![]() ![]() The descent from the naturally lit Rotunda to the dimly lit subterranean level is dramatic – and purposeful. One element of style that helps create this elegant mood is the use of mirror images – a device consistently used in classical European architecture. The stairwell, like the upper level of the winery, has a formal feeling, even though contemporary, light and understated. At its center, softly dappled light pours through a pyramidal skylight, illuminating the spiral stairway that leads down to the Gallery - the main entry to the cellar level of Opus One. The Rotunda, with its glazed yellow interior, has an inviting, comfortable ambiance. The building’s architect, Scott Johnson, refers to Opus One as being “introverted, like a jewel box.” Its hemispheric form nestles in the earth and is surrounded by a grassy berm. Similarly, the winery itself is integrated into the land around it. The balusters are “cast” in negative space. The Eastern perspective that an object and the space around it are of equal importance is reflected in the balustrade of the spiral stairway. As elsewhere in Opus One, hand-plastered walls and ceilings are finished with a gesso of pale yet luminous yellow. A room furnished with seeming contradictions, the Salon is a deft merging of Old and New World sensibilities. Brightly-glazed, modern ceramics line a fifteenth-century limestone mantel. In the Salon, the winery’s most formal space, eighteenth-century Italian opera chairs face contemporary chenille sofas and suede seating. And just as it honors the land, it honors the light. The quiet profile of Opus One blends with the natural surroundings – the vineyards and rolling hills of the Napa Valley. Modern materials – California redwood and stainless steel – are juxtaposed against cream-colored Texas limestone. The winery, like the wine, joins New World and Old World aesthetics. Defined by colonnades on either side, a central courtyard introduces an architectural motif found throughout the building.
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