Dashe cellars has been an Urban Winery since 1996, from Oakland to Alameda in a hangar with views of the SF Bay. We specialize in Zin using traditional techniques.

Dashe Cellars is a family-owned artisan winery located in the heart of the Urban Wine Country. After 15 years in Oakland's Jack London Square district, Dashe Cellars has moved to Spirits Alley on the old Navel Airbase in Alameda, CA. Founded by the husband and wife winemaking team of Michael and Anne Dashe, Dashe Cellars crafted its first vintage of Dry Creek Zinfandel in 1996. Since that time, the Dashe’s have focused on producing exceptional, single-vineyard wines using a traditional, non-industrial approach to winemaking.

Michael Dashe - Co-founder and Winemaker

Mike fell into the world of fermentation at age 15 when he reconditioned an old refrigerator to brew his first batch of beer.

“I was making beer, not drinking it.” (Whatever you say, Mike.) “I stumbled upon a pamphlet, literally stapled together, about home brewing written by some big-bearded guy on the East Coast. No one I knew was making their own beer, at that time. From a scientific standpoint, I fell in love with the idea of being able to transform something through a natural process.”

Anne Dashe - Co-founder

Anne grew up in a fishing village on the coast of Brittany in France. She knew early in life that she wanted to work in science, but had no desire to sit at a desk working a 9-5. While attending the University of Bordeaux, she found herself torn between becoming a perfumer or a winemaker. What ultimately put her over the edge? When a professor told Anne that she’d never get in to the school’s enology program because she was a woman.

SHIPPING, PICK-UP, AND TASTING ROOM UPDATES DURING THE CORNONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

At Dashe Cellars the health and safety of our guests and employees is of the utmost importance. In light of the rapidly evolving situation with COVID-19, we are temporarily closing our tasting room doors.

During this closure, we are offering our customers $10 flat-rate UPS Next-Day-Air now that our Warm Weather Shipping is in Effect, coupon code SUMMERSHIP. No one should have to go without creature comforts when hunkering down. Click Here to place your order in our online store or call (510) 452-1800 x4 and Stephanie can help. You are also welcome to drop by the winery Friday and Saturday from 1-4:00 to pick-up wine or schedule a $0 At-Home-Delivery, simply select "Pick-up" or "At-Home-Delivery" at checkout. 

We will continue to monitor and work with guidelines from health authorities, and will evolve our policies accordingly.

Thank you for continuing to support local businesses—in this difficult time we all need to help mitigate the effects of closures, etc. so that we have products and restaurants to return to when this is all over. We are all in this together! Stay safe.

You can buy wines directly from Dashe Cellars here.

2017 Zinfandel Reserve, Dry Creek Valley

History

Since 1996, Dashe Cellars has been making Zinfandels from the Dry Creek Valley. To make this special Reserve wine, we’ve selected two of our favorite vineyards from the Dry Creek region, and then tasted every barrel, to select the best-tasting barrels within the vineyards. We wanted to show off the best characteristics of the Dry Creek Valley with an intensity, a complex spectrum of flavors, and a balance of pure fruit flavors and bright acidity. This is a particularly complex, lovely, and fruit-forward wine—a classic, balanced Dry Creek Zinfandel. 

Production

The vintage of 2017 was a challenging one, featuring a heat spike in early September and of course a terrible tragic wildfire in October. Luckily, the heat spike ripened the grapes just at the right time, and we were able to pick perfectly ripened grapes in a short amount of time. We had picked virtually all of our grapes before the wildfire began. 

The wine was fermented using only the natural yeast population on the grapes—our tradition at Dashe Cellars—and the resulting wine shows off the terroir of the vineyards beautifully. The wine was aged for 14 months in 20% new French oak barrels, and the remainder in older French oak barrels to gain the softness of oak aging without adding excessive oak flavors. Before the final blend, we tasted all our barrels to select out only the best Zinfandel lots for this reserve wine. Finally, in our blending trials, we added about 10% of Petite Sirah, for structure and long aging potential. 

Production: 1526 cases 750mL & 411 cases 375mL

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2017 Cabernet Franc, Heringer Vineyard

History

At Dashe Cellars, we have always loved Cabernet Franc wines, especially those of the Loire Valley in France. Wines from Chinon, Samuer, Touraine, and Borgueill have always found a place at our table, and since the Loire Valley is not far from Anne Dashe’s hometown in Brittany, it’s always been our goal to make a domestic Cabernet Franc with the lovely texture, pure fruit, and spice that make this varietal so beautiful to drink by itself or with a wide range of foods. We found a perfect location at the Heringer Vineyard in Clarksburg, with the cold nights and warm days reminiscent of the Loire Valley climate. These vines produced a Cabernet Franc with all the character and velvety mouthfeel we wanted, but with an added fruit component reflective of the perfect Californian weather. Serve slightly chilled to highlight the delicate fruit. 

Production

The 2017 vintage was a warm one, but the grapes were kept cool at night by winds sweeping in from San Francisco Bay. We hand-sorted the grapes on the way to the destemmer to eliminate any imperfect fruit. The crushed grapes were then fermented using only the natural yeast population on the surface of the grapes (rather than commercial dried yeasts) to conduct the fermentation. At dryness, the wine was gently pressed in a membrane press and pumped into traditional 60-gallon oak barrels. The wine was aged for 18 months in 85% neutral French oak barrels to maintain the vibrancy of the fruit. 

Production: 233 cases 750mL

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VINEYARDS At Dashe, we are committed to partnering with some of the finest small growers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties and beyond. We focus on crafting wines with a distinctive sense of place and look for that perfect balance of steep hillside vineyards, older vines, and vigor-reducing growing conditions. With almost two decades partnering with many of our growers, we work together to limit yields and reduce or eliminate the use of chemicals in the vineyards. In addition, all harvesting decisions are made by Michael Dashe.

Check out their online store here. If you are looking for some inspiration, they also have an awesome blog.