to "the creation of a beautifully demented child". The winery structure is dominated by an

onion dome An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the tholobate upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. These bulbous structures taper smoothly to a point. It is a ty ...

covered in

gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...

, as well as a living roof topped with grass, bushes, and trees.

History

In 1971, Carl Doumani purchased the historic

. Over two decades he restored the vineyard, winery, and

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

. In 1988, Doumani decided to create a smaller organic and sustainable winery highlighting his much adored varietal, Petite Sirah. He formed a friendship with renowned Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, with whom he worked to design the winery, after growing impatient with his intended project architect and noticing Hundertwasser's sculptures in a calendar. Partly due to the unusual design process and construction methods, the winery took ten years to complete. Hundertwasser also designed some of the winery's unusual wine labels, and persuaded Doumani to produce the wine with organically farmed grapes. Hundertwasser and Doumani agreed on a design approach that would emphasize that structures, and the people in them, need not be on "the grid", and could instead be close to nature. Winemaker for Quixote Winery has been under the direction of Robert Smith since 2011 with Philippe Melka as consulting winemaker since 2018. Wine Spectator reported in July 2014 that Quixote Winery had been sold to a Chinese company for approximately $29 million.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Quixote Winery
Quixote Winery Website

Article discussing Carl Doumani and the Quixote Winery of Stags Leap Ranch
Wineries in Napa Valley Companies based in Napa County, California Expressionist architecture Visionary environments 1996 establishments in California Friedensreich Hundertwasser buildings