To be honest, Hundertwasser at first wouldn’t give this crazy American the time of day. But eventually the magic of our location at the foot of the Stags Leap Palisades captured his soul and a close friendship evolved. Finally, Friedensreich picked up his pencil and began to draw.
As an architect, Hundertwasser had three signature elements. The first was having enough dirt on the roof to allow trees and grasses to grow. This fit perfectly with our desire for Quixote not to intrude into the spectacular landscape. The second was the exuberant use of decorative ceramic tile. This matched our desire to create a festive atmosphere.
Was it contradictory to want a building that was both inconspicuous and panegyrical? Of course it was. But that was just the design that Hundertwasser produced. The capstone of the design was his third signature element: a gold-leaf onion dome. When we protested that the dome was over the top, Hundertwasser overrode our complaints. “Your life,” he sternly informed us, “will change when you work under this gold-leaf dome.”
Quixote Winery was under planning and construction from 1988 until 1998. It is Hundertwasser’s only building in the United States.
