By Frances Dinkelspiel

For the last two years, Urbano Cellars has had a nomadic existence, storing its barrels of wine at other wineries and not having a place to call home.

The winery, run by Fred Dick and Bob Rawson, had rented space for years at Periscope Cellars on Hollis Street in Emeryville. That operation had to shut down. For a while it looked like the 15-year old Urbano would open a place in Oakland. The longtime friends had found a space near Jack London Square, but it needed retrofitting. The city of Oakland tempted the partners with tax breaks, but had to rescind the offer when Gov. Jerry Brown and the legislature eliminated redevelopment agencies.

Then Donkey & Goat winery moved, in 2011, from its Fourth Street home to new quarters on Fifth near Gilman in Berkeley’s burgeoning “drinks district.” Urbano Cellars took the old space and brought in the 100 barrels and assorted bottles of Zinfandel, Chenin Blanc, and Syrach-Grenache blend that had been scattered around the East Bay.

On Saturday, they are throwing a big party to celebrate the move.

“Donkey and Goat’s space became available,” Dick said earlier this week as he rushed around to ready the place for the Grand Reopening. “Low and behold we had a turnkey winery with everything we needed.”

The partners, who were once neighbors in San Francisco, moved to Fourth Street in the fall. The late move meant they couldn’t crush grapes and make a 2011 vintage, so they will break out older wines for the barrel tastings they plan to offer their visitors on Saturday.

“Saturday is our celebration,” said Dick. “We finally have a home. It’s been over two years we’ve been without a place to make our wine.”

Urbano Cellars is part of the trend of urban wineries, places that buy grapes, crush, blend them into wine, and store it in city facilities. Urbano is part of the East Bay Vintners Alliance, a collection of 20 wineries in the industrial west sections of Berkeley and Oakland.

The pioneer urban winery of the East Bay was Rosenblum Cellars in Alameda and its various spinoffs, said Dick. Many urban vintners got their start by training there, including Dick. He and and Rawson also took wine-making classes at UC Davis.

Dick, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 1988, said his reception in Berkeley has been wonderful.

“I am very happy to be back. I love Berkeley,” he said.

The Grand Reopening is on Saturday February 4th,at 2323B Fourth Street, from 1 to 5 pm. Flights of wine will be free and people can buy a full glass for $5. The bluegrass band Nobody from Nashville will perform. Urbano Cellars will also have a tasting room with regular hours.

By Andrea Kissack

Produced by KQED

The first time I heard the term “East Bay Wineries” I immediately thought of Livermore Valley home to dozens of wineries including Wente and Concannon. I wasn’t aware of the nearly twenty urban wineries that dot the industrial west side of Berkeley and Oakland. As it turns out, one of the best ways to explore the growing East Bay wine scene is by bike. So, one recent hot summer Saturday, I met up with some friends in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland. We pumped up our tires, donned backpacks to carry our bounty of wine bottles and set off on a twenty mile ride through Oakland.

Urban Legend
Our first stop: Urban Legend Cellars, one of three wineries in the Jack London Square area. Steve and Marilee Shaffer own and make the wine at this mom and pop cellar and it all happens in the company of their pit bull, Sunshine.

We bellied up to the tasting bar just as they were opening their doors. For five dollars you can run through at least a half dozen tastings and the fee is waived if you make a purchase. I loved these wines — crisp, acidic, good food wines with not a lot of barrel overtones. Some of my favorites included: a 2010 Rosato di Barbera from Clarksburg ($18); a 2009 Rhone style blend of reds called Lolapalooza from Amador County ($26) and a 2009 Uptown from Mendocino County ($20/liter).

Now there are a couple of cool things about this last wine. First, it’s sold by the liter in a refillable bottle and second, it’s named after a neighborhood in Oakland. Each harvest, Steve and Marilee pick a local Oakland ‘hood to feature. Next year visitors can expect a West Oakland Wine. “What will that taste like?” I asked. “The wine will likely be a spicy blend of Petite Syrah and Zinfandel, sort of capturing that Brown Sugar Kitchen food renaissance of the neighborhood,” Marilee told me over the wail of a passing Amtrak train. A scientist by training, she explained her wine making philosophy and answered my friends’ many questions which included “how do you spit properly” since we were all two-wheeled designated drivers that day. Needless to say, we could have stayed at Urban Legend all day but we had other city cellars to discover. We bought a couple bottles and headed off to the farmers market a few blocks away.

