Vintage Berkeley

We’re kicking June off with a flight of the staff’s favorite summer bottles, a discovery tasting of locally made Champagne method honey wine, followed by an art-filled evening with Alex Kasozi and our wine club pick-up party.

Later in the month, G. Montot Imports joins us for an exciting Oregon vs. Savoie tasting before we head to our newly minted wine garden for an Unfiltered Wine Festival tasting featuring Madson Wines and food pop-up with Rice Cracker SF.

Tickets available using the link in bio!

June at Solano Cellars feels a lot like the World Cup of wine. Because it kind of is. This month starts with a global cellar raid, our final Balkans class with Danch and Granger with a focus on Slovenia and Romania, to a pairing of champagne and oysters (first come first serve!)

When the World Cup kicks off on June 11th, we're leaning all the way in, with all matches aired, the bar open all day long (with our full food menu available!), and guest popups throughout featuring wines & more from the countries playing.

To end the month, we are proud to sponsor an event for Unfiltered Wine Festival with Trailmarker as our featured winery.

Save and share this post to spread the word and mark your cals!

June is jumping at Vine Street.

From a tasting with CJ McCollum of the Atlanta Hawks, paired with State Flour Pizza Company pizzas, to a Canary Islands wine tasting, Lo-Fi Oysters and jazz, a Japanese wine tasting, some of the best sparkling wine in California, and our continued partnership with Unfiltered Wine Festival featuring a winery close to our hearts, Bedrock Wine Co. And to sweeten the month, we are finishing with a waffle and coffee pop-up.

Tickets for our events are available on our website or through the link in bio.

The last week of May at our shops has winemaker events, classes, and the return of Comedy by the Glass. Take a read below to learn more and get tix on our site or in our link in bio.

College Ave ⬇️
Thursday, May 28: Unfiltered Wine Fest featured Winemaker: Michael McCullough ✨
We are thrilled to be the featured partner of Unfiltered Wine Fest - A Celebration of Wine on the Edge. We are hosting Michael McCullough who recently took over as winemaker of Donkey and Goat for the 2025 harvest. The wines are showing better than ever! Michael will also be sharing the wines from his personal label, Outis, which is garnering attention for their pure, mineral driven single site expressions of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Mourvedre, and Chenin Blanc.

Friday, May 29: Comedy By The Glass 🎤
Headlining the evening is Terrell “Big T” Butler, one of the driving forces behind HellaFunny and a staple of the Bay Area comedy scene. He's joined by Natalie Diaz and Jide Okonkwo, with hosting duties handled by Connor Lonsdale.

Solano Cellars ⬇️
Wednesday, May 27: Balkans Wine Class: Serbia and Bosnia 🇷🇸🇧🇦
Our Balkans class continues with some of the most arresting, curious, and downright delicious wines from anywhere with Danch and Grangers, Brian Stapleton.

Friday, May 29: Anima Mundi & AT Roca: New & Old School Catalunya 🍇
Agustí Torello