TREASURE ISLAND WINES

Treasure Island Wines, established in 2007, is a spacious urban winery that houses four winemakers producing under their own labels: Treasure Island, Eristavi, Bravium, and Heartfelt. Hosted by expert pourer Deneane and master vintner Victor Eristavi, we started with a crisp, mineral-tinged Treasure Island Sauvignon Blanc. Next we tried Eristavi's Symphony - a lesser-know grape varietal that's a hybrid of Muscat and Grenache. The wine is dry, with a delightfully intense floral bouquet. A pleasant taste of Rkatsiteli was another first for us.

Moving on to the reds, we enjoyed the 2010 Bravium Carneros Pinot Noir and 2009 Eristavi Zinfandel, which is lighter and drier than most. Even more impressive: Eristavi's 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon and award-winning Syrah.

Lots of space, lots of wine!

Victor, who hails from the Republic of Georgia, is a chemist who has revived his family's winemaking tradition in a new setting, melding old-world techniques with modern technology. He enthusiastically sources unique grape varietals from Sonoma, Lodi, and Amador County where "the grapes are so good, it's hard to make bad wine." To be sure, we only encountered good wine, including some barrel tastes of what is to come.

Heartfelt will be bottling in July, which means that soon there will be even more to experience at Treasure Island Wines. The tasting room is open most Saturdays from 1:00-5:00 and sometimes on Sunday.


995 9th Street Building 201,
(Corner of 9th Street and Avenue I)
Treasure Island
San Francisco, Ca. 94130
415.394.9463

FAT GRAPE WINERY

Since 2007, Patrick Bowen has been making his all-natural wines in a former Navy brig on Treasure Island, just minutes from downtown San Francisco. The wines, some of which are sold straight from the cask, are 100% varietals and contain no added sulfites. Patrick started making wine in the 1990s. When he retired from his job as a contractor he thought about going to the mountains to look for gold, but instead started a winery. He sources grapes from Amador County and Lodi and ages in French, American, and Hungarian oak.

Tasting room in what was the brig's men's dormitory

We tasted nine delicious wines - all red - plus a few more from the barrels. Our favorites: 2008 Patrick Bowen Cabernet Sauvignon, 2008 Fat Grape Sangiovese, and award-winning 2008 Fat Grape Merlot.

Patrick telling us about his wines

Fat Grape Winery's tasting room is open Thursday-Sunday from noon-5:30. Tasting is complimentary.
1080 Ave M San Francisco, CA 94130
415.613.8925

SAN ANTONIO WINERY

We don't often visit wineries that bottle about 500,000 cases a year and ship all over the world. Boutique this isn't! But it's L.A.'s only winery and a historical landmark with deep roots. Established in 1917 by Italian immigrant Santo Cambianica, whose nephew Stefano Riboli later joined him in the business, San Antonio has stayed in the family through multiple expansions and modernizations. For a long time the Ribolis specialized in sweet wines; they still do an astonishingly brisk business in the Stella Rosa brand, which they import from Italy. Also of note: they're the largest wine supplier to the U.S. Catholic church.

Almost there!

The wines produced in San Antonio's expansive facility come from the Riboli family's vineyards in Rancho Cucamonga, Paso Robles, Monterey, and Napa. All the crushing takes place in the vineyards, as does fermentation for the reds. The whites ferment on-site in huge, climate-controlled steel tanks. Right next to them, retired California redwood tanks hark back to earlier times. Our knowledgeable and entertaining guide Christopher Cuyler talked history and winemaking terminology as he took us through rows and rows of American and French Oak barrels, stacked to the ceiling, in which the red wines age fourteen months to two years. Next he explained the winery’s formidable, fully automated bottling system.

Steel fermentation tanks

Chardonnay lees

Bottling machinery

Visitors to San Antonio are invited to taste three wines at no charge or to try an “artisan series tasting” for $10. We chose the latter, and especially liked the 2007 Paso Robles Pretty Penny Vineyard Estate Syrah. Complementary tours take place Monday-Friday at noon, 1:00, and 2:00 and weekends between 11:00 and 4:00, on the hour. The winery sells a diverse selection of wine, beer, and spirits from around the world. There is a restaurant serving lunch and dinner (last seatings are at 6:15, 7:00 on weekends) as well as three dining rooms that can be reserved for private events.

Store and tasting room

737 Lamar St., Los Angeles

Open daily

323.221.7261

MATTHEW RICHARDS CELLARS & SAN DIEGO CELLARS

Matthew Richards started out brewing beer… and one thing led to another. Since 2008 he and his business partner Todd have been making quite a range of very impressive wines. At a recent gathering of wine club members and friends they were pouring at least eight different bottles or barrel samples; our notes document four whites and four reds, but we were having a very good time and may have left out a few. Wines bearing the Matthew Richards label come primarily from Northern California grapes: Napa, Edna Valley, Lake County… while San Diego Cellars features local fruit.

