Coursey Graves Winery strives to achieve the highest standard in sustainability in all of their operations. We were delighted and privileged to provide redwood and other architectural vintage wood for their Healdsburg tasting room.
The redwood doors as you enter the building were harvested from trees grown along the Pacific Coast between Sonoma County and Crescent City. They were then transported by three mast schooners to San Francisco. The last load of lumber to leave the Mendocino Coast by sea left in 1938 from the pier to Soldier Point in Fort Bragg. In 1935 the George Windler Redwood & Tank Co. in San Francisco manufactured several redwood tanks for the Cherokee Vineyard Association. In 1979 a group of investors purchased the winery and marketed the wine under the Eleven Cellars label. Acquired in 1979 by Robert Mondavi, the redwood tanks were slowly replaced by oak barrels. In the early stages of production, Mondavi used the redwood tanks for their “vin ordinaire” table wine. That technique was phased out due to “off flavoring”. In 2018 the staves were hand selected by Sonoma Millworks to be prominently displayed at Coursey Graves. Milled only a few miles from the tasting room, the team was able to maintain their commitment to meet platinum-level LEED standards as elements of the Living Building Challenge certification were implemented.
One of the fundamental tenets of the philosophy that guided the design for Coursey Graves is not only the provenance of the old growth redwood but the quest for sustainable practices. As a native specimen born along the rugged coastal plains in California, redwood was used as a fermenting vessel for California grapes, then transformed to the elegantly finished door proudly displayed as you enter the Tasting Room. We are proud to have had the opportunity to be a part on this noble endeavor.
