Looks like beer but it's wine. Photo credit: Karen Hester

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.

Steve Shaffer with Urban Legends mascot, Sunshine

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 Cellars. Photo: Karen Hester

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.

Riding along Alameda. Photo: Karen Hester

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.

Looking for Rock Wall Wine Company. Photo: Karen Hester

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.

Tasting at Rock Wall Wine Company. Photo: Karen Hester

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.

6th Annual Urban Wine Experience
Saturday, August 6, 2011
2-5 p.m.
Jack London Pavilion
One Broadway
Oakland, CA 94607
Early Bird Rate (until 8/1): $40, After Aug 1: $60, $10 designated driver
Advance tickets: East Bay Vintners
Facebook: East Bay Vintners

Why wait until the weekend to visit the wine country when the wine country can come to you? The third annual Sonoma in the City is being held all this week in San Francisco with events from grand tastings to wine and food truck pairings. In fact, with over 100 vintners pouring their wines, Tuesday’s grand tasting marks the biggest tasting outside of Sonoma -- ever. The week kicked off Tuesday morning with a panel talk on Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. Now, I don't know about you but I'm a total Pinot fan and who wouldn't be when a grape has been described as sexy, supple, elusive and elegant.

Pinot Noir has come a long way since the 2004 movie,“Sideways,” pushed Pinot sales through the roof. But behind all the hype is still the fact that it is a finicky grape to grow and Pinot Noir is a difficult wine to make. As luck would have it, some of the best Pinot Noir comes right out of the Sonoma Coast. The combination of climate (specific fog patterns), soil and just the right amount of talent make this region a top spot for Pinot Noir. Some of that talent was on the wine panel Tuesday including: Winemaker Bob Cabral with Williams Selyem, Ted Lemon of Littorai Wines and Ross Cobb of Cobb Wines.

The talk focused on site expression, how much new technology to use in making wine and the relationship between the grower and the winemaker. The talk and tasting just confirmed my admiration for Bob Cabral’s wine making and introduced me to a new wine, specifically, the 2009 Emmaline Ann Vineyard Pinot Noir from Cobb Wines. I picked up some great herbs and butterscotch in this crisp, acidic wine.

After the panel it was time for lunch which involved several iconic, aged wines. I could hardly wait to tear into the wines but first my table had to spend several minutes disagreeing about which way we taste, to the right or to the left. When you have something like 72 glasses on the table you need to have some kind of coordination, or the left handed person ends up with no wine and someone else ends up needing to take a cab home. We finally figured it out which leads me to my favorite lunch wines: A 1997 Iron Horse Vineyards Joy! Sparkling wine, a 2005 Hanzell Vineyards Chardonnay and best of all, a 1992 Silver Oak Cab. Yum.

Ross Cobb pouring a Cobb Pinot Noir

The best part of lunch for me, besides the pork belly in a green pea puree with a Papapietro Perry Pinot (say that three times fast) was that I sat next to Master Sommelier, Evan Goldstein. The food and wine vet was kind of busy leading a cadre of winemakers through the various lunch courses but I did talk with him about California’s efforts to pull back from the big oak Chardonnays and I asked him about the controversial new state law which, starting in 2014, will require the inclusion of “Sonoma County” on the front label of all Sonoma County wines. Goldstein said it was a terrific question but didn’t want to register an opinion. Winemakers are an individualistic bunch and don’t like to be told what to do. Many feel the new requirement crowds their label but the Sonoma County Vintners hope it will build brand name for Sonoma.

After lunch it was on to the grand tasting for the rest of the folks and time for me to return to work, wishing I had 'spit' a bit more during the morning course and lunch.

Sonoma in the City remaining public events:

Thursday, July 14, 2011: Forks and Corks at the Firehouse, 5:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m. Fort Mason, San Francisco.

Friday, July 15, 2011: Vin 12 presents Sonoma Valley Wines, 5:30 p.m.–9p.m. at Sloane, 1525 Mission St, San Francisco

A calendar and links to all tickets can be found at sonomawine.com/sf.

When my friend Karen asked me if I was interested in taking a trip on the Napa Valley Wine Train, I thought she was joking. She's a rather sophisticated woman-- one who lived in the Napa Valley for ten years. She must know something I don't. Or someone. That someone turned out to be Ryan Graham, director of the Wine Train's wine program-- an old friend of Karen's from her time at the infamous Bistro Don Giovanni.

My initial reaction was snobbish. I'd always considered the Wine Train as a gimmicky tourist attraction, upon which the locals would never ride or, at least, openly admit to riding. Sort of like the Disneyland Railroad, but with alcohol.

I thought about it for a moment. What's so wrong with that? I have always had a soft spot for trains, and I have a great thirst for wine, so I viewed this offer as a blending of two of my favorite things, rather like an old Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercial in which a fellow randomly carrying an open container of peanut butter collides with a guy who has recently exposed his chocolate bar to the elements.

I accepted the invitation, of course.

The Napa Valley Wine Train, brainchild of train buff and Rice-a-Roni inventor Vincent de Domenico, began its run in 1989 on tracks that were originally laid in the 19th Century to bring tourists up to the resorts of Calistoga from Vallejo. The tracks in Calistoga have long been ripped out, but the remaining thirty-six-odd miles enable diners to take a pleasant, 3-hour trip from Napa town to St. Helena and back.

Upon arrival at the train's reception center, I wandered about the room, observing my fellow guests milling about, talking among themselves, or simply sitting on one the many available couches with the slightly glazed-over look that comes from having been exposed to too much sight-seeing over too short a time. Apart from two little girls racing about the room, shrieking and giggling, the room felt quiet and mildly uncomfortable.

