Carmondy-McKnight Winery owners Gary and Marian Conway and winemaker Gregg Cropper looked to straw bale construction when they wanted to build a storage facility at their Springhill Vineyards location in northern San Luis Obispo County. They needed to be able to store wines in a constant 65-degree range even though winter temperatures could drop into the teens and summer temperatures could exceed 100 degrees.

The two-foot thick walls were just what they needed. The exterior walls were stuccoed with a light-colored smooth Mission-style finish while exterior walls were plastered in a similar style. The mass of the lime cement plaster and the insulation of the straw bales, along with the automated night-cooling system, helped us achieve the goal of maintaining stable indoor air temperatures. We utilized structural off-the-shelf airplane hangar components as the post and beam system as well as using exposed steel trusses for the roof framing.

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