Rail Bridge Cellars: Drink Local

It turns out that you can make wine almost anywhere. Growing the grapes with which to make the wine is another story. But the actual storing, crushing, filtering, and fricasseeing necessary to make great wine can be done almost anywhere where you can match a bit of floor space with regular temperatures. Why, then, should it be a surprise that some of the best wine this writer has tasted in a long time comes out of a nondescript white brick warehouse across from a discount furniture store and a card room?

Rail Bridge Cellars, located on North 16th Street, may be a trailblazing entity, injecting the business of winemaking in to the urban core, but regardless of its geography, the wine’s the thing that makes this small wine producer stand out. Winemaker Jon Affonso (Jesuit High class of ’88, Go Big Red!) confidently, and with obvious passion produces only two wines at the present, but what wines they are. His Sauvignon Blanc, crisp, subtly fruity, and perfect for a Sactown summer’s day, not only impresses the novices and experts but winds up being downright recession-proof at $15 a bottle.*

Jon’s second offering is a red blend that he calls Lattice. It’s a blend of five Bordeaux varietals, and is intended, Jon says, as a great food wine. Paired with grilled meats or slightly spicy dishes, it rules. On its own, it fares just fine as well. At $27 a bottle, it tastes like a steal, blowing away most $40-$60 bottles that you can find of the same style.

Jon’s space is unapologetically urban. He’s not trying to create some rural wonderland on North 16th Street. Instead, he’s using the room he has to host art shows, performance art pieces, private events, and private tastings. As part of Second Saturday festivities, the doors will be open from 6-9pm, highlighting several local artists’ works. Drop by, grab a taste of wine, check out some art, and support your local urban winemaker.

Rail Bridge Cellars- 400 N. 16th St.
http://www.railbridgecellars.net
*Wines available for purchase at grocery stores and wine markets throughout Sacramento at avarying prices, including David Berkley’s, Taylor’s, Corti’s among others. Also, look for Rail Bridge wines at area restaurants.

9 thoughts on “Rail Bridge Cellars: Drink Local”

  2. Not so much trailblazing as following the ruts of a long-abandoned trail: Sacramento used to have several urban wineries along R Street and 21st Street, in the same part of town as the old Buffalo Brewery. Plus, Revolution Wines has been running their winemaking operation in the same neighborhood for about a year now.

    Nice to see the idea is spreading–and it’s an ideal repurposing for the cool old industrial buildings along North 16th.

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  3. Both of these wines are excellent. Damn excellent. I look forward to new creations and seeing these wines around Sacramento more in the future.

    As for your headline, Apple Computers may approve of your combining an adjective with a verb (in command form), but Mrs. Eats may scold you later for not opting for an adverb. 🙂

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  5. Stickie: In the interest of marital harmony, I am not going near the whole “local” vs. “locally” thing.

    I did, however, recently get a shout-out on the Grammar Girl podcast for writing in about the wrongful omission of “from” when people reference graduating from college or high school. Many people say, “I graduated high school in ’88,” when they should say, “I graduated from high school in ’88.”

    I must commend you on your proper use of the possessive case pronoun in front of the gerund with “your combining.”

    Sac-eats just pointed out that I am the Scalia to his Ginsberg with grammar: He takes a more creative approach, while I am am a strict traditionalist.

    Oh, and Rail Bridge rocks — Jon is a cool guy.

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  6. Uhh, fricassee is actually meant to imply a chopped meat dish. What does that have to do with wine making? Are you talking about siphoning?

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