Craggy Range Winery is one of New Zealand’s most renowned wine and food producers which has earned them national and international accolades. It is set amongst the local limestone cliffs and beside the Tukituki River. Craggy Range’s restaurant sits at the heart of a campus of existing vineyard buildings.
Craggy Range has an existing restaurant with an established reputation. The owners asked us to design a new second restaurant on the mezzanine space above that would showcase their latest initiative in biodynamic organic farm to table cuisine.
‘The Loft’ is located upstairs from the main restaurant and is intended to offer a world-class dining experience with a deep regional flavour.
Our concept was to make a space that reflected the unique local characteristics of this exceptional location. We based the design around the four elements reflected in both nature and cooking.
Earth – Local limestone clay of the Tukituki valley becomes the foundation of the service counters.
Fire – Drawing reference to the exothermic reaction in cooking and also used in a cooperage where oak barrels are flamed and charred. The conical space creates a nest around the guest like the inside of a charred wine barrel. Burnt timber battens fan out to embrace each diner equally around a singular banquette.
At the center of the space is a theatre of crackle that one views as the chef works in front of an open fire, elevated for all to experience.
Air / Water – Filtered light dapples through glass bricks, like light through the dewdrops of mist over the plains of the ever-changing Tukituki River nearby; the life blood and substrate to their famous wine.
The completed interior provides a uniquely comfortable and socially inclusive setting to immerse the diner into the best that this local region has to offer.