Amazement at the Stocker sparkling wine cellar: during excavation work to extend the cellar, the South Tyrolean company came across a 15 cubic meter boulder that had been lying unnoticed in the ground for ages – right next to the old house wall. Exactly where the access to the new basement was planned. What would have annoyed some, operator Sigmar Stocker saw as a stroke of luck and incorporated his house stone into the family several times over.
the sabre on top is used to decapitate bottles. In the gateway Franziska Bauer
Open sesame! Through a portal in the 15-cubic-metre finling, you enter the new underground area of the Stocker sparkling wine cellar. Photo: Philipp Neuman
The path of the saw: In the passageway, you can see how the diamond wire made its way through the effusive stone. Photo: Philipp Neuman
The bench in the new sparkling wine cellar comes from the boulder, the sabre on it is used for decapitating bottles. In the doorway Franziska Bauer, in whose house there are now slabs from the colossus, her son Maximilian Stocker, who helps out in his uncle's champagne cellar, and stonemason Hans Trojer from südtirol.stein (from left to right). Photo: Philipp Neuman
Stylish renovation: Franziska Bauer's house dates back to the High Middle Ages. Slabs from the Sektkeller-Findling were laid in it. Photo: Philipp Neuman
The volcanic effusive rock has many breccia inclusions and is wonderfully colorful. Photo: Philipp Neuman
Unique flooring: The colorful boulder from the cellar of the family business as flooring in the home. Photo: Philipp Neuman
Jewelry also in the vertical: In the washroom, the Stocker stone also serves as a room divider. Photo: Philipp Neuman
A solid bar table made of local stone was installed in the room for the Terlaner Sektkellerei's special company treasures - selected old bottles and memorabilia. In the background, company founder Sebastian Stocker Sr. Photo: Philipp Neuman
The Stocker sparkling wine cellar in Terlan has been in existence since 1968, and in 2015 it was time to expand the facility. When the excavators moved in, they unearthed a big surprise: the 15-cubic-metre chunk of volcanic effusive rock, which lay underground just outside the cellar wall of the old building, weighed a total of 42 tons. “And that’s just the visible part. It’s impossible to say how far down the boulder still extends,” explains Peter Watschinger from südtirol.stein, the company called in to help. “Judging by its rounded shape, the rock landed here a long time ago with a watercourse or glacier.”
The giant blocked the planned route into the new sparkling wine cellar, but cutting it up and salvaging it would have involved an incalculable amount of work. The family also considers the stone to be a great gift. “According to the South Tyrolean regional geologist Dr. Volkmar Mair, our erratic boulder is around 276 million years old. Who has something that great in their house?” laughs Sigmar Stocker, whose joy was not diminished by having to recalculate the statics of his building project because of the stone find.
Together with the material professionals from südtirol.stein, he decided to make use of his colossus in the cellar in several ways: Using a diamond wire saw, a passage was cut into the monolith, creating a unique portal between the old and new buildings. A portion of the seven cubic meters of erratic rock with colourful breccia inlays that was removed now adorns the new underground rooms as a monolith bench and standing table. The majority has found another use in the family environment: Sigmar Stocker’s sister-in-law Franziska Bauer is currently renovating her historic home from the High Middle Ages in the same place. The colorfully patterned volcanic stone find now adorns the floor on the mezzanine floor in the form of 50 square meters of satin-finished slabs and is also used as a room divider in the sanitary area.
To coincide with Marmomac 2017, we present the most important natural stone regions in Italy.
You can read more stories from the exciting stone worlds of South Tyrol in part 1 of our series “Italy’s classics” in issue 09|17, which will be published on 22.08.2017.
Find out more here