PRIVATE RESERVE

CULTIVATING THE EPICUREAN LIFE AT A NAPA VINEYARDArchitecture by Howard J. Backen, FAIA

Text by Jeff Turrentine/Photography by Erhard Pfeiffer

“The barn is one of the most generic forms in the valley. It’s uncomplicatedespecially if you want a house that reads as one space.” Above: A copper roof crowns the Mexican limestone building. Mountain St. Helena looms in the distance beyond the airy dining area.

“There are no privacy issues there are no neighbors,” explains Backen. “So you don’t need draperies.” opposite Above: A stone fireplace warms the heigh-ceilinged living area, which is arranged with a pair of casual woven-sea-grass armchairs and Turkish rugs.

acramento is the capital of the state of California, but California is more than just a state. It’s also the land of dreams, and the capital

of Dreamland is always moving: from San Francisco during the Gold rush to the Depression-era San Joaquin Valley to Hollywood in its golden age. Dreams also fueled the flight to Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love and, a generation later, to the Silicon Valley in the throes of the high-tech boom. And then there’s Napa. For years a particular type of dreamer has gravitated toward the fertile, temperate hills of this American Provence. Fred Constant, who came to Napa after a long and successful career developing and operating radio stationsliving “everywhere from Hart-ford to Honolulu,” as he puts itis one. He might have retired, settled down somewhere and devoted himself to the

task of perfecting his golf game. Instead, he and his wife, Mary, moved here, lured by the grape and the dream of its ultimate transfiguration. The couple began producing Constant wines from grapes grown on their Dia-mond Mountain Vineyard in 1995, getting lucky their first time out; their inaugural vintage was hailed by Wine Spectator as “can’t-miss” and subsequent vintages have been received with equal enthusiasm. For nine years they lived in an 1895 farmhouse, their careful restoration of which eventually earned them an award from Napa County Landmarks, the local historic preservation society. As happy as they were in the farm-house, the Constants wanted moreand less. Their lives revolved around wine, food and entertaining. Now they dreamed of a beautiful but simple space at the sum-mit of Diamond Mountain, a temple to

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S Epicurus from which they could cook and pour for themselves and others while taking in 360-degree views of Knights Valley, Anderson Valley and Calistoga below. It did not need to be large. It didn’t need many rooms. But it needed “to in-tegrate our life as winegrowers with the architecture and food we enjoy,” says Fred Constant. The goal, in his words, was “stunning simplicityand, of course, simplicity is probably the most difficult thing to establish.” As it happens, Howard J. Backen was looking for a project like the one the Constants were proposing. As the wine country’s go-to architect, he’s fre-quently asked to build houses reflect-ing the unique tastes and perspectives of the driven, often idiosyncratic per- sonalities who populate this rarefied world. He gets lots of requests for “theme houses,” he says. “I don’t mind doing

them, because people like them. But when someone says that I don’t have towell, I don’t.” When you’re 2,200 feet above some of the most beautiful natural scenery on the North American continent, the last thing you want is to be surrounded by four walls. Backen gave the Constants a large central pavilion with cooking, din-ing and living areas under a single barn-like roof; the glass doors leading to the long covered porch are almost always open. (“We didn’t air-condition the build-ing,” notes Backen. “In order to get a nice air flow, you really need to get both sides open, or else this wouldn’t work.”) The site is kissed by westerly breezes and significantly warmer morning tem-peratures than are to be found in the val- ley below, making climate control large-ly a matter of sliding a door this way or that, just a smidgen.

The space needed“to integrate our life as winegrowers with the architecture and food we enjoy,” says Fred Constant. The goal was “stunning simplicity.”

“The main living space is a single pavilion with living, dining and kitchen areas flowing together un-der one roof.” Backen points out. “Large glass doors open every room to covered porches.” A collection of old mortars and pestiles rests on the long Irish baking table.

I’ve always loved architecture, ever since my days at Princeton,” says Fred Constant (above left, relaxing on the pond’s sunning platform with Mary). “Expressing our ideas for the contemporary creation of simplicity was initially daunting, but Howard got it immediately.”

“On this property you can stand in one spot and turn in a circle, and ev-erything you see is great,” comments Backen. top: The pool. Kreiss chaises. Above: “The stone entrance doubles as a front hall and wine cave; it leads to the house.” Rocky Mountain Hardware door pulls.

For years a particular kind of dreamerhas gravitated towards the fertile hillsof this American Provence.

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“When you keep it real basic, from every portion of the house, no mat-ter where you are inside, the other part of it reads,” says Backen. “There’s no place to hide.” Above: Mark Bulwinkle’s sheet-metal sculpture Woof is set near the mas-ter bedroom. Paris Ceramics tiles.

The house is entered through a “cave” of native stone taken from the original excavation; it doubles as a fully bonded winery. “The cave was a way of getting some wine storage and introducing the wine to his house,” say Backen. Hav-ing a winery in his front hall means that Constant, who sells grapes to other vint-ners in addition to bottling his own wine, now has a ready reply whenever some-one asks him how involved he is in the quotidian details of his operation: “I tell them that I walk by my barrels several times a day.” Outside the couple’s bedroom is Mary Constant’s vegetable garden, the bounty from which is regularly brought into a kitchen that boasts a collection of more than 700 cookbooks. Local culinary celebrities stop by from time to time

to “guest-cook,” though Fred Constant claims his wife is “probably the greatest of all.” The Constants can even process their own olive oil, courtesy of the grove of 100-year-old olive trees on the property. Among the Bible’s many guidelines for living a healthy, upright life is this all-time favorite of epicures: “A man hath no better things under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry.” It could have served as part of Howard Backen’s brief for a house that celebrates the relationship between nature and palate. For the food-and-wine loving Constants, high above Napa Valleya spot providentially blessed with all the prerequisites for sublime merrimentlife is indeed a sweet dream fulfilled. ¨