Cedar Ridge Estate
A 9,200 sf wine-country estate: main residence, a detached guest pavilion, a 3,000-bottle wine cave, and a pool house — all connected by a landscaped motor court in native stone.
The Challenge
The program included a wine cave requiring excavation into a basalt ridge. Structural engineering for the cave required custom shotcrete specifications to accommodate the irregular basalt face. Separately, the county's wildland-urban interface (WUI) requirements mandated Class A roofing, non-combustible exterior cladding, and ember-resistant vents on all five structures — constraints that clashed with the design's preference for natural cedar siding.
Our Approach
For the cave, we partnered with a specialist tunneling subcontractor and designed a hybrid: the entry portal in gunite-formed concrete, the interior gallery in board-formed concrete with integrated LED uplighting. For the WUI compliance, we spec'd a thermally modified cedar (Accoya® grade) that meets Class A ignition resistance while maintaining the visual character of raw wood. No design compromise.
The Outcome
The estate was delivered on the 28-month program with zero change orders attributable to KEYSTONE scope. The wine cave holds a stable 55°F and 70% RH without mechanical conditioning — passive thermal mass alone. The landscaped motor court was featured in Architectural Digest's regional homes issue.
- custom home
- estate
- wine cave
- WUI
- luxury residential