From the hilly, oak filled landscape surrounding the Alexander Valley and along the grande allee, the golden yellow chateau at Jordan Winery emerges, proudly French and classic in architecture.
The brief for the Bacchus Courtyard: Create a beautiful, vibrant garden and gathering place for wine tasting guests in a contemporary French tradition; remove the very large boxwood hedges and reposition the 16th century bronze Bacchus statue on a newly designed terrace to allow for a larger entertainment space.
We proposed designing a Mediterranean inspired garden, linking this garden to the architecture and formal terraces in a seamless transition. We also planned to select a large variety of unique plants to emerge seasonally, and attract birds, butterflies and bees. The design also includes an antique European wall fountain to provide a relaxing sound, steel Parisian park benches, tuteurs and colourful Anduze urns.
We developed a design that celebrates and enhances the existing, natural boulder formations, stands of silhouetted native oaks and wild meadow grasslands. Due to the challenging topography and the rugged conditions of the site, the garden is being phased in over time.
This was an opportunity to create a hillside garden on a steeply sloping site and to select Mediterranean plantings that include native trees, shrubs, wildflowers and related African and Australian plants that could thrive under these conditions. The gardens were designed to be connective and an integral part of the natural diversity inherent to this particular area. The result is an ever-changing seasonal transformation of textures and colours on this amazing site.