Matt

Todd

 Honestly, we liked every single thing we tasted. The standouts include 2008 Edna Chardonnay – dry, very crisp, mineral-tinged; 2008 Edna Pinot Noir – grassy on the nose, it reminded us of an Oregon Pinot (or perhaps a pre-Sideways California one). We loved the deep, full 2008 San Diego Syrah; the 2009, not yet bottled, is even more impressive. Matt ages his wines exclusively in French oak barrels, some of which sport pretty cool paint jobs.

In the near future, Matt and Todd's enterprise will have a home in Little Italy at Kettner and Ivy. Right now they're tucked into an industrial park: 7919 Silverton Avenue, Suite 408. Open Fridays and Saturdays 3:30-7:30. 858.527.0944

The Matthew Richards/San Diego Cellars wine club offers a 20% discount on everything, free tastings for members and up to three guests, special wine offerings, and parties. Members can choose the amount of wine they would like to buy and request shipments tailored to their taste.

BROOKLYN WINERY

Co-owner John Stires did some extracurricular winemaking before he and Brian Leventhal, linked by their stints at ExpoTV, took it to the next level and founded the Brooklyn Winery. The 6000 sq. ft. winery, restaurant, and event space opened its doors in October 2010. The winery’s immediate predecessor in what, from the street, resembles a warehouse was a seedy nightclub called “Supreme Trading.” Only a disco ball remains of that iteration. The winery is a comfortable multi-level space with a courtyard that doubles as a dock for receiving and crushing climate-controlled truckloads of grapes.

The Disco Ball

We sampled the three house-made wines on tap, especially liking pleasantly dry “Untitled” Finger Lakes Riesling and a jammy Zinfandel from Lodi, CA fruit. Bartender Greg told us that there’ll be a new-release Merlot in about two months. The printed menu showcases an international selection of wines by the glass that offers very good value for price, plus thoughtfully chosen, high-quality food offerings. One can order a yummy snack or a satisfying meal.

In 2011 Brooklyn Winery’s Finger Lakes Riesling and Chardonnay won gold medals at the New York State Food and Wine Festival. Winemaker Conor McCormack brings a Northern California sensibility to what he does, specializing in boutique custom crush operations and micro-lot fermentations. He likes to experiment, e.g., by aging the same wine in steel plus two different wood barrels. McCormack aims not only to produce the best wine possible from the best fruit available, but also to demonstrate the different styles of wine that can be made from the same fruit.

Clients' Wines

Brooklyn Winery offers an array of winemaking packages tailored to clients’ budgets and the degree to which they want to participate in the process.

213 N. 8^th St., Brooklyn, NY 11211 (about a 10-minute subway ride from Union Square)  M-Th 5pm – 12 am, F 5pm – 1 am, Sa 1pm-1am, Su 1pm-12am. The kitchen closes an hour early. 347-763-1506

THE BARREL ROOM AT CITY WINERY

This is our kind of place! We’d barely removed our hats and gloves when friendly bartender Saida brought us tastes of City Winery’s Petit Syrah. Soon we were sipping out way through the lineup, guided by Raul Mesias, Director of Wine Sales. Soothed by gentle rumblings from the No. 2 subway below, we tasted ten wines on tap: two featuring New York State grapes, the rest from California. Our favorites were Finger Lakes, NY Cabernet Franc; Lake County, CA Barrel-aged Sauvignon Blanc; and Lodi, CA Petit Syrah. The comprehensive wine list offers much more by the glass and around 500 bottles representing the best of what just about anyone could want to drink.

The Bar

Bottle Lamps, Streetside at Dusk

The Barrel Room restaurant and tasting bar is a very recent addition to this 21,000-foot space, which Michael Dorf of Knitting Factory fame opened as an urban winery and nightly music venue in 2008. City Winery specializes in barrel ownership, offering hands-on experience in the winemaking process and of course private labels to document the results. Winemaker David Lecomte hails from the Rhone Valley, but he’s open to working with grapes from anywhere, provided that they can be properly transported. A barrel (average price around $8000) yields 252 bottles – quite a lot of a single wine, but barrel owners automatically become “members” in the winery and are invited to classes and private events where they can informally trade wine amongst themselves.

In August 2012 City Winery will open a new spot in Chicago’s West Loop. Meanwhile, check here for current information about the NYC winery's hours and events. 155 Varick St. between Spring and Vandam 212.608.0555

BLUE DOOR WINERY tasting room

Blue Door Winery in San Marcos recently opened a tasting room in the heart of Julian – a welcome addition to the town’s budding wine landscape. Winemaker Marc Hashagen sources grapes from many parts of California, with a lot (especially white varietals) coming from Santa Barbara County. We loved his 2010 unoaked Chardonnay.

