Bodegas Portia

A 3-pointed star in Ribera del Duero, designed by Foster & Partners.

Portia WineryReal Academia de Gastronomía

Bodegas Portia

In the heart of Ribera del Duero is Bodegas Portia, a winery designed by the prestigious British architect Norman Foster and described as "the heart of a flower with 3 petals." This spectacular architectural project has come to symbolize the union between wine and the avant-garde.

Portia WineryReal Academia de Gastronomía

The winery is set on a hill and uses the terrain to achieve the best conditions for producing wine. Not only that, Foster & Partners have managed to create an environmentally friendly building that uses minimal energy and is perfectly integrated with its surroundings.

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Main entrance to the winery with vineyards surrounding its entire periphery.

The building's design harmoniously combines 4 materials—steel, wood, concrete, and glass—seamlessly integrating its shapes into the landscape.

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This sculpture is part of a show put on in the winery itself, which is often the setting for art exhibitions.

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The winery's reception and visitor information area.

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The building was inaugurated in 2010 and its 3-pointed star structure spans over 130,000 square feet. Each point is dedicated to a specific part of the winemaking process: fermenting the wine in stainless-steel tanks, maturing it in barrels, and aging it in bottles.

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The visitor center sits in the middle of the 3 points and boasts a tasting room, store, auditorium, meeting room, and cafeteria.

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Outside terrace of the Triennia Gastrobar with views over the vineyard and the A-1 highway.

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Ramp up to the upper level of the winery on the roof, where the tractors go during the harvest to unload the grapes straight down into the winemaking facility. They go up one ramp and back down the other.

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Winemaking facility where the grapes are unloaded, selected, de-stemmed, and pressed, before the grape juice (or "must") is transferred to the various stainless steel vats.

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Wine store and tasting room for visitors to the winery.

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Winemaking facility with stainless steel vats in which alcoholic and malolactic fermentation takes place at the start of the winemaking process.

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Entrance to Bodegas Portia's barrel room, which is often used for art exhibitions.

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Bodegas Portia's barrel room, where the wines are aged in barrels made of French and American oak.

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In the upper part of the barrel room, you can see the different function rooms that look out over it.

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Private wine cellar (also designed by Foster & Partners), where individuals and companies store their wine in the best conditions, and have it sent to them on request.

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Entrance to Bodegas Portia's wine cellar, where the wines complete the aging process in bottles to give them their finishing nuances.

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The design—also by Foster & Partners—sees each bottle placed individually by hand, just like in a classical old library.

Credits: Story

360º image: Sinue Serra (www.sinueserra.com)

Acknowledgements: Roberto San Martín San Julián of Portia Winery; Rafael Ansón, president of the Spanish Royal Academy of Gastronomy; Elena Rodríguez, director of the Spanish Royal Academy of Gastronomy; María García and Caroline Verhille, contributors to the Spanish Royal Academy of Gastronomía.

Spanish Royal Academy of Gastronomy

This exhibition is part of the Spanish Gastronomy project jointly coordinated by Google Arts & Culture and the Spanish Royal Academy of Gastronomy.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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