2021 Cellar 13 Albariño with a Portuguese Feast
The Winery
Photo from Cellar 13
Cellar 13 was founded by Darin Winton, who also happens to be one of the few Native American Winemakers in the United States. He proudly uses the Cherokee language for their two Bordeaux style blends. The Right Bank blend is named “Aliheliga” which means grateful and the Left Bank blend is named “Tsogadu” the number 13. On the backside of these two labels is artwork from Cherokee artist John Balloue.
Darin retired in 2017 and was immediately hired as the Assistant Winemaker at 3 Steves Winery in Livermore, California. Here he learned about wine making from start to finish. He was able to produce his own wines under his label. He has used a few wineries in Livermore as an impromptu “custom crush operation”. Darin handles the winemaking and Gail Henderson runs the operations and marketing side of the winery.
The goal of Cellar 13 is making high quality and award winning wines using fruit from only the best Vineyards. To that point here is just a partial list of their award winning wines in just a few short years:
CHARDONNAY
* 2017 Chardonnay – Double Gold – 2019 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
* 2018 Chardonnay – Gold Medal Winner 94 points – 2023 Sunset International Wine Competition
* 2019 Chardonnay – Best in Class Winner – 2021 Livermore Valley Uncorked Wine Competition (Best Chardonnay in Livermore), Gold Medal Winner – 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
ALBARIÑO
* 2021 Albariño – Gold Medal Winner – 2023 Orange County Fair Commercial Wine Competition
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
* 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon – Double Gold Medal Winner -2020 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
* 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon – Silver Medal Winner -2023 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
* 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon – Double Gold Medal Winner 97 points – 2023 Sunset International Wine Competition, Gold Medal Winner – 2023 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
BORDEAUX BLENDS
* 2017 Tsogadu (13 in Cherokee) – Left Bank Bordeaux Style Blend – Gold Medal Winner -2020 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
* 2018 Tsogadu (13 in Cherokee) – Left Bank Bordeaux Style Blend – Gold Medal Winner – 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
* 2019 Tsogadu (13 in Cherokee) – Left Bank Bordeaux Style Blend – Gold Medal Winner – 2023 Orange County Fair Commercial Wine Competition
* 2019 Aliheliga (“Grateful” in Cherokee) – Right Bank Bordeaux Style Blend – Best in Class Winner – 2023 Livermore Valley Uncorked Wine Competition, Gold Medal Winner – 2022 SF Chronicle Wine Competition.
OTHER REDS
* 2019 Cabernet Franc – Double Gold Medal – 2023 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
* 2017 Merlot – Silver Medal Winner – 2021 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
The Wine – “Wine is bottled poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Albariño or Alvarinho is a variety of white wine grape grown in Galicia (northwest Spain) and in Northwest Portugal (Monção and Melgaço). Albariño is the name for the grape in Galician. In Portugal it is known as Alvarinho, and sometimes as Cainho Branco. Around 93% of the world’s Albariño vines are planted in Spain and Portugal. In California only 610 acres are planted and bearing Albariño grapes. Key areas are San Louis Obispo with 12 acres, Monterey with 9, El Dorado with 8 and San Joaquin with 7. The balance of the other 33% are scattered about California.
Typical flavors of Albariño are lemon zest, grapefruit, honeydew, nectarines and salt and often finish with a slight bitter note or minerality note. I have noticed that American Albariño is crisp and with strong aromatic notes of stone fruits and honeysuckle.
On the eyes Cellar 13 had a pale yellow tinge. On the nose a strong aroma of honeysuckle flooded the olfactory senses. On the palate, stone fruit, honeydew melon with lemon zest completed the tasting experience. On the finish both minerality and a salinity notes completed the tasting. A great wine for seafood and shell fish. The 2021 Albariño was a Gold Medal Winner at the 2023 Orange County Fair Commercial Competition.
The current release is the 2023 and goes for $29/bottle and is 13% in alcohol.
The Food and Wine Pairing – “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost. United and well matched, they are as body and soul: living partners” – Andre Simon
Selected this wine this evening for what could only be described as a Portuguese feast at a friend’s house. Knowing these Portuguese friends, fish was going to be on the menu so Albariño was chosen to pair with the fish dishes. Appetizers started out with smoked salmon and freshly picked and cooked Fava beans.
Photos ©Michael Kelly
The main entrée was called “Carne de Porco Alentejana” which is a pork and clam dish common in the Azores and Portugal. Had not tasted this before and it was delicious.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Another dish was Cod fish with potatoes but didn’t get a picture. I did however get a picture of beautiful shrimp cooked with Portuguese spices that were scrumptious.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Other items served were Azorean cheese, a fresh garden salad and a few other items with each guest bringing a side dish.
When plated we really needed two plates per person as there was so much food and the quality was outstanding. Here you can see the Cod fish.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The entire meal with beforehand appetizers and entrée dishes paired so well with the Albariño wine. Truly a solid food and wine pairing.
And if that was not enough two desserts were offered. First was a pastry called “Queijadas de Leite” (Portuguese milk tart) which was a decadent egg and cream custard filled in a pastry shell that was heavenly.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Also a fresh fruit assemblage for feasting after dinner.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
We also enjoyed a few other tasty wines during and after the dinner. Here is a picture of just a few of them (there were more!):
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Not every day you get a chance to partake in this kind of Portuguese feast but for this evening we were so happy to be invited. Thank you Mary and Joe Goulart for hosting and the other guests for your contributions towards this gourmet meal and enjoyable evening.
Sláinte,
Michael