Irish Monkey
After fueling up on ceviche and tamales from a food truck, we peddled off along the Oakland harbor between the estuary and I-880 freeway down towards the High Street Bridge. We were looking for Irish Monkey Cellars which is easy to miss as it’s located in an industrial park tucked back behind Embarcadero Cove. A banner hanging from a chain link fence gave us a clue we were near. We parked our bikes against the warehouse wall and went into the rather small, but elegant, darkened tasting room where we found the winemaker, Bob Lynch. He was quite chatty and shared the story behind the winery’s name. Six years ago he and his wife Loreta coined the name “Irish Monkey.” Bob’s background is Irish and he wields a unique sense of humor. We started out with a 2008 Torrontes ($12), the grapes sourced from Lodi. That was followed up with a Contra Costa Viognier and then we moved on to their reds, many award winning. My favorite was a 2009 one hundred percent Napa Merlot ($24). I liked the diversity of varietals and local vineyards from which Irish Monkey sources. We were eager to get back into the sun so we thanked our host and headed out over the High Street Bridge to Alameda.

We peddled across Alameda over to Shoreline Drive where we hung a right and rode up past Crown Beach and the throng of sunbathers. If we were on an organized East Bay winery bike tour, this is where we would stop to eat our specially prepared picnic lunch. Owner Jon Zalon’s trips, and his wife’s lunches, get rave reviews. But we were a motley crew, armed only with fruit bars and a curiosity for the upcoming wineries housed at the decommissioned naval air station at the tip of Alameda.

Rock Wall Wine Company
It was hard to believe we were going to find a winery somewhere in this vast old military base full of old airplane hangars, barracks and officer’s clubs. But we had been finding wineries all day tucked behind chain link fences and graffiti strewn walls. We eventually found the Rock Wall Wine Company which provides production space and a tasting bar for more than a half dozen wineries. This is a top of the line tasting bar with expansive views of the Bay Bridge and two city skylines. Rock Wall has a little outdoor patio where on nice days customers can sit at tables and enjoy drinking wine accompanied by small plates cuisine. For our tasting they started us off with a Rock Wall sparkling which was one of my favorites. I also enjoyed the 2009 Rock Wall Zinfandel Reserve from Sonoma. This spicy Zin, which goes for $30 a bottle, was a gold medal winner at the California State Fair this year. Unfortunately, none of my wines included tastings of the other wineries that use the space.

The celebratory mood of our Rock Wall visit was probably enhanced by the fact that it was getting later in the afternoon and we were swallowing most of our tastings now. We tried to squeeze in one more stop, Rosenblum Cellars, one of the largest wineries in the East Bay. But as we approached the winery, we heard “all aboard” coming from the ferry dock below. Rosenblum would have to wait for another time. On the five minute ferry ride back to Jack London Square we agreed to visit the winery one warm Sunday afternoon for their “Music on the Deck” series. I did come back, the next week, to check out Dasche Cellars on 6th Street in the Jack London Square neighborhood. If you like bone dry wines, this urban cellar is for you. I bought a bottle of excellent 2008 Todd Brothers Ranch Zinfandel ($32). If you are curious about East Bay wines and you want to experience as many as possible in just one trip, you’re in luck. On Saturday, August 6, The East Bay Vintners Alliance is hosting the 6th Annual Urban Wine Experience. Over twenty cellars will be pouring their wines along with local food purveyors serving food. Come forth and taste urban wines! And for those that won’t be spitting, BART is just a few blocks away.

 

Get your advance tickets at special online pricing today!

When: Saturday, July 9th. 1-5pm.

If China isn’t soon drinking Oakland wines, don’t blame it on Jean Quan.

By all accounts, Oakland’s mayor turned into a sales dynamo during the last leg of a jam-packed trade mission to China with Port of Oakland Executive Director Omar Benjamin, City Council President Larry Reid and other port officials.

After meetings and tours of seaports and airports in Beijing and Shenzhen, during which Quan did her best to promote the port for exports to China and to market Chinese investment in Oakland’s airport, seaport and hotels, the group took the ferry to Hong Kong. That’s where Quan really made good on her promise to promote the small boutique wineries that have come to favor Oakland’s urban vibe.

First she visited the Hong Kong Convention and Exposition Centre in Hong Kong where Oakland’s Dashe Cellars had a booth at the wine and spirits HOFEX 2011 food and hospitality trade show.

