California: Wineries Complete Shared Cave Project

(Wines&Vines) - It’s taken 8.5 years, but the wineries in the Caves at Soda Canyon crushed their first wine grapes this year.

The four wine companies that inhabit the unusual shared-cave winery crushed 195.4 tons of fruit Sept. 3, the day they finished construction. They still don’t have power from Pacific Gas and Electric, so the wineries are operating from a generator. Much of the cave project remains unfinished, but they hope to get power in not too long, and to complete the rest of the tunnels in a year or so.

Ryan and Crystal Waugh of Waugh Cellars founded the Caves at Soda Canyon in 2005, and they applied for a permit to construct the winery overlooking the Stags Leap District in August 2006.

Unfortunately, the recession delayed progress. “Three partners have come and gone,” said Ryan Waugh, the managing partner and owner of one of the four wineries using the cave (three as alternating proprietors). He’s also had two management teams.

Fully underground winery

The operation is one of very few fully underground wineries in Napa Valley and even California. It lies on 41 acres of rugged hillside accessed by driving 3.5 miles up winding Soda Canyon Road toward Atlas Peak. Three portals into the caves will face east (one isn’t open yet), into the Vaca Range and Atlas Peak, with a fourth supplying a breathtaking panorama of Napa Valley—even San Francisco, 62 miles away, on a clear day. About 9,200 square feet of the 22,000-square-foot project is complete, with entrances to the planned extension capped at present. The part completed includes a large chamber where grapes are sorted, destemmed and pressed, plus tunnels, barrel storage and offices.