9 Things You Don’T Know About Our Wine Tasting Room
We recently opened our new Wine Tasting Room – a large double-volume building with light streaming in through the glass doors, maximizing the view of the Helderberg Mountains. The process involved various conscious building practices. Here are some interesting facts about the conversion.
1. We rebuilt on the existing deli footprint and thus fewer foundations were dug and less concrete was used than if we had to build from scratch on a new site.
2. Rainwater collects from pipes in the roof, and discharges directly into the dam to resupply it.
Even the décor was influenced by recycling and up-cycling:
3. The chandelier above the tasting counter was created by artist Heath Nash from 334 recycled wine bottles, and weighs about 370 kg.
4. The design of the building – high roofs, natural light and ventilation – means that air-conditioning is rarely needed, and the internal temperature should be rarely stable year round… except for those extremely hot or cold days!
5. Most of the furniture has been recycled from other areas on Spier.
6. All the bar fridges cools wine using a low energy insulated system that only needs to run 3 – 4 hours a day.
7. All lights are energy saving LED lights, which also emits less heat - a very important factor in a wine display area!
8. The shelves in the wine shop are made from reclaimed timber boxes and are lit up from beneath with LED lights.
9. The polished concrete and gravel floor contains no resins or harmful glues, no tiles or grouting, and can be cleaned by using only water (no detergent needed).