Joe Dressner
Joe Dressner
Chris Brockway lives in the Tenderloin district (near the Golden Coffee on Sutter Street), has a winery in Berkeley, is a Nebraska native, wants to make fresh, natural wines and is trying his best to do so on a shoestring budget.
Broc Cellars Rocks and Chris Brockway has won his first Tendy, honoring this year's top winemaker from the Tenderloin District! That's right, he's the First Annual San Francisco Tenderloin Neighborhood Vigneron of the Year!
While I think the wines are a project-in-work and in general I have trouble with California wines (I think they mostly have the wrong soil, vine stock, geology and winemaking techniques), I think Chris is making the effort to find something out there. Along with other pioneers like Jennifer and Kevin Kelley at the Natural Process Alliance, Chris is that glimmer of hope that the long search for good wine is making inroads in Northern California.
Chris is sourcing fruit from Paso Robles and is looking for sites that won't go crazy with spoofulation. His most valued vineyard treasure is a patch of 120-year-old Carrignan:
Chris has a lovely philosophy up on his web site:
Broc Cellars was nothing more than an idea not that long ago, about making wines that were site specific. Where the wines true character came from using only sustainably, organically, or biodynamically grown grapes from areas that most would consider marginal climates.
Believing that vineyards develop true character and complexity when they have to struggle to survive. This can come from many different aspects: poor nutrient and water holding capacity, steep slopes, cool temperatures, or from old vines that are dry farmed.
True asphalt winemaking, in an urban winery.
All our congratulations to Chris Rockway, the First Annual San Francisco Tenderloin Neighborhood Vigneron of the Year!
Plans are on the way for the award ceremony night and hopefully Senior Real Winemaker Steve Edmunds will be the master-of-ceremonies.
On a personal note: I have no commercial connections with Mr. Brockway. I'm not even wild about the wines. But I find the spirit behind the project to be moving and with great potential. It is the international spirit of the real vigneron.
Broc Cellars Rocks and Chris Brockway has won his first Tendy, honoring this year's top winemaker from the Tenderloin District! That's right, he's the First Annual San Francisco Tenderloin Neighborhood Vigneron of the Year!
Chris is sourcing fruit from Paso Robles and is looking for sites that won't go crazy with spoofulation. His most valued vineyard treasure is a patch of 120-year-old Carrignan:
Broc Cellars was nothing more than an idea not that long ago, about making wines that were site specific. Where the wines true character came from using only sustainably, organically, or biodynamically grown grapes from areas that most would consider marginal climates.
Believing that vineyards develop true character and complexity when they have to struggle to survive. This can come from many different aspects: poor nutrient and water holding capacity, steep slopes, cool temperatures, or from old vines that are dry farmed.
True asphalt winemaking, in an urban winery.
All our congratulations to Chris Rockway, the First Annual San Francisco Tenderloin Neighborhood Vigneron of the Year!
Plans are on the way for the award ceremony night and hopefully Senior Real Winemaker Steve Edmunds will be the master-of-ceremonies.
On a personal note: I have no commercial connections with Mr. Brockway. I'm not even wild about the wines. But I find the spirit behind the project to be moving and with great potential. It is the international spirit of the real vigneron.