Cellar13 Winery – An Exciting New Beginning
It is not often one gets to see a small company at its inception to grow and become a substantial part of a community. That is the case with Cellar13 Winery, with Darin Winton and Gail Henderson.
Photo from Cellar13 website
Firstly, their beginnings gained momentum with winning local wine competitions and then received national press at the SF Chronicle Wine Competition. Starting in 2017 after retiring, Darin took up winemaking, starting with enology classes and volunteering for various harvests. He became the Assistant Winemaker at local winery where he started honing his craft. Gail Henderson’s background is Human Resources for ten years and then the last twenty years she has been working as a licensed real estate broker. Gail is responsible for running Cellar13 behind the scenes with marketing, social media, wine club, holding tastings, winemaker’s dinners and so much more.
Darin is a quarter Cherokee Indian heritage and proudly uses that language for some of his wines. The artwork on the bottles is also done by a Cherokee Indian John Balloue, Darin’s uncle.
In a very short time Darin has received numerous awards for each of his wines. The list is too extensive to enumerate here but would direct you to their website to see the complete list. A few examples:
*2023 Chardonnay – Gold Medal Winner, 2026 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
*2025 Chardonnay – Gold Medal Winner, 2026 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
*2025 Albariño -98 Points, Best of Class, Double Gold Medal Winner, 2026 Orange County Fair Commercial Wine Competition
*2023 Sauvignon Blanc – Double Gold Medal Winner, 2025 SF Chronicle Wine Competition
*2025 Sidanelv – Best of Show (White Wine Blend), Best of Class, Double Gold Medal Winner, 2026 Alameda County Signature Wine Competition
*2019 Cabernet Sauvignon – Double Gold Medal Winner 97 points, 2023 Sunset International Wine Competition. Double Gold Medal Winner, 2024 Orange County Fair Wine Competition, top 1% of awards. Gold Medal Winner, 2023 SF Chronicle Wine Competition.
*2021 Cabernet Franc – 92 points, Gold Medal Winner, 2024 East Meets West Wine Competition. Gold Medal Winner-2024 Alameda County Fair. Gold Medal Winner – SF Chronicle Wine Competition.
And so many more………..
That is brief outline of their hard work and effort on chapter one from start to phenomenal growth.
Now on to chapter two. They have been pouring at Swirl in downtown Livermore and various popup locations for years. Now the exciting news: they just signed a lease agreement to take over the previous Cuda Ridge Wines location (with Cuda moving to the Concannon site). Cellar13’s new location, hopefully by the end of September, will be 2400 Arroyo Road in Livermore. They are over the moon to finally have a “home base” in which to host both their loyal club members and have the public experience their wines. Darin will also have a “home” to produce his wines.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
On a recent visit to Livermore Valley, I stopped by Swirl where they were pouring on Sunday afternoon. Greeted by the hard-working Gail pouring wine with her effervescent smile. We started off with one of my standard wines in the cellar, their award-winning Albariño.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Next up on the tasting and then joined by one my favorite judges/SOMM’s Fran Cunniffe, to taste the 2025 Sidanelv wine, a refreshing and crisp white blend of 25% Albariño and 75% Sauvignon Blanc.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
We moved on with Darin providing “color commentary” on each exquisite and tasteful wines we sipped. The one in the picture was their Pinot Noir.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
We continued through with their Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc selections. A great afternoon!
In the interim if you can’t wait until the end of September to taste their wines at their new home, they will be pouring at Swirl in downtown Livermore before moving to their permanent winery/tasting room on Arroyo Road.
Sláinte,
Michael Kelly