Jackson Family Wines (JFW) wanted to expand its successful Kendall-Jackson Winery in the Monterey County city of Fulton, Calif. With two other buildings already on the property for grape processing and wine fermentation, a wine storage facility would allow much-needed growth capabilities for JFW operations.

Ideally, a wine storage building should not allow fluctuations of temperature or humidity. For this reason, the cladding specified to form the building’s envelope was an essential component. When designing the Kendall-Jackson wine storage facility, the choice was made to use insulated metal panels.

 

Fundamentals of Wine Care 

A wine storage building must be more than just a basic warehouse. Wine has to be stored in a structure that can maintain a temperature range from 55-65 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity levels should remain between 60 to 80 percent. This slows the aging process and helps wine develop properly. Fluctuation in these figures can cause wine to expand and contract, producing oxidation that could ruin its flavor. Humidity below 60 percent can cause evaporation, while exceeding 80 percent can encourage mold. Finally, excessive light exposure causes wine proteins to become “hazy” and can create unwanted aromas and flavors. The building envelope must allow for a stable internal environment that keeps the temperature, humidity, and light exposure within the desired ranges to ensure the highest quality wine production.   

 

Kingspan’s panels were selected to form the building envelope because they help reduce thermal bridging and prevent unwanted fluctuations in the internal environment throughout the entirety of the winemaking process. Now, with this facility completed, Jackson Family Wines (JFW) now has storage space for 35,000 barrels (875,000 cases) of wine, a new barrel cleaning line, and additional wine tanks. 

 

Built To International Codes

CBC Steel Buildings, based in Lathrop, Calif., was commissioned to design and construct the new 100,000-square-foot barrel storage building, with office space, for the Kendall-Jackson Winery. 

According to Ron Munoz, sales service manager for CBC Steel Buildings, the owner required the building to have International Code Council (ICC) certification. The ICC offers a certification program for contractors and construction industry professionals. “CBC Steel Buildings is certified by the ICC, an organization that develops codes and standards for the construction industry,” said Ron Munoz. “These codes are a set of comprehensive building safety and fire prevention codes that set minimum standards for the safe construction of residential and commercial buildings.” 

 

CBC Steel Buildings also has extensive experience installing products, which are also certified by the ICC. “That was an important factor in this particular project because ICC certification was also mandated by Monterey County,” said Munoz.

 

Covered With Color

For the aesthetics they wanted to achieve for this facility, they needed a roof system that was available in a multitude of colors. In total, almost 100,000 square feet of the 900 Series High Rib roof panel system was installed in Copper Penny and Sandstone to match the design specifications for the roof of the new Kendall Jackson Winery storage facility.

 

The panel system provides the thermal performance and air tightness necessary to maintain the proper storage conditions in a wine storage building. The roof panel system reduces the overall demand for energy, but also adds to a building’s curb appeal, which was key for this project, as they wanted to take advantage of the scenic views surrounding this new facility. 

 

There were other benefits of specifying insulated metal panels. “Speed of build was a critical challenge,” said Matt Stanzione, regional sales manager for Kingspan. “Specifying a single component insulated metal panel, as opposed to a more complicated multi-part cladding method, really minimizes construction delays.” In fact, according to Stanzione, its one-step installation can significantly reduce on-site installation time compared to conventional built-up wall and roof systems. 

 

Help Was Available

Expert staff members were called on to assist CBC with some unique design features on this project. Certain design features on the Kendall-Jackson wine storage building included arched areas with recessed panels. “Kingspan custom made curved trims for these arched areas,” said Ron Munoz of CBC Steel Buildings. “The building also had parapets that were six feet wide with the top of each parapet having a 300 Azteco panel.”

 

Over 53,000 square feet of 300 Azteco panels were used to form the facility’s exterior walls. The wall panels were perfectly suited for the Kendall-Jackson Winery storage building. These panels allow flexibility in design because they can be used in in many differing building types. 

 

Proper Storage for Years to Come

Remember that for the best wine storage conditions, a barrel storage facility must have a very controlled interior environment. One of the biggest sources of heat loss, or gain, in a building is air leakage. The wall panels used provide thermal performance of high R-value, superior airtightness, and help reduce thermal bridging. These issues were very big concerns for the construction of a building such as the Kendall-Jackson Winery storage facility.