The landscape was already in place: rich soils, sloping hills and a climate ideal for producing wine. The plans for the winery itself were almost perfect: a state-of-the-art, five-level gravity flow facility, designed to move wine through its stages of production. But the Nicholson Ranch Vineyards and Winery needed something to top off its location in the southern foothills of the Sonoma Valley: a variegated slate roof.

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