SOUTHWEST WINE CENTER

CLARKDALE, AZ - Arizona's wine industry is growing quickly, creating a need for well-trained winery workers and vineyard managers in the desert southwest. The Southwest Wine Center at Yavapai College in Arizona's Verde Valley allows for the winery, vineyard, student classrooms and labs to be located on a single campus. The teaching winery was be re-purposed from an underutilized racquetball building.

The winery contains four main spaces, one in each former racquetball court: a fermentation room, two barrel-aging rooms and a tasting room. End walls of each court are filled-in with large operable doors to promote views to the outside and create easy passage for visitors, winery workers and equipment. The winery’s location on campus also provides sweeping views from Mingus Mountain to Sycamore Canyon and the vineyard directly to the south.