Oakland. The city's name conjures many things, but wine tasting isn't typically one of them. This past weekend I had the pleasure of discovering some amazing urban wineries - yes, in Oakland - and meeting several Twitter friends IRL (in real life).
Thanks to the great connections and excellent organizational skills of @BungRCooper, nine of us met in Oakland for a fun day of food and wine. I had never met any of these Twitter friends in person before, and it was a fantastic experience.
After a fun lunch at Chop Bar in Oakland, we started our urban wine tasting tour.
JC Cellars: Our first stop was JC Cellars. Jeff Cohn was formerly the winemaker at Rosenblum, where he annually crafted more than 70 different wines. Today, at his Oakland-based warehouse winery, he limits himself to a mere 21
bottlings, focusing on Rhône varietals. In addition to making great tasting wines, I loved the names: "The First Date", "The Imposter", "Twist of Fate", "Smoke and Mirrors", "Misc. Stuff" - you get the idea. I enjoyed all of the wines we tasted, but my favorites were the St. Peter's Church Vineyard Zinfandel, an Alexander Valley Zin that is big and chewy with a lot of fruit and spice, just the way I like them, and the Rockpile "Haley" Syrah, with tons of cherry and black fruit and minerals. In fact, if you love Rockpile wines (who doesn't??), JC Cellars does several. Highly recommended.
From here, we trekked (about 3 steps) to Dashe Cellars (the two wineries share a tasting room). Michael and Anne Dashe founded Dashe Cellars in 1996, and they focus on making great single-vineyard wines. First of all, let me just say that I love their label. We tasted several wines here but I admit, I was chatting more than I was tasting. Some of the standouts here were the Les Enfants Terribles wines - "limited-production wines, made very simply to best reflect
the cool-climate vineyards from which they’re made. They are always fermented using native yeasts, have very low levels of SO2, are unfined and are usually unfiltered. As a result, they display beautiful lightness, finesse and
minerality, with great underlying complexity and balance of a “natural” wine." I really enjoyed them and plan on re-visitng Dashe to try some more of their wines.
After a fun lunch at Chop Bar in Oakland, we started our urban wine tasting tour.
JC Cellars: Our first stop was JC Cellars. Jeff Cohn was formerly the winemaker at Rosenblum, where he annually crafted more than 70 different wines. Today, at his Oakland-based warehouse winery, he limits himself to a mere 21
bottlings, focusing on Rhône varietals. In addition to making great tasting wines, I loved the names: "The First Date", "The Imposter", "Twist of Fate", "Smoke and Mirrors", "Misc. Stuff" - you get the idea. I enjoyed all of the wines we tasted, but my favorites were the St. Peter's Church Vineyard Zinfandel, an Alexander Valley Zin that is big and chewy with a lot of fruit and spice, just the way I like them, and the Rockpile "Haley" Syrah, with tons of cherry and black fruit and minerals. In fact, if you love Rockpile wines (who doesn't??), JC Cellars does several. Highly recommended.
From here, we trekked (about 3 steps) to Dashe Cellars (the two wineries share a tasting room). Michael and Anne Dashe founded Dashe Cellars in 1996, and they focus on making great single-vineyard wines. First of all, let me just say that I love their label. We tasted several wines here but I admit, I was chatting more than I was tasting. Some of the standouts here were the Les Enfants Terribles wines - "limited-production wines, made very simply to best reflect
the cool-climate vineyards from which they’re made. They are always fermented using native yeasts, have very low levels of SO2, are unfined and are usually unfiltered. As a result, they display beautiful lightness, finesse and
minerality, with great underlying complexity and balance of a “natural” wine." I really enjoyed them and plan on re-visitng Dashe to try some more of their wines.
Next, we headed over to Urban Legend Cellars. Now this was my kind of place! Steve and Marilee Shaffer run a classic "Mom and Pop" place and make you feel right at home the minute you walk through the door. They were welcoming, friendly, knowledgeable and they make some damn good wine. I was thrilled to see some varietals (varieties? that argument is a whole 'nother can of worms) that I love - especially Petit Verdot and Teroldego. But you'll also find Sangiovese, Mourvedre, Tempranillo, Malbec and Barbera (among others). I was so happy tasting all of these delicious wines, and chatting with Steve and Marilee, that my New Year's resolution (such as it was) flew out the window and I not only purchased several bottles of wine, I also joined the wine club. (Not to worry, if Jason was cranky to begin with he was soon won over with some Urban Legend wine.) I recommend running, not walking, to taste the good wines and enjoy the good company at Urban Legend Cellars.
Our final stop of the day was Rock Wall Wine Company, which is located on the old Naval air base in Alameda. The tasting room is new and pretty and has a nice view of the City. Here we had the pleasure of meeting Shauna Rosenblum. Shauna pulled out all the stops - great food from the on-site bistro, a great tasting of wines, and a fun tour and barrel tasting. Thanks again, Shauna! Shauna is a super talented, fun and friendly person. She has a pottery studio on site at the winery, where she makes her own amphorae, she designed the logo of the San Francisco skyline, and she is a bit of a mad scientist as a wine maker, making some rarely found varietals (Norton, anyone?) and giving old favorites a new spin. My favorites here were the 2009 Zinfandel Monte Rosso Reserve and the 2009 Cabernet Franc (holy jalapeno, batman, this was awesome!). I can't wait to come back here with Jason and buy some more wine. We drank the Cabernet Franc when I got home that evening, and we both agreed it was fantastic.
So the next time you feel like wine tasting and want to try something different, please consider giving Oakland a try. I knew there was great food to be had there, and now I know there is great wine being made there as well!
Many thanks to my Twitter drinking buddies for a fun day! I look forward to doing it again soon.
Many thanks to my Twitter drinking buddies for a fun day! I look forward to doing it again soon.
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