They’ve kept it a secret for quite some time, but the cat is out of the bag — a winery in Lake Country has gone underground.
The owner, O’Rourke Family Vineyards, has spent millions of dollars digging a cavern below the bedrock in Carr’s landing — just to be unique.
Winemaker, Adrian Baker, said it’s nothing like your everyday winery.
“The bedrock stabilizes at the temperature of the valley. The overall ‘mean’ temperature of the valley is about 10 degrees,” said winemaker Adrian Baker. “So, it means the wine can evolve in barrels at a very, very stable temperature and not be forced either to a point of danger of quick development from being warm or into a point of basically shutting down because it’s too cold.”
Over a period of five months, crews have dug 300 meters of caverns re-enforced by bolts and heavy duty steel mesh.
“Each one of these bolts goes in either eight or 11 feet into the rock and they’re set-in with epoxy glue. Basically they tie into the rock so it can’t fall on us.”
The question everyone wants to know is the cost? So far, the owners has invested $2 million not including the 180 acres of vines that were planted on the property four years ago.
The winery will focus on producing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Baker said they hope to begin production next year and each bottle will have its own story.
“I don’t think it’s going to be prominent on the label but I think it’s going to be part of the story of the wine. It’s a true story and true stories work really well in the wine industry.”
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