This stylish restoration of a nearly 200 year-old wine cellar combines many of our favourite attributes in a renovation: generous use of aged and new wood, lavish open spaces and a minimalist colour palette.
This stylish restoration of a nearly 200 year-old wine cellar captivates us with its overall minimalist approach. It transforms the historic space to meet modern needs yet does so without losing the elegant patina and without destroying the authenticity and uniqueness of this particular location. It is not easy know where to stop, which is why so many renovations damage what was already good. Not this time.
The renovation was completed earlier this year by Lisbon, Portugal-based P06-Nuno Gusmão. The creative director of the project was Nuno Gusmão and the design leads Giuseppe Greco and Joana Proserpio.
The building, Graham’s Lodge, is located in Portugal in Vila Nova de Gaia on the Douro river estuary near the Atlantic Ocean.
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The granite-walled Lodge is now not just a real, functional working building where thousands of casks of Port are aged, but also an immersive visitor centre where Graham’s Vintage Ports can be tasted and experienced as part of guided tours.
W & J Graham’s was founded in Oporto, Portugal, in 1820 by two Scottish brothers, William and John Graham.
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The Lodge opened to the public for the first time in 1993, but the current renovation, commissioned by the Symington family that owns the company today, takes the visit of the constantly increasing numbers of visitors from a typical ‘winery tour’ to an exciting, authentic experience.
The guided visits now include a visitor reception hall leading to an auditorium, the two-level Graham’s Museum, the Lodge itself, a tasting room, the Vintage Room, a shop and a wine bar and restaurant. Among the fake historic environments so prevalent in wineries, it is refreshing to see the real thing once in a while. – Tuija Seipell.
