Dominus Winery, Vineyard house in Yountville, United States

Dominus Winery is a vineyard house in Yountville with distinctive gabion walls made of local stones held in wire mesh cages. The building contains a fermentation room with chrome tanks, a barrel aging chamber with oak barrels, and storage spaces for wine.

In 1993, Bordeaux winegrower and art collector Christian Moueix commissioned Herzog & de Meuron to build a wine library for his Dominus wine. The Basel firm won the job over Christian de Portzamparc and I. M. Pei by promising a building that affirmed the wine's standing without aiming to be a tourist attraction. It was their first completed project in the Americas.

The winery's name comes from the Latin word dominus, meaning lord, and refers to the estate's flagship Napa Valley red wine. Christian Moueix, a Bordeaux winegrower and art collector, commissioned the building in 1993. The architects promised a structure that would confirm the wine's standing without becoming a tourist attraction, and the winery was their first completed project in the Americas.

Take time to view both the exterior facade and interior spaces, as the light filtering through the stone walls changes throughout the day. Morning or late afternoon visits offer the best natural lighting to appreciate the gabion walls and how they function as both structure and light filter.

The stone walls use varied sizes where smaller stones provide insulation while larger ones allow light penetration into the building. This clever system shows how the structure itself functions as an active part of winemaking rather than simply enclosing the work.