Cellar 13 Winery Visits and Treats Us All to Many Wonderful Wines
Background
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The owners of Cellar 13, Darin Winton (winemaker) and Gail Henderson (marketing & sales) were originally scheduled to hold a winemaker’s dinner locally unfortunately it was cancelled. I invited Darin and Gail to visit and invited 23 friends to taste their award winning wines. Each person attending brought an appetizer and we enjoyed tasting six excellent wines.
The Winery
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Darin spoke on a variety of subjects on barrel selection effecting the wine, to yeast augmentation, vineyards selection, etc., all to formulate and make award winning wines.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
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 to name 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 also 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 Wines – “Wine is bottled poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Wines tasted were from right to left: 2023 Sauvignon Blanc, 2023 Sidanelv (white Bordeaux blend), 2023 Albariño, 2018 Tsogadu- Bordeaux blend, 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2019 Cabernet Franc. All these award winning wines were delicious. My favorite two were the Sauvignon Blanc and the Cabernet Franc. Personally, I just recently purchased his 2023 Albariño. Unfortunately, their Chardonnay was just bottled and could not be tasted for another 4-6 weeks.
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
Just a few of the great appetizers brought by those attending the tasting which included: spicy tuna fish spread, shrimp, meat balls, vegetables, bacon wrapped asparagus, sausage & mushroom rolls, various cheese platers, dips, charcuterie boards and many more items.
Photos ©Michael Kelly
The appetizers went beautifully with various wine selections.
In the end, six or so folks joined their wine club and many, many cases of wines were bought by those attending.
Sláinte,
Michael