But onto the real question: The pavilion is a definite delight to the eyes, but does it make the wine more tasty? “Absolutely!” Warner and McCabe assert. “Each pavilion is elegantly unobtrusive and offers a rustic yet refined experience evocative of picnicking with a bottle of wine under an oak tree. In this way, the pavilions serve to bring the visitor a greater depth of understanding and appreciation for the place where Quintessa is made and the process that creates its uniquely sophisticated character.”

Carefully selected materials make the building appear as if it grew from the land. Environmentally sensitive finishes echo the existing winery, which the firm designed in 2002.

The "Taste+" spoon, designed by the Keio-NUS CUTE Center at the National University of Singapore, electrically stimulates taste buds to improve eating for individuals with diminished taste sensation.

The tasting bar, part of Aidlin Darling Design's plan to experientially link the building to the land, occupies the transition between indoor and outdoor.

The world’s most popular doll, with a hot-pink blueprint tube and a hard hat: friend or foe to a profession already suffering from a pronounced gender gap?

Here's the interior of the Hadid-designed tasting pavilion.

Sherman chats with his neighbor Sakhawat Ullah, the mason who built his front stoop.

Small Talk print by One Must Dash, $56–$88. The Swedish design duo draws from a rich Scandinavian tradition of simple, powerful graphics in this poster inspired by the art of small talk.

Benjamin Pardo and Jeffrey Osborne talk onstage while Nasir Kassamali listens from the the first row.

After the tasting, we descended the stair back to the parking lot.

Here's the Montrachet glass we used to taste the Ceja Vineyards chardonnay.

A pair of glass doors open to the tasting room, also designed by Renzo Piano.

Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room (Seattle, WA), designed by Starbucks Design.

Their creative confections may ruin our diets, but we’re happy to be their taste testers anytime.

The 510 Cabin is one of Leggitt's designs, executed with the help of student apprentices.

Education was a key focus of designer Bruce Mau's talk. Photo courtesy Compostmodern.

Clayden and Sam Cutler, both former tour managers for rock bands, talk music in the spacious, uncluttered living room that opens onto the balcony.

Launech teaches cooking classes in the house, and the mobile countertops make it easy for her to configure the kitchen to her tastes.

The Salt Tasting Room is the perfect place for a nightcap after a long day of seeing the sights.

The bold colors and graphics of these cookies caught our eye. They tasted pretty good too.

Craig and Thomas infused the surfaces of the space with their bold taste by alternating the orientation of the wood grain in the millwork veneer panels to create a lively pattern.

The new tasting room is positioned to feel as if it is hovering above and within the vineyard. Open on all sides, it offers panoramic views of the surrounding hills.

The pivotal screens can be adjusted to adapt to the sun’s angle. As they are made from perforated sheet metal, they do not block views from the wine tasting room.

Lee Buchanan of Lee Build created a screen of white ash slats beside the kitchen as well as the entry. "The stairs are beautifully integrated into the kitchen so the kids and I are always talking and someone is always sitting on the bottom steps,

At night, folding green shutters enclose the floor-to-ceiling panels of glass that surround the tasting room.

The cover of Murakami Versailles.

Professor Rebecca Ginsburg will talk on February 16th at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.

Part of the goal of the take-out window is to get people talking about political and social issues.

A main tasting room occupies the center of the new building and includes a bar, outdoor terrace, seating area, and hearth. A library and kitchen flank the tasting room and offer a range of spaces for gathering and wine tasting.

Tom Givone's current weekend abode, nicknamed the Floating Farmhouse, is—so far—his capstone project, a synthesis of personal taste, material experimentation, and historically sensitive restoration: a living laboratory for how to bring the vernacular past into the present.

Pendant by Matthew Fairbank Design.

Clock by Ding3000 for Discipline.

The structure of the coop was inspired by the new bus shelters and newsstands in New York City.

William Lamson's Solarium.

This uber-green dwelling not only walks the walk, it talks the talk.

Douglas and Derek’s shared taste is on display in the dining area, with its mix of timber, steel, and slate. “Everything was selected to exude warmth and tactility and to offer splashes of color,” Douglas says. The solid oak table is also by Mudge, and the chairs are from South African furniture company Houtlander.