Continued from Uncorked — East Bay urban wine trails Part 1
These days you don’t have to go to Napa and Sonoma to taste fine California wine. You don’t even have to leave the city limits, if you live in Alameda, Oakland, Emeryville or Berkeley. Several hundred wine enthusiasts, some in limos and others popping in and out of their cars (designated drivers got special rates), gathered in assorted tasting rooms the weekend of April 4 for the second annual Passport to the East Bay urban wine trail.
At some tasting rooms, alliance wineries had paired with chefs. At others, music accompanied the tastings. “This is something that couldn’t have happened without the (East Bay Vintner’s) Alliance,” says Brendan Eliason, whose Periscope Cellars occupies 6,000 square feet inside a converted submarine repair facility in Emeryville. “We’re a non-competitive group. We bounce ideas. Give feedback. Lend and borrow equipment. And — there is so much more we can do together, like that event.”
Eno Wines’ Sasha Verhage, pictured left, was a confirmed beer drinker when he arrived in the Bay Area from Michigan a few years ago. Now the East Bay vintner describes winemaking as one of his two loves (besides, it goes without saying, his wife and daughter) — the other being “what I do for a living.” That is, interface design at Google, based at the company’s Mountain View headquarters. San Francisco East Bay wine country with its urban wine trail might seem a long way from where the grapes grow. But, says Verhage, “Living in the East Bay, I can get to all my vineyards — Monterey, the Sierra foothills, Napa and Sonoma — within about two hours.”
Verhage learned about wine when he went to help the home-winemaker dad of a former colleague. “I quickly became fascinated with the process,” he says. After doing homework assignments that involved drinking wine and reporting back, he quickly switched from cheap Chilean to Carneros varietals and started apprenticing to other winemakers. During the tech downturn he bought his first barrel and produced 100 cases. Now he makes more than 1,000 cases a year of his sought-after Eno label Pinots, Zins and Grenaches in a long-time boutique wine facility near Gillman Street in Berkeley.
The East Bay has some drawbacks, says Verhage. Like parking, when you’re having 8,000 pounds of grapes dropped off that need to be processed immediately. And raccoons. “They’re not so gargantuan in Napa.”
But, he adds, “The density of epicureans in the East Bay means there are a lot of people who have an appreciation of the artisanal craft.”
“As the Alliance grows, we plan to expand in a number of directions,” says Eliason. “We want to have more events — and we want to build up more resources. Potentially certain equipment could be bought and shared. Flatbed trucks, for example, for equipment delivery and grape deliveries. We rent bottling equipment from different companies and potentially could buy and share a bottling line.”
Creating awareness of great wine
But the two primary objectives in forming the Alliance were to create awareness — and education. To let people know they have great wines available right here in their backyard.
“I see what we’re doing as a retro thing,” says Eliason, who points out that grapes were transported to San Francisco and wine was made in the city, not in Napa or Sonoma, prior to the 1906 earthquake. And after that, Richmond, in the East Bay, boasted the nation’s largest wine-production facility — until Prohibition.
“We’re bringing back the urban concept,” he says, adding that for this reason, he doesn’t see Napa or Sonoma as direct competition. “I don’t see us becoming a tourist destination draw, like Napa. I see this as a distinct and unique niche supporting, and supported by, and appealing to the local community.”
Making wine among friends
It helps that they’re riding the fresh and local wave gaining Mavericks momentum in the region. “We’re making wine where we live — among friends, neighbors and the community.” So, you get to taste the wines, you get to meet the winemakers, you get to drink the wines at East Bay restaurants. It’s all part of the distinct urban appeal.
And, he predicts, we can look forward to more. “If my facility were double the size, I know four wineries that would move to the East Bay right now — people who commute to Northern California, live here, and want to be here.”
It looks like we’re going to be drinking regional and staying local these coming weekends — and savoring a lot of good wine.
For more info: Please visit the East Bay Vintner's Alliance website to see all the members and wine tasting venues and times. And to meet more of the winemakers, please read Uncorked Part 1.
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