4 Must Haves for a New Winery Construction---The Floor

Recently, we have been immersing ourselves in small winery construction and I came upon this site WINERY BUILDING DESIGN: 4 MUST HAVES FOR EVERY NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECT, it is a posting by SLOTDRAIN, a company founded on drainage systems solutions, which I found to be very helpful.
Wineries have specific needs that need to be met by the architectural design of the building. Here are some winery building must-haves to keep in mind when designing the perfect winery:¹

• A well thought layout
• Use quality insulation
• Choose the right flooring
• Install a slot drain system

Coincidentally, I was reading the December 2020 issue of Wine Business Monthly and came across an article called Cellar Floor Sanitation. Little did I know before reading the article that the cellar floor is a very important consideration in new winery construction. Here is what I learned:²

• the cellar floor is a tool, a critical piece of process equipment
• the cellar floor is subject to constant use and abuse all year long
• the cellar floor, like any other tool in the toolkit requires ongoing maintenance and needs to be clean

Sources of the most contamination in a winery include floor drains, floors and areas around bung holes. The worst time is during crush when winemakers can easily lose control of their daily cleaning protocol. Everything from outside dirt, foot and forklift traffic, crushed fruit and spilled wine will hit the floor.
After reading that, I envisioned that we would be wearing booties over our shoes to prevent dirt from entering our winery, trying to turn our winery into a cleanroom. I know, it's really not feasible. So, the answer to that is to have a floor that makes daily cleaning protocols not an onerous task.
The article went on to explain that no winery floor should be made of concrete, bad, a no-no. However, concrete could be resurfaced with a long-lasting urethane polymer.
Polymer floors provide:

• incredible durability
• almost bullet-proof impact resistance
• anti-slip footing
• OSHA/FDA approval

They can withstand all types of cleaning protocols including steaming, high pressure rinsing as well as heavy scrubbing. Another recommendation was to choose lighter floor colors to reflect light so that it is easier to maintain cleanliness in dark areas or under tanks.
We will certainly keep this in mind as we plan our winery layout.
References:
1. SLOTDRAIN, WINERY BUILDING DESIGN: 4 MUST HAVES FOR EVERY NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECT.
2. Bill Pregler, Cellar Floor Sanitation, Wine Business Monthly, December 2020, pg. 40-45.