ValenVine Party Showcases Mia Carta’s Limited Production Wine Labels and Striking Interior of Historic Napa Structure
NAPA VALLEY, CA – FEBRUARY 17, 2022 – Mia Carta, downtown Napa’s micro-vintner tasting room collective, hosted a ValenVine party yesterday to celebrate the love of wine and design. More than 50 winery and hospitality executives gathered in Mia Carta’s striking tasting room—designed by award-winning architecture firm INTERSTICE Architects—to taste limited production labels and enjoy hors d’oeurves from Mia Carta’s in-house kitchen.
Located at the corner of First and Coombs Street on the ground floor of the historic Native Sons of the Golden West building, Mia Carta’s intricately designed space effortlessly melds the building’s original architecture with more sustainable modern materials and technologies designed to enrich the sensual winetasting experience.
The event celebrated design and the art of fine wine with selections from boutique, family-owned and -operated, micro-production Napa Valley wineries, including Art House Wines, Earthshine, Essere Napa, Ilsley Vineyards, Marston Family Vineyards, Pellet Estate, RARECAT Wines, Redmon Wines, and Sciandri Family Vineyards. The collective offers customers a selection of lesser-known, small-production wines from Napa’s premier growing regions.
The collaborative process of designing Mia Carta can be felt by the visitor when standing in the winetasting room. The inclusion of natural light provides an indoor-outdoor aspect to the tasting room, which is imbued throughout with elements of Napa.
“Celebrating the senses with Napa Valley micro-vintners and hospitality executives is just how we envisioned our distinct room design to be showcased,” says Andrew Dunbar, COO and Design Principal at INTERSTICE Architects. “We incorporated highly specific, custom materials, integrating every architectural detail from the ground up— similar to how vintners harvest their grapevines and craft their wine into bottles for tasting flights at Mia Carta.”
The collaboration between Mia Carta owners Essere Franco and INTERSTICE allowed the space to be completely re-created with a spectacular new design. The tasting room captures the wine makers’ desire to incorporate the feel of downtown Napa into the environment. Ridding the room of its dropped ceilings and boarded-up openings revealed the raw building’s magnificent high ceilings and natural lighting. The open space was built with authentic materials that were repurposed to add a fresh modern feel to this historic building. INTERSTICE also added a two-story, three-dimensional wine wall with an extruded street grid of downtown Napa streets as shelves to serve as the focal point of the room.
The tasting room’s expansive area also contains a Piaggio “Ape” wine beverage cart and a front wall comprised of a large façade of folding windows that contribute additional natural light. An open design and covered outdoor seating allow visitors to be enveloped in their own little world while keeping them engaged with the bustle of downtown Napa outside.
About INTERSTICE Architects:
INTERSTICE Architects is a San Francisco-based, dual-disciplinary firm specializing in landscape and architectural design. Co-founded by Zoee Astrachan and Andrew Dunbar in 2000, the firm comprises eight multidisciplinary architects, landscape architects, and urban designers. INTERSTICE is known for an inquisitive, forward-looking approach to design that unfolds new technical and material possibilities and expands the active role of designers in civic spaces and residential and commercial buildings, from exterior to interior. With over 130 private and public projects completed, INTERSTICE is recognized for its ability to create engaging and impactful work across a variety of settings. The team carefully selects sustainable materials for their projects that help reduce impact to the environment. The firm’s notable work includes residential, mixed-use, and commercial projects; campus and cultural public landmarks; medical and innovation institutions; streetscape and landscape installations; and academic designs for top-ranked universities. INTERSTICE Architects is based in San Francisco and serves clients nationwide. For more information, visit www.intersticearchitects.com.
