Designers
Nicole Hollis, Backen, Gillam & Kroeger Architects
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Owners Mark Nelson and Dana Johnson turn to Wine Country's acclaimed Backen, Gillam & Kroeger Architects and designer Nicole Hollis to craft a modern winery inspired by the past.
Mark Nelson is no stranger to progressive thought and modern technologies. In 1988, he founded Ovid Technologies, a company which created software and databases to help electronically categorize and search through medical and academic literature. But ten years later, when he sold Ovid Technologies, Mark and his partner Dana Johnson were ready for a project with roots that were a bit older. The couple purchased a 300-acre property on St. Helena’s Pritchard Hill and opened Ovid Winery. The winery is known for it’s blend of classical and modern techniques—grapes are organically farmed, the vineyard is CCOF-certified and the winery, timeless in form, is powered by solar energy and eco-friendly.
Mark and Dana commissioned Howard Backen of Backen, Gillam & Kroeger Architects and designer Nicole Hollis to craft a contemporary barn to house tasting and hospitality rooms with a classic architectural form. Backen leveraged reclaimed timber, glass and formed concrete to create a space that melds into the rugged topography that surrounds the winery.
Inside, Hollis followed suit, blending rustic materials in a sleek, modern way. She drew from the property’s natural surroundings when it came time to fashion the tasting room, stylized with a muted color palette that reflects the dramatic outdoor valley views. “When you work with landscape that is changing all the time, you don’t want to use bright colors,” Hollis says.
Fermenting caves were dug out of the nearby hillside, extending 20-feet into the land. The excavation process created a mountain of rock, some of which was used to pave the quarter-mile stone path linking the winery to the private residence. Hollis used Edison bulb fixtures to create the sparkling wall effect within the cave.
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