Part Four: Building the Winery

20 Years of Cinnabar: 1983-2003

Ron Mosley digging footings
with the winery backhoe.

Owner/Winemaker Tom Mudd and Vineyard Manager Ron Mosley successfully planted 23 acres of mountain vineyards in 1984 and completed their first harvest in 1986. While those feats were quite impressive, simultaneously constructing the winery building and caves over a five-month period of 1987 was nearly miraculous.

Architect Tad Cody designed the building while separate general contractors — Blach Construction for the building and Tom for the caves — directed operations. Ron worked on construction by day, and into the night doing vineyard management. “Tom has a doctorate in engineering and I worked in large-scale construction earlier in life,” says Ron. “We felt comfortable taking on the caves.”

Groundbreaking for both projects began in April. Using a “cut and cover” technique, 10,000 cubic yards of earth were removed to make room for the caves and winery that would rise above them. Ron dug footings for many of the foundations with the winery backhoe. Substructures were made of reinforced concrete: the crush pad, the bottom floor, and a 22-foot-high retaining wall that forms the back of the winery.

The caves being framed by
4’x4’ Bernold sheets.

Carpenters followed with structural framing and outside sheeting. Next, a cadre of workers installed wiring, plumbing, ductwork, landscaping and more. The drywall, finish carpentry, exterior siding, winery catwalks and a weathered-steel roof (Corten) were added later. While all of this was going on, Tom and Ron were building the caves.

The caves were framed with Bernold sheets — 4’x4’ overlapping steel panels with louvers. They were supported by outside rebar and temporary inside scaffolding. Concrete was sprayed on both sides forming an overall thickness of 1.5 feet on top and two feet near the base. The finished caves were covered by a minimum of 10 feet of compacted earth./p>

Tom Mudd supervises chardonnay
crushing midst construction.

Things got very interesting at the end of August as both projects neared completion. Unfortunately, the first grapes (chardonnay) ripened about three weeks early. A Willmes press was installed and tanks were in place, but not the cooling systems. Some creative means of maintaining proper fermentation temperatures were employed, including the application of cold wet blankets to the tank exteriors. The chardonnay was successfully fermented as was the cabernet that arrived after construction was completed.

The building and caves stand today as testament to the dedication and tenacity of Tom and Ron. Both structures survived the powerful Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989 without a scratch. “If we could ferment during construction, we could take on anything,” says Tom.

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