Next the group stopped at the new California Vintage wine bar on Wyndham Street in Hong Kong. California Vintage is a business launched by a group of California wineries, including a couple from Alameda, but none from Oakland.

Quan, Oakland booster that she is, did everything she could to change that. By prior arrangement with the wine bar’s managers, Quan had a case or two of wine donated by JC Cellars, Dashe and Urban Legend, shipped ahead, and those bottles were uncorked at a private event for Hong Kong businesses and investors last Thursday. She was coy about which wines went over best.

“They really liked the red wines,” Quan said. “It was very clear that those red wines were the favorites.”

China is the largest client for U.S. agriculture, and the Port of Oakland handles about 90 percent of the California wine exports to China, which is a growing market for red wines. Quan said her group was able to order California red wines in restaurants on the trip, but there is fierce competition from Australia, Chile and France, which already have a foothold.

Quan said she was impressed by how organized the other countries were in uniting their exhibits at the trade show to make a larger marketing impact. By contrast, the few California wine and produce exhibitors were spaced out individually, and harder to find and identify. Quan said she plans to bring that up at the International Retail and Trade show in Las Vegas and other meetings.

“What struck me is that California agriculture and wines don’t market like other countries,” she said. “They should have marketed themselves collectively instead of one booth here and one booth there.”

For the small Oakland wineries that are trying to crack the international market, the mayor’s offer to promote their wines was a dream come true.

“We think it’s great, and we’re very pleased that (the mayor) is aware there are wineries in Oakland and very pleased that we could help out and showcase Oakland’s potential for export business,” said Steve Shaffer, who with Marilee Shaffer is a partner in Urban Legend Cellars on Fourth Street in Oakland. They sent a selection of seven wines, white and red.

“I happen to be prejudice and think we have the world’s best grapes,” he said.

“We’re hoping to get some pictures back from the trip. I’d love to see some dignitaries in China drinking our wine.”

Jeff Cohn of JC Cellars also thinks discerning Chinese wine lovers will be impressed with his offerings of Smoke and Mirrors blend of Zinfandel, Syrah and petite Syrah grapes, and appreciates the mayor’s efforts to promote Oakland wineries.

“I’m excited to be part of it,” he said.

Glasses clink and the buzz of conversation bounces off the stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels stacked to the ceiling as Steve Shaffer pours wine for thirsty visitors. But outside the cellar doors is no stretch of sweeping green vineyard or neatly manicured garden.

This winery is parked firmly in the dusty reality of Oakland’s Fourth Street, one of nearly two dozen wineries that have sprung up in the urban environs of the east San Francisco Bay area.

“People look at you kind of cross-eyed when you say, ‘I have a winery in Oakland,’” says Shaffer, co-owner of Urban Legend Cellars. “If you step back and look at it, it makes sense. This is where the customers are. We’re in the middle of what has got to be the country’s best food scene. We’re constantly in contact with really innovative chefs and understanding what they’re looking for to really complement their food.”

“This is,” he says, “a fantastic place for a winery.”

Oakland isn’t the only place where vintners are discovering the advantages of putting their wineries where the people are, with clusters of urban wineries existing in cities from Seattle to New York. San Francisco, just across the bay from Oakland, also has a thriving winery scene.

For the east San Francisco Bay area vintners, the location means they’re close to a number of prime grape-growing areas, and they have the freedom to experiment without the hazard of investing in and caring for land.

The 23 member wineries produce more than 100 wines, ranging from familiar Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay to lesser-known varietals like Tannat, to the flat-out unusual, like the tropical fruit dessert wines produced by the Adams Point Winery.

And they’re winning recognition. Urban Legend Cellars wines took five silvers in the recent San Francisco Wine Competition. And a Zin from Rock Wall Wine Company in Alameda took gold in the Chronicle contest.

Shaffer was among a number of urban vintners who recently threw open their cellar doors for the East Bay Vintner’s Alliance annual tasting event showcasing wineries in and near Oakland.

“It’s getting bigger and better every year,” says Bill Galarneau, founder of Adams Point. Indeed, organizers sold about 800 tickets to the event, nearly double the amount from the year before.

Among the participants:

Dashe Cellars

Michael and Anne Dashe founded this winery which is known for its lineup of Zins, including a late-harvest dessert version. They also make Riesling from grapes grown in Mendocino County.

