The winery, housed in an industrial complex on Vasco Road, had its grand opening last weekend. The result is a crisp wine with minerality indicative of Alsace, but with tropical notes reminiscent of Livermore whites.Ĭollin Cranor of Castro Valley is the winemaker for Nottingham Cellars, which pays homage to the city of Livermore’s former name. From the latter, Kinney sourced fruit for an Alsatian-style pinot gris, which benefits from the vineyard’s altitude and the cooling marine influences. He is particularly interested in the region’s hillsides, including the Del Arroyo Vineyard, located just past Bent Creek Winery on Greenville Road. “I want to find out if Livermore soils have a distinct profile.” “I want to make wines that require very little intervention,” Kinney says. Keep it local - Kinney only works with Livermore fruit - and focus on terroir. “It got me thinking about making wine when I got close to retirement.”Īfter three decades working in material sciences and biomedical engineering for the University of California, Kinney went part-time in 2006 and bought his first ton of grapes - merlot and petit sirah - during the 2007 harvest. “It was the first time I’d seen vineyards up close,” Kinney recalls, of those morning drives to work. The seeds for John Kinney’s winery, Occasio, were planted 35 years ago when Kinney, a Washington native, was on a college internship at Lawrence Livermore Lab.
You can visit their new tasting rooms and sample their wines at this weekend’s Holidays in the Vineyards, which takes place at dozens of wineries around the Livermore Valley. The folks behind Livermore’s 45th and 46th wineries - Occasio Winery and Nottingham Cellars, respectively - are neighbors who share a similar pride in the area’s viticultural history and a passion for small, artisanal winemaking. T he Livermore Valley’s wine scene is a burgeoning enterprise.
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