There is a wine bar in a far corner of the room which offers up tastes of local vintages and not-so-local beer: Budweiser, Coors Lite, and Miller Genuine Draft. My initial, San Francisco-style reaction was one of shock. Where were the local brews? I looked around the room again and understood. The beer selection seemed, in a sense, a subtle way of telling its often out-of-their-element visitors, "See, we're just like you. We're not snobs, we just happen to live in the most famous wine region in the nation, so relax."

Before boarding the train, we were treated to a brief orientation by an affable, gravelly-voiced gentleman named Mike. Two wines were passed among the guests to sniff and taste. Well-acquainted with the general sense of intimidation that wine-tasting has upon the general public, Mike wiped away any perceived snobbery of wine enthusiasts in both his manner and his approach to tasting, even going so far as to make fun of people who sniff corks. "Why the hell would anyone sniff a cork? You're only going to smell cork. Corks are only presented to you at the table so you can tell if the wine has been stored properly." People laughed, relaxed a lot, and were now primed and ready for their wine-filled, three hour lunch through Wine Country which, in the minutes immediately preceeding Mike's presentation, might have seemed like slightly hostile, foreign territory.

Once through the reception line, where each group of guests is photographed by a Wine Train photographer, we boarded the train and were shown to our seats in the Vista Dome, a beautifully restored 1940's rail car. Surrounded by rich, red upholstery, white damask linen, and vintage silver flatware, we were poured glasses of Domaine Chandon Brut. If anything, I was feeling louche.

Our Bulgarian waiter was charming. As he stood at our table describing our luncheon options, I sat and listened, sipping my wine. I nodded a bit as he spoke, but stopped upon remembering that head signals are reversed in his native country. A nod implies disagreement, while a side-to-side shake implies assent. Or so I've heard. So, apart from letting my lips meet my champagne glass, I stopped moving my head entirely.

Soon after the train left the station, the stories of my lunchmates began. Off to my right was the restaurant where the Mondavis were told they could not bring their small dog. (The restaurant is, not surprisingly, no longer in existence). Off to the left, where a group of revellers (among whom my table companions counted themselves) mooned the Wine Train years ago, en masse. The Wine Train does, after all, have a reputation for offering breath-taking views.

At the start of the first course, the train stopped for a few minutes. I asked if one of the managers who stopped by our table for a visit if people were boarding. "No", she replied, "just stopping to pick up a few supplies, that's all." I looked out the window at the Safeway and understood. I was somehow pleased by the fact that I was sitting in a moving restaurant. One that ran an errand or two as I sat, drinking my wine.

As the train resumed its journey, slowly rocking from side to side on its way, I marvelled at the waitstaff, who managed to make carrying plates of hot food and, even more impressive, trays of drinks, looks effortless. The service was efficient, friendly and wonderfully at-ease. It was even suggested that we take a break between the main course and dessert to stretch our legs and tour the rest of the train. We pass through the early-20th Century Pullman dining cars where three and four-course meals are served, the on-board kitchens, and the Silverado Car, where one has the option of selecting from an à la carte menu, or not at all, to the Tasting Bar, where we sampled a few local dessert wines before making the slow walk back to our table for coffee and dessert. On the journey back to our table, I noticed that many of the people who looked uneasy prior to boarding now looked incredibly relaxed.

The food was, sadly, fair-to-middling. For example, the Crêpe Rosettes stuffed with smoked salmon were mostly crêpe, with minimal participation from the salmon.

The Roasted Beef Tenderloin Wrapped in Bacon With Shallots, Leeks and Roasted Garlic in Chimichurri Sauce was well prepared but, as the name might suggest, it was a rather convoluted affair. There was not room enough on the menu to mention the mashed potatoes or the carrots which competed for space on the overcrowded plate.

For dessert, I opted for the Calvados Apple Crisp with Vanilla Gelato. While the flavors were spot on-- just the proper hint of Calvados, the presentation destroyed what should have been a wonderful dessert. What arrived at our table merely looked like a cup of vanilla gelato, with no indication of what lay beneath. Crisp topping needs room to breathe. A complete smothering in gelato resulted in a cold mush with a texture approximating that of granola left too long in milk.

My sense is that-- and I may be shot for saying this-- Chef Kelly MacDonald is playing to a tourist audience, and rightly so. But I was left with the impression that the menu is an interpretation of what might play as "fancy"-- as gourmet-- to the tourist trade, which is doing no one any favors. The Napa Valley is home to some of the finest produce in the country. As a chef who proudly uses only fresh, local produce, it would do credit to himself and to the people visiting for the first time, to showcase that bounty in the simple, straightforward style of the valley through which the Napa Train takes its ride and from which it takes its name.

My criticism of the food aside, I had a fantastic time. A leisurely three-hour lunch in a beautifully-restored train car travelling at 18 mph through some of the most fantastic, autumn-colored countryside this region has to offer with a bottle or two of excellent, local wine selected from a well-crafted, affordable wine list to be drunk in hilarious company?

Yes, please. And I would do it again.

Whenever I visit a foreign city, I like to be blatantly touristy on my first day out by taking a narrated bus tour around town. I find it an excellent way of getting a general overview, a broad sense of the place. The Napa Wine Train is a great way to introduce visitors to the Valley, or yourself, for that matter, without having to fight the terrible traffic jams, especially in high-season. To borrow a jingle from a depressing and struggling national bus company, leave the driving to them.

Of course, it isn't driving, it's conducting or something. However trains work. I don't really want to know because, to borrow another jingle, there's something about a train that's magic. And I should like to leave it at that.

Instead, I suggest you follow the advice of this sign, found on the train:

Ride high, and enjoy.

The Napa Valley Wine Train Station is located at:

1275 McKinstry Street

Napa, California 94559.

For Schedules and reservations, call:

1-800-427-4124