Parquet Barrique
Viticulture was an essential part of the agricultural business that has been based in this house for centuries. Along with the buildings, we inherited a, currently sealed, grappa distillery, a wine press and a steel tank complete with 300 litres of red wine vinegar! In the cellar, we found a considerable collection of Merlots from the 70’s, mostly on their way to becoming acid as well. Also in the cellar were wine barrels and a treading basin made of chestnut and oak wood in which the wine was crushed and stored even before the time of basket-presses and steel tanks.
This wonderful material had to be brought to the fore and recycled during the reconstruction. The woodworm had already celebrated several parties in this cellar and would have eventually destroyed the barrels. In order to avoid too rustic a feel, the wooden staves were cut into parquet, so that the origin of the material would only be perceived at second glance. First the huge barrels had to be taken apart. Their inside was partly covered with a thick, sparkling layer of tartar. The carpenter, Stefan Höhn, planed and sawed the staves into wooden strips. Then, over several nights and a good few bottles of wine, the strips were matched into pairs before finally being repositioned in a herringbone pattern. The different tonal values of the wood, the different grains, and the colouring caused by the aged wine result in a lively, yet uniform picture.