I’ll Meet Ya in Alameda

Hey, so the other day, Kath and I gassed up the Lisa Marie and motored over to our eastern county neighbor for a wine-and-food fundraiser for Alameda County’s Meals on Wheels program, held in the cavernous barrel room of our good winery pals, Rock Wall.

We’d never yet been able to visit Rock Wall, which occupies one of the many buildings on the vast, decommissioned Alameda military base site. Last December, the week before Christmas, Kathy and I ventured to San Fran for fresh oysters on the half at the Ferry Building, then hopped said vehicle for the jaunt over to Alameda and Rosenblum Cellars, a few steps from the ferry terminus. We got a bit more ambitious back then, walking miles to Hangar One distillery (well worth the blisters), but couldn’t bring ourselves to complete the circuit to Rock Wall in the distance.

This time, we eschewed eastbound water transport in favor of westbound asphalt for this amazing event. And obscure it was not: Hundreds of people paid the suggested $20 donation to get their drink/graze on. All ages, too, though we seemed to run into a gamut of seniors at our first few tasting stations of the cross; Kath said something along the lines of “There are more canes here than in an unpruned vineyard.”

What made this tasting such a standout was the mix of big boys and boutique, and the food fare that was several steps above the usual Dixie Cup/plastic spoon offerings. I mean, no one expects Kettle Korn at a wine tasting, but seviche? Son of a vich, it was good. One local restaurant was serving a tasty seasonal salad, and had a “balsamic girl” dress it for you if you so pleased. The best.

The wineries were an absolute revelation. I think that Kathy signed up for more mailing lists than ever in one session. Small producers who own no vineyards, but contract out to growers up and down the huge state of Cali. Obviously, with arrangements such as these, varietals, yields and maybe even survival will vary year-to-year. But it sure was exciting to taste some juice from a producer who got some Pinot from Paso Robles and vinifies same in a concrete bunker in Alameda. That’s putting the “b” in “subtle.”

Cool story, at least for me: One winery that was pouring their juice was one that had signage that Kathy would see every day when she was commuting on BART from Oakley to San Francisco. Although they were one of the small ones buying grapes on contract, their crush and production facility is located in gritty Oakland. Turns out that the winery owner had timed how long their winery signage was visible when BART daylighted out of a tunnel — four minutes — and that was enough for them to choose the locale. Market research and/or gut instinct: East Bay is incubating some exciting winestuff.