City & Country Winery is Alberta’s first urban winery located in Calgary’s light industrial area in a district known by locals as “The Barley Belt”. They primarily source and ship their grapes from the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys directly to their winery. Unlike traditional wineries that separate their wine making space from their tasting rooms, City & Country Winery’s vision was to provide a holistic approach to the wine experience by making their wine in the same space as the tasting room. The minimalist design solution divides its usage efficiently between public and private events.

The conceptual driver of the architectural expression was driven by the dualism between winemaking and tasting, that which is also between, and where, the City meets the Country. We explored these two concepts through materiality, texture, colour and shape. The city is expressed through a minimalist approach in the furniture, millwork, finishing and lighting. The country, while still contemporary in nature, is expressed in a creative use of reclaimed fence wood from the clients’ family farm in Southern Alberta that additionally met the project team’s shoestring budget. City & Country Winery is a precedent project for all future urban wineries to come.