Last May, architect Carmen Maurice completed an exceptional winery, whose constructive and formal qualities earned her a nomination for the Équerre d’argent 2024 First Built Work prize. Revived thanks to the efforts of the Golfe du Morbihan Regional Nature Park and the city of Sarzeau, the Breton vineyards of Rhuys now set the scene for a round, productive building that embodies the cycles of seasons, vines and wine.

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Clémentine Roland

For several years now, vines have been taking root in Sarzeau, the largest commune on the Rhuys peninsula in the Gulf of Morbihan. The centuries-old cultivation of vines in Brittany came to an abrupt halt in the 1950s, when Morbihan wines, containing high levels of methanol, acquired a reputation for ‘driving mad’ those who drank them.

In 2014, the Gulf of Morbihan Regional Nature Park initiated a series of studies aimed at re-establishing this age-old culture in coastal areas. In 2017, the commune of Sarzeau, in partnership with the Regional Nature Park, launched a call for applications: the aim was to find a winegrower capable of ‘setting up and planting vines on communal land’ in compliance with organic farming criteria. Native of Champagne-Ardenne, Marie Devigne and Guillaume Hagnier were selected to plant and run a plot of over 6 hectares identified by Sarzeau local council – a project funded by the department of Morbihan, the European Union (FEDER funds) and the lease signed by the couple.

At the end of 2020, just as the estate’s silty clay soils had been planted with some 23,768 vines (50% Chardonnay, 25% Chenin and 25% Cabernet Franc), the commune of Sarzeau took on the role of project manager. It announced a competition for the design of a winery, which would enable the two winegrowers to transform their harvests into white, red and rosé wines, and the renovation of one of Sarzeau’s three historic grain mills located south of the plot.

 

 

Carmen Maurice‘s project caught the attention of the council for its curved lines and its proposal for a rotating plan evoking the cycles of wine. Maurice, a young architect who graduated three years earlier from ENSA Paris-Val-de-Seine, set up her own practice in 2020 after working in the construction department at PCA-Stream and as project manager for Atelier d’Architecture Perraudin. The Sarzeau winery, which started construction in October 2022, is her first built work.

 

 

The renovated mill has been turned into an exhibition space for historical artefacts, bearing witness to centuries of winegrowing in Rhuys. It is now a central feature of the project, enveloped on its eastern side by the circular winery designed by Carmen Maurice. Along the façade, which opens onto the mill, a ring, half-indoor, half-outdoor, delimits an exhibition area and welcomes visitors for tasting sessions.
The technical and production areas are laid out one after the other, following the steps in the winemaking process. From one end of the building to the other, the press and post-harvest storage areas are accessible at ground level, as are the labelling and delivery areas. The vat room and cellar are housed on a floor level more than 3 metres below ground level, ensuring good thermal inertia for these sensitive areas and allowing large vats to be stored.

The building’s thermal control is further enhanced by the use of monomur bricks, lined with bio-sourced insulation in the heated areas (the mill and the tasting room). Elsewhere, the structure is simply coated with lime plaster. The masons working on the site, specialists in the restoration of old buildings, also incorporated seashells into the plaster to remind visitors of the winery’s proximity to the ocean.

The winery became operational in September 2023, 9 months before the official handover of the building, to enable the winegrowers to work on their harvest before completion of the works. 15,000 new vines were planted this year, adding floréal, pinot noir and merlot to the list of grape varieties grown in Sarzeau. In 2022, the first harvest produced 6,500 bottles, marketed under the name ‘Dantelezh’ – ‘lace’ in Breton.

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Chai de Sarzeau, Rhuys Peninsula, Morbihan, France

Programme: Renovation of a mill and construction of a winery (warehouse, cellar)
Client: City of Sarzeau
Architect : Carmen Maurice Architecture
Partners and consultants: Armor Economie (quantity surveyor), Become56 (mechanical, electrical and plumbing), Alienor Ingénierie (process vinicole), Bretagne Ingénierie (structure), Nicolas Associés (roads system and urban public utilities), Laboratoire Vectœur (air quality)
Surface area : 496,27 sq.m + 200 sq.m (courtyard and warehouse)
Competition : 2020
Completion : May 2024 (partial availability of the vat house for harvesting in September 2023)
Cost : 1.7 million euros excluding VAT
Photography : Guillaume Amat