In Saint-Magne-de-Castillon, France, Eric Castagnotto designed a new sustainable estate for Château Angélus winery
Château Angélus is a French winery that produces high-quality wines of inestimable value. The historical wine of the house, Carillon d’Angélus, is produced on the wine estate of Saint Emilion, located in a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The use of this area by public and private individuals is bound to the respect of some strict rules that everyone has to respect in order to safeguard local flora and fauna. For this reason, when the company decided to expand and produce the second wine, Tempo d’Angelus, as they could neither enlarge the old estate nor build a new one nearby, had to look for new solutions elsewhere. Therefore, the new winery of Château Angélus is located in Saint-Magne-de-Castillon, a commune near Saint Emilion. The 100% green and environmentally sustainable project was developed by Eric Castagnotto.
Discover Cantina Ceretto: art and winemaking tradition
A project balancing heritage conservation and innovation
The new Château Angélus building occupies an area of 4,400 square meters and blends in with the surrounding nature: the roof is completely covered by grass and hidden among the fields. Two wooden domes of different sizes can be seen bursting out of the ground. The building contains a reception area for grapes with optical sorting, a vat room for vinification, a cellar for malolactic fermentation and one for maturation.
The cellar is also provided with innovative equipment for bottling and labeling. In the vat room, there are 18 inverted truncated cone-shaped vats, whose lifting system is 100% gravity fed.
Moreover, an innovative nitrogen production plant enables permanent protection of wines as well as oxygen control during vinification and aging. Lastly, photovoltaic panels allow for self-production of part of the electricity needed for the structure’s operations.
The Château Angélus wine estate is sustainable and certified
The new Château Angélus estate designed by Eric Castagnotto is HVE3 certified. This certification attests to the “High Environmental Value” of the building, phytosanitary and fertilization strategies, as well as the best practices in preserving and cultivating biodiversity. The building is BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) certified, which is the British equivalent of France’s HQE (Haute Qualité Environnementale).
About BREEAM
BREEAM is the most widespread building certification standard in the world assessing the environmental performance from the design stage through the entire lifecycle of the building.
Obtaining this certification means that one has worked on green and sustainable solutions, respectful of the environment and attentive to people’s psychophysical wellbeing.
