Cellar

During the second year of the project, the oldest “bodega” in the Apalta Valley became the home of Neyen. We recovered and renovated the adobe building built in 1890 where some of the valley’s earliest wines were made and aged, according to literature of the time.

A number of original elements, such as wooden pillars, adobe walls, and stone fences, were recovered and integrated into a simple and functional design. The result is a gravity-flow cellar with a room for 600 barrels and another with tanks of varying sizes, plus a mezzanine for grape selection and a wine library that will store every vintage of Neyen.

In a later stage, architect Jorge Swinburn was commissioned for the construction of an adjoining cellar that would respect Apalta’s environment and landscape.

Built of concrete and straw blocks, the new 170,000-liter facility is entered through the ancient Oregon pine doors that once protected the original bodega, whose details incorporate the region’s landscape and faithfully represent the spirit of Neyen de Apalta.