Press Release: Kenzo Estate Wine Cave 12-05-2007
After a brief 5 months in permitting, planning, site preparation and portal retaining wall construction, Nordby Wine Caves began tunneling operations on Monday December 3rd, 2007 for the Kenzo Estate barrel storage caves. [Read Press Release]
Passing of a Great Friend - Richard Perry
Nordby Wine Caves is saddened at the loss of a great friend. Our relationship with Richard began many years ago but really in earnest as we began to plan and design the underground winery for the Porter Family Vineyards. Richard's enthusiasm and practical experience with winemaking was invaluable ... [Read More]
Unified Wine & Grape Symposium
Stop by and visit our booth (635) at the 2008 Unified Wine Symposium January 29-31, 2008
Wine Tailings - Montana Tech Story
Montana Tech Alumnus John Shook describes his job building wine caves and his experience of being featured on the Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs.
Nordby Wine Caves Featured On Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs
Mike Rowe looks on as the Voest Alpine AM-50 roadheader trims the portal
Dirty Jobs, the new Discovery Channel series that profiles the unsung American laborers who make their living in the most unthinkable will feature a segment with Nordby Wine Caves sometime soon.
The film crew was awesome and great fun.....Mike Rowe is "electric", "a true grit American" doing what Americans do best, get dirty!
Spread the word to all your friends and family........Gather all the kids - its going to be educational and an opportunity to see and hear a tunneling operation.
Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs
Checkerboard Ranch Breakthrough: August 17, 2007
On August 17th, Nordby Wine Caves achieved breakthrough at the #2 East Portal being constructed for the Checkerboard Ranch Winery. Located high on the west ridge of the Diamond Mountain District in Calistoga California, the Checkerboard Wine Cave is characterized by excellent tunneling conditions that allowed excavation and support of over 2,000 square feet of tunnel along with construction of two portal structures in less than two months.
In order to meet the owners’ harvest deadline, we capitalized on our dedicated employee efforts, working more than 50 hours a week at no additional cost to our client. Objectives during the accelerated schedule for this project included placement, compaction and construction of the large Eastern MSE walls (mechanically stabilized earth) built from cave spoils. As cave spoils were produced from the cave, they were placed in layers and recompacted. Over 4,000 cubic yards of earth was worked to produce approximately 12,000 square feet of usable crush pad area.
Nordby Wine Caves will tunnel through almost 8,000 yards of rock to produce the 19,000 square foot cave at Checkerboard Ranch, which will include a 600 foot long main barrel storage tunnel, three cave portals and large barrel storage rooms measuring 22 feet wide by 13 feet high.
Rhys Vineyards Breakthrough: September 12, 2007
Only 3 short weeks after the Checkerboard Breakthrough, another company milestone was completed at the Rhys Wine Cave in Los Gatos, CA.
After tunneling for nearly 20 months under very challenging ground conditions (generated by the proximity of the Hayward and San Andreas Fault zones) combined with shallow cover (at times only 10 feet), Nordby Wine Caves successfully completed excavation and support of approximately 13,000 square feet of underground winery. The Rhys Vineyards Cave consists of tunnels of the following sizes: 13 feet wide by 10 feet high, 13 feet wide by 13 feet high, 30 feet wide by 15 feet high, 24 feet wide by 15 feet high, 26 feet wide by 15 feet high to a massive 30 feet wide and nearly 23 feet high.
The cool and foggy morning of September 12th marked the culmination of tunneling with the completion of the final “blind bore” to Portal B. Using commonly available surveying capabilities, Nordby completed the final 120 feet of barrel storage tunnel and hit the center of the previously constructed portal retaining wall within one inch of the survey mark.
Working in cooperation with our valued architects and engineers, Nordby Wine Caves procured approvals for all grading and building permits in Santa Clara County.
Nordby Wine Caves
Recently celebrating 10 successful years serving the California Wine Industry, Nordby Wine Caves is proud to offer complete turn-key solutions to underground wine barrel storage.
Thanks to an exceptional combination of highly experienced professionals, strong community partnerships, state-of-the-art equipment, and a top-notch portfolio, we’ve earned a solid reputation as the premier choice for underground construction in California’s wine country.
Our Work
Nordby Wine Caves has completed over 30 caves throughout Napa and Sonoma counties. We undertake each project with an uncompromising commitment to quality, and pride ourselves on creating custom designs and solutions that are as unique as each winery we are fortunate enough to work with.