A Private Wine Cave Is Built Into a Limestone Hillside in Texas

At the eastern edge of Texas Hill Country, a private retreat known as the Hill Country Wine Cave is embedded into the face of a rocky hillside. Austin- and San Antonio–based firm Clayton Korte carefully designed the 1,405-square-foot subterranean cellar and lounge, utilizing lush vegetation and large boulders collected on-site to further conceal the main entry.

"The embedment of this space into the hillside contributes value to the larger environment by appearing as a stealth destination that calls little attention to itself," says principal architect Brian Korte, FAIA. 

To accommodate the site’s established dimensional constraints, the architects built a wooden module into the cavern, then capped the exterior with a concrete bulkhead to shield the cellar from any loose limestone bordering the entry.