For the average person, 55 F (13 C) is hardly an ideal temperature. But if you’re a wine maker, 55 degrees is perfect for storing wine. To keep its winemaking rooms cool, the owners of the Merryvale Winery in St. Helena, Calif., and Tassel Ridge Winery in Leighton, Iowa, installed the HIGH-R Insulated Ceiling System from HIGH-R Inc., Ames, Iowa.
“We age the wine under cave-like conditions, so we need it to stay pretty cold,” said Graham Wehmeier, winemaker at Merryvale. The winemaking room is also kept humid to facilitate the aging process.
Unlike traditional insulation methods where sheets of urethane are installed between trusses just below the decking of a metal building roof, the HIGHR Insulated Ceiling System is mounted on the purlins at the base of the trusses. The cavity between the purlins and the decking is filled with blown fiberglass insulation, allowing for R-40 or greater insulation. The system results in consistent interior temperatures and low heating and cooling costs.
For Merryvale, an added benefit of the HIGH-R system was that it could be retrofitted to its existing building. Temperature control was a major consideration when Tassel Ridge was building its new building that stands 28 feet (9 m) tall from the winemaking floor to the ceiling.The building features a bridge that allows guests to observe the winemaking process and a tasting room that overlooks portions of the winemaking room and cellar.
“If we can keep the cellar temperature down to 55 to 60 degrees
[16 C], that’s what’s best for the wine,” said Jim Carmichael, who oversees winemaking and cellar operations at Tassel Ridge. “We can normally achieve that seven months out of the year without additional cooling.”
Carmichael added that the HIGH-R system panels also offer an aesthetically pleasing look for the winery’s guests. “The insulated panels look nice in the tasting room, and that’s important, as well.”
