Bodegas Ysios

Santiago Calatrava built Ysios in 2001 as a single long building whose aluminium roof rises and falls in a wave that echoes the limestone ridge behind it. The south wall is laminated cedar, warm brown against the grey rock, and a shallow pool runs the length of the front and doubles the whole thing when the water is still.

The frame everybody wants is straight on from the access road: roof, wall, reflection and sierra stacked in four bands. It faces south, so it takes light all day, but the mountain behind only separates from the building in the morning and late afternoon, when the ridge has shadow in it.

The vineyard rows run right up to the building, which gives a foreground that changes with the season: bare wires in winter, green in June, gold and red in late October. The access track and the public road give plenty of angles without entering the property.

Ysios is a working winery. The building and its surroundings can be photographed from the public road and the vineyard tracks, but going onto the grounds means booking a visit, and working there as a photographer normally needs permission first — check the winery's rules before planning the session around it.