Aidlin Darling Design Transforms a Victorian House into a Napa Valley Tasting Room
December 29, 2020
Photography by Adrian Gaut.
When David Darling and Joshua Aidlin walked Faust Winery’s 8-acre property as prologue to renovating its 19th-century Victorian house as a tasting center they came to an immediate revelation: Why not completely upend the vineyard experience? Instead of the customary monolithic tasting room where guests line up at the bar to sample blends and varietals, why not take advantage of the entire environment “to create nooks and crannies to hang out and taste wine?” This from Darling, who took charge with Benjamin Damron while Aidlin stepped back as project critic. “That’s the way the office works, one principal leads, the other criticizes, and vice versa,” Darling goes on to explain. Little did he know how prescient the plan would be—at least for a while—at the project’s pre-pandemic inception three years ago.