Marc was working in international finance when he had an epiphany of sorts: he wanted to become a boutique winemaker, expressing his passion while keeping things simple and natural. Meanwhile, his old friend Kameron was working in the Santa Barbara wine industry. She moved to San Diego and reconnected with Marc… now they’re engaged. Blue Door’s annual production has grown to approximately 750 cases. Kameron manages the tasting room and vigorously promotes the wines.We tried three outstanding reds: a 2008 Santa Barbara Barbera – soft on the palate but still with plenty of tannins, 2008 Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon (our favorite) aged in American oak – fruit and spice on the nose, pepper later on. This wine is light; one could mistake it for a Pinot Noir. The just-released 2008 Santa Barbara Cabernet Franc is, we were told, highly changeable depending on one's mood and food. We enjoyed its pleasant grassiness.

We look forward to tasting Marc’s famous Merlot, with fruit from the Hidden Meadows area of Escondido. The 2010 vintage will be released at the end of this month. There’s also a Zinfandel on the horizon.

Blue Door’s wine club members get two bottles every three months, at $20/bottle or 20% off retail. And free tasting, of course.

The tasting room is open Friday-Saturday 11-6, Sunday-Thursday 12-5. 760.765.0361

FIFTY BARRELS WINERY

The urban winery Fifty Barrels has been tucked away in an Oceanside industrial park since 2000. The winemakers - who met in college and have grown their business from a garage -  now sources grapes from Lodi, Napa, Sonoma, and Paso Robles. Their two-year-old tasting room is a place to socialize where everyone will find at least one likeable wine. Thanks to a generous fellow visitor, we enjoyed a bit of the last bottle of 2007 “Mellow Apathy” – a 50-50 Syrah-Merlot blend from Los Olivos grapes. Since we were headed towards a casual seafood dinner at Pelly’s in Carlsbad, the perfect wine to take along was a standout Viognier, pre-chilled.

The Fifty Barrels wine club supplies members with two bottles quarterly, including limited releases. There are also free tastings and members-only parties.

Fifty Barrels's tasting room is open Friday 5:00-9:00 and Saturday 11:00-4:00. 760.550.9463

WITCH CREEK WINERY

Witch Creek, established in 1993, is the oldest urban winery in San Diego County. They've won 27 medals in the San Francisco Chronicle’s competitions. The main tasting room is a couple blocks off the beach in Carlsbad, but the tasting room selections don't represent this winery's range. We bought a 2007 Chateau Neuf Du Cat at Whole Foods ($27). It's 50% Grenache, 25% Morvedre, and 25% Syrah. It certainly went well with the barely grilled clams we swirled in a garlic-and-chili-laden mixture of olive oil, lemon, and their own juices before popping them into our mouths.

Gotta Love the Cat

Members of Witch Creek's Winery Cellar Club definitely get the best bottles. They commit to two bottles per month for at least three months. In return the winery offers 20% off other purchases, free tasting, and invitations to private events.

Witch Creek's Carsbad and Julian tasting rooms are open daily 11:00-5:00. Carlsbad: 760.720.7499 Julian: 760.765.2023

SAN PASQUAL WINERY Tasting Room

We finally made it to the convivial San Pasqual tasting room in La Mesa. This urban winery, located in a Pacific Beach warehouse, added the La Mesa outlet about a year ago.  We sampled an impressive pre-release Merlot by winemaker and co-owner Linda McWilliams, who is carrying on in the tradition of former winemaker Eric Humphrey. (Humphrey's wines constitute the current tasting menu.) Skipping the passion fruit wines and anything off-dry, there was still plenty to enjoy. Our favorites were the 2008 Dry Creek Chardonnay – very lightly oaked, Balboa 2005 Tempranillo, and 2005 Cab/Merlot blend – both with pleasant tannins, and an outstanding, slightly smoky, “Ranchero” 2001 Cab/Nebbiolo blend.

The "Friends of San Pasqal" wine club is just getting started. It includes one non-San Pasqual wine per shipment (contact the winery for timing and price), free tasting, and a 20% discount on additional purchases.

CARRUTH CELLARS WINERY

The urban winery Carruth Cellars in Solana Beach sources a wide variety of California grapes and does almost all of the winemaking and bottling on site.  The wines are still very young, but they show promise.  Plus, we liked the vibe.  We’ll be back. The tasting room stays open late when there's a show across the street at the Belly Up.

Carruth invites "Wine Thiefs" to join their wine club, with lots of options. See https://carruth.worldsecuresystems.com/cellar-club.htm 

The Carruth tasting room is open Monday-Saturday 12:00-12:00, Sunday 9:00-6:00. 320 South Cedros Ave. #400 Solana Beach858.847.9463

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