Domaine de Belargus Val-du-Layon , France

Domaine Belargus: Construction of a winery

Mission : Analysis, Feasibility, Programming, Competition Organization, Project Owner support

Analyse, étude de Faisabilité, Programmation architecturale, Organisation de Concours d'architecture, appel d'offre , suivi AMO assistance maîtrise d'ouvrage chai viticole domaine viticole

Mission : Analysis, Feasibility, Programming, Competition Organization, Project Owner support

The genesis
Context
Programming
Concours d’architecture
The winning project & the finalists

As ancient wine-producing region, Anjou has produced wines served at the royal court since the 12th century. But the phylloxera crisis, at the end of the 19th century, profoundly changed Anjou’s vineyards. Many producers then turned to more massive production, abandoning the great hillside terroirs and consigning Anjou wines to a form of oblivion.

Today, a handful of “pioneering” winegrowers have chosen to restore the value of Chenin Blanc plots in order to ensure the survival of this ancestral Anjou grape variety.

Among them, Ivan Massonnat, committed winegrowers, bought Domaine Python-Payé in 2018, and created Domaine Belargus. At the origin of the project was the vision of a great wine lover, determined to be part of the history of Anjou and the Layon Valley, and to restore a thousand-year-old vineyard to its former glory.

Hello BAM,
We'd like to launch an architectural competition for the construction of our winery here in Belargus.
Hello Ivan,
Magnificent estate, we would be delighted to help you with your project. We can visit you next week.
Thanks Boris, it's a pleasure! See you next week.

Context

An enthusiast's dream

After years of searching for the ideal vineyard, Ivan fell in love with Anjou and its great schist terroirs. Through successive meetings, he was able to build up a 24-hectare vineyard, managed biodynamically. With Chenin as its sole instrument, the Domaine explores the micro terroirs of Anjou using a parcel-by-parcel approach. It’s named after an endemic blue butterfly: the Belargus.

Ivan quickly surrounded himself with a young and talented team, both in the cellar and in the vineyards, and succeeded in creating the exceptional cuvées that earned Belargus its reputation in Anjou.

The design of the existing winery did not meet the Domaine’s winemaking requirements, so Ivan began looking for land on which to build a new winery to match his ambitions. Through a series of meetings, he found the ideal location: several buildings to renovate around the emblematic “Villa Français”, as well as a magnificent clearing nestling in the trees, where he can already see his winery blossoming..

The program

A hidden jewel case

From the outset of our meetings with the Belargus team, we immersed ourselves in their environment and discovered a team entirely devoted to the project led by Ivan.

In the course of our discussions, here are the major points on which we focused our programming:

A precision winemaking process: For Belargus, the main aim of the project is to meet their winemaking requirements. We therefore spent some time with Adrien, the cellar master, to design the ideal process circuit, to represent the essential gravity movements and to enable the architects to immediately immerse themselves in the winemaking challenges of the estate.
An immersive experience: for Ivan, the winery is above all a showcase in which the wine rests and finishes its maturing process. This is the story he wants to tell and share with those lucky enough to visit the winery. The visit circuit will therefore be central to the building's design, and will tell the story of how Belargus makes its wines.
Enhancing local heritage:The Belargus estate is firmly rooted in the Layon valley, which is why we have encouraged the use or reinterpretation of traditional building methods and local materials.
A cutting-edge environmental approach: For Belargus, minimising the impact of the construction and use of buildings is essential to preserving their working environment. To achieve this, we have focused on 3 areas: Energy self-sufficiency, carbon impact of materials, use of local resources, etc.

Architectural competition

In search of the perfect team

Once the program had been completed, following several months of long immersion in the estate, we launched the architectural competition, keeping our fingers crossed that the project would be a success.

A few weeks later, we received over 120 applications! For a project of this scale, it’s a huge success. Winery projects are definitely popular with architects.

After a tough selection process among the world’s leading agencies, Belargus chose to work with Philippe Prost, Lina Ghotmeh and Titan. It’s a gamble for the Domaine, which is embarking on this adventure with three agencies who have never built a winery before.

To ensure that the projects meet the winemaking challenges, we meet with the offices in an intermediate meeting and provide the necessary feedback to ensure that we get 3 projects that will work perfectly for Belargus wine making.

After 3 months’ work, the gamble paid off: the 3 projects are magnificent and meet the challenges of the program. Our role has been fulfilled, and now it’s up to Ivan to make the right choice. Good luck Ivan.

The winning project

Titan

The winning project by Titan, a young Nantes-based agency renowned for its work with recycled materials, perfectly suited to the idea of a temple in which wine rests during its maturation. Spread out over several levels, the grapes arrive on the first floor where vinification takes place before sinking underground where the wines will spend several years in foudre in the vaulted, earth-covered cellar. Material recovery and the use of local stone, gravity-fed wine-making and an exceptional tour are at the heart of this project, which we can't wait to see come to fruition.