Visiting Wine Country usually brings to mind sun-dappled hillsides dotted with vineyards, winding country roads and stone chateaus. There are always small towns flush with boutiques and fine restaurants tucked down side roads. Galleries with well-known artists on their walls and symphonies with the latest hot musicians seem to call the area home.
That's not what you'll find at JC Cellars or Dashe Cellars, a quick exit off the Interstate near downtown Oakland. Rows of warehouses line nearby side streets. A restaurant supply store sits on the corner, and a gas station advertises cheap hot dogs. If the winery that the two businesses share weren't painted dark red, with their names in gold lettering, you might miss it. Yet it is here among the warehouses and parking lots that young winemakers, such as Jeff Cohn of JC Cellars and Michael Dashe of Dashe Cellars, are opening shop.
A small group of vintners is ditching the countryside and opening wineries in old factories and industrial showrooms -- even on a former naval base -- in cities across the country. Rather than scenic vineyards and rolling hills, these winemakers have skyscrapers and the corner deli for company.
While the Bay Area has the largest concentration of urban wineries -- 18 at last count -- because there are so many nearby vineyards, clusters of them can be found in Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and New York. Lone wineries are also shooting up in places not typically associated with wine, such as Cincinnati, Kansas City and Dallas.
Even the Brooklyn waterfront in Williamsburg has its own winery.
In February, Greg Sandor opened Bridge Urban Winery so he could move production of his Long Island wines to the city. While Sandor awaits permits to make wine there, by next year's harvest, he hopes, he is pouring all 20 of his wines by the glass, as well as what he thinks are the best examples of New York wine.
"We're trying to bring the vineyard to the city," Sandor said.
Stratospheric land prices keep many vintners city-bound. Without deep pockets, winemakers can't afford to buy vineyard land, which can cost as much as $100,000 an acre in areas such as Napa, or to build a fancy chateau for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Buying land, planting vines and building a winery is then largely left to those who have made their fortunes in other professions.
"My wife and I are academics; we didn't come from software or Wall Street. This is what we could afford," said Tim Sorenson, the winemaker and co-owner, with his wife, Nancy Rivenburgh, at Fall Line Winery in Seattle and an economics professor. "It's not romantic, but it works."
Not having the bank account of a Mondavi or a Gallo gives urban wineries a decidedly homegrown feel. There are usually no tour buses parked out front or slick tasting rooms selling knickknacks with painted grapes. These tasting rooms may have a bar or simply a wood plank laid across several barrels.
Some even offer food and wine pairings, like Bridge Urban Winery, which serves its own wines and others from New York alongside local cheeses, meats and produce. There's also jazz several nights a week.
Hours are as varied as the winemakers. Some wineries are open part of the week, others only by appointment. But all promise something a large winery generally cannot: Winemakers are usually the ones behind the bar pouring wines, offering impromptu tours, even answering questions about what to drink with dinner.
"We're thinking of making pizza on the grill tonight. Which wine should we have?" asked Connie Butters, a JC Cellars customer.
Cohn, JC Cellars' winemaker and owner, could have smirked (he has produced wine with some of the best vintners in France and made his name with one of the Bay Area's biggest wineries), but instead he pointed to two of his syrahs. "Try one of these. Whichever one you choose will be great."
Most winemakers have been tied to their vineyards, but in the past decade, many are realizing they can make wine wherever they want. Refrigerated trucks and cold storage have made the move easier.
"If you're buying grapes, what difference does it make whether you crush them in the city or in the countryside?" said Paul Lukacs, author of "American Vintage: The Rise of American Wine."
Opening a winery in town also makes it easier to sell and market your wine. When vintners are closer to restaurants or average wine drinkers, they usually have more name recognition. With more than 5,000 wineries in the country and counting, anything a winery can do to stand out helps.
"As much as I love driving out to the vineyards, it was more important to be closer to the markets," Sorenson said. "If a customer ordered the wrong wine, I can make a delivery the same day. I feel like I need to be here to provide service to restaurants."
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