Rock Wall Wine Company

Launched by Shauna Rosenblum Cellars, daughter of Kent Rosenblum formerly of Rosenblum Cellars, this winery is in the island city of Alameda next to Oakland. The company, set in what used to be a hangar facility at the former Alameda Naval Air Station is a cooperative facility housing eight additional boutique wineries, Blacksmith Cellars, Carica Wines, Ehrenberg Cellars, Eno Wines, Joseph Gary Cellars, JRE Wines, Mercy Wines and R&B Cellars. Next month, Rock Wall opens a new tasting room next to the hangar building. Known for good zins, especially their top-selling Monte Rosso Zinfandel made from 110-year-old vines grown on the top of Moon Mountain in Sonoma County. Rosenblum also makes international varietals such as Tannat, Obsidian and Montepulciano that appeal to wine enthusiasts looking for something new.

Stomping Girl Winery

Stomping Girl Winery was founded by husband and wife Kathryn and Uzi Cohen, who began as home winemakers in 2003 and eventually outgrew their basement.  They specialize in Pinot Noir from Carneros, Russian River Valley, and the Sonoma Coast.

Urban Legend Cellars

Run by Steve Shaffer and wife, Marilee, and open just two years, this winery offers a variety of wines. A standout was the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc. Made from grapes grown in Lake County, the wine was an intriguing blend of grapefruit and tropical fruit with an almost effervescent quality and a hint of flint on the finish.

When you think of Oakland, the other city by the San Francisco Bay, you probably don’t think of it as wine country.  There aren’t any vineyards, bucolic settings or palatial wine tasting rooms.  Instead, you find a gritty, industrial vibe, one that dares to thumb its nose at traditional wine country.  This is wine country in the city.

Twenty-three wineries now call Oakland and surrounding areas home.  This is more than a trend, not only in Oakland, but around the country. City Winery is in New York City.  Boedecker is in Portland and Henke is in Cincinnati.  While the labels may have appellations from Napa Valley to Long Island to the Willamette Valley, the grapes are brought into a downtown setting to be made into wine.

Part of the attraction for vintners going urban is cost.  They don’t have vineyards, and downtown industrial space can be a lot less expensive than a small plot in Napa or Sonoma. What you do find is real passion and talent for winemaking.  Most urban wineries make small lots, but it’s the wine they want to make, and drink.  The tasting rooms are accessible to a wider population too.  Imagine taking the subway to a winery.  You can in New York. Urban wineries are changing the landscape, so to speak, and definition of wine country.

The East Bay Vintners Alliance hosted a passport wine tasting on Saturday.  Pay one fee, drink at all the tasting rooms.  I’ve had many of these wines, but not in their urban setting. Since many vintners pour together, passport tastings are a good way to sample many wines under one roof.  These are some of the wineries and wines worth seeking out.

It’s not an urban legend, it’s a winery. Urban Legend Cellars was my first stop, where about five wineries were pouring. Their labels are fun, showing the cranes in the Oakland port that look like something out of Star Wars. They source grapes and bring them here where they crush and make the wine. The Sauvignon Blanc is zippy and lively, the Grenache is soft and fruity.

Stomping Girl Wines makes three single vineyard Pinots; the best one to me is the Sonoma Coast bottling, rich and brooding.  Asked about making wine in an urban setting, Stomping Girl Kathryn Cohen says, “We started in an urban environment, in our garage.  We didn’t think about going outside of Oakland.”

At Dashe and JC Cellars, where these two wineries share a warehouse space for tasting rooms and winery, more vintners were pouring. I went straight to Stage Left Cellars, where a crowd was waiting to try their Viognier and red Rhone varietals. Their motto is “Everyone needs an exit strategy,” and owner Melinda Doty left a career in sales and marketing to create Stage Left.

You had to be in the know to score Eno Wines “secret stash” of 2002 Zinfandel.  ”Caught red handed” is made from old vines in Dry Creek Valley and is full bodied, spicy and jammy.

These urban wineries are all close to each other, so you don’t have to do a lot of driving between them. This tasting had a party bus to shuttle participants between wineries.  I did see a police car sitting outside of one tasting room, ready to nab anyone who was under the influence.  That’s why you spit, and don’t swallow.

Cerruti Cellars is right on the railroad tracks.  It’s an edgy and and industrial setting that feels modern, a perfect reflection of urban wine country.  They put the finishing touches on this new tasting room this week.  I love the light fixtures — and found out that the folks at Cerruti made them. Oh yeah, the wines are pretty good too, made by Kirk Venge.

Andrew Lane Wines is also pouring at Cerruti.  Adoring fans are lined up to taste what winemaker Andrew Dickson is pouring.  I’m lucky enough to get the last drops of Boxing Girl Chardonnay.  ”It’s my wife’s wine,” he says. “She’s tough.”  It’s a good, unoaked Chardonnay.  David Dickson, Andrew’s father, launched the winery, naming it for his two sons, Andrew and Lane. They like fruit-forward wines, which is evident when you taste both the Chardonnay and the Petite Sirah.

Last stop for me was at Rock Wall Wine Company, on the former Naval Air Base in Alameda. You can’t beat the setting, with views of San Francisco across the bay.  Rock Wall will be opening a new tasting room here, with a grand opening for the public on May 14 and 15. While Rock Wall is known for Zinfandel, they make a very nice late harvest Riesling.  A perfect wine for sipping while sitting outside in the urban landscape that is now wine country.

Experience the growing trend of urban East Bay wineries at upcoming April 2nd event.

Courtesy of Two Mile Wines/Tim O’Meara

Planning a wine-tasting trip usually conjures images of rolling hills and twisted vines—not abandoned aircraft hangars. But with a growing urban wine movement rooted in the 510 area code, a wine-tasting trip is now as easy as hopping on an Oakland-bound BART train.

“Grapes don’t care where they’re crushed,” says Kevin Brown, the winemaker at R&B Cellars in Alameda. “They only care where they’re grown.”

R&B is part of the East Bay Vintner’s Alliance, a group of 23 wineries that is winning awards and appearing on wine lists across the state, even in Napa.

Taste for yourself at Passport to the East Bay Wine Trail on April 2, where 21 wineries will pair their samples with food. Go to eastbayvintners.com for more info, and look for these Diablo favorites.

Serenade in Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc
R & B Cellars

Wine: Smooth and subtle, not too fruity, this white tastes more like a French Sancerre.
Winemakers: Kevin and Barbara Brown are jazz musicians, thus their wines’ musical names.

Baby Doll
Rosé
Prospect 772

Wine: Crisp and dry, this Rhône-style rosé is almost manly.
Winemakers: Ron Pieretti and Wendy Sanda named their line of wines after personality types such as the Brat and the Instigator.

The Breadwinner
Red Rhone Blend
Stage Left Cellars

Wine: Structured and complex, this blend of four wines was intentional, not a brew of leftovers.
Winemakers: Rich Williams and Melinda Doty’s wines are named after their journey leaving unsatisfying corporate jobs.

ALSO LISTEN TO: iWine Radio – Wine & Dine

Interview with EBVA President: Bill Galarneau (Adams Point Winery)

If you happen to live near Sonoma County, California or Walla Walla Valley, Washington, finding awesome local wine really isn’t a problem.  But, what if you don’t happen to live in a world-class wine region?

For some of us, the thought of buying wine shipped in heavy glass bottles over several thousand miles in temperature controlled transport seems a bit, well, unsustainable.  What’s a wine loving locavore to do?

As I reported not long ago in my blog post, Are Urban Wineries Taking Over The Industry?, According to Nation’s Restaurant News’ top 20 restaurant trends for 2011 there are at least three trends that prove that wine loving locavore’s want more options (sustainability, hyper local and locally produced wine and beer). If you wondering how to tap into the sustainable, hyper-locally produced wine and beer trend here are four ways.

Urban Wineries. Whether you like to drink red wine or white, these days if you live in a major metropolitan area you probably don’t have to go far to find to find high quality, local producers right in your own city. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are have taken note of urban winery ‘revolution’ and according to a blog post in Eater.com, there are notable urban wineries in the Bay Area, New York City, Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Sacramento and Cincinnati (yes, Cincinnati…). Several of these metro regions even have their own urban winery trade groups, like the East Bay Vinters Alliance and South Seattle Artisan Wineries.

Wine and Dine Locally or The Locavore Wine Hipocracy…No More. Back in July 2010, the food critic Todd Kliman posted an article that ‘exposed the ridiculous double standard of the locavore movement and how they ignore great American wines.’ The good news is that chefs across American have begun to agree with Kilman and are spending more time developing wine programs that keep things local. Take flour+water in San Francisco. They have an upcoming winemaker’s dinner with Two Mile Wines and a large reason they took notice of the Oakland, CA winery is because they are just across the bay bridge. Read More.

Before you head north to wine country, grab your bike, join a tour and get a taste for what the East Bay scene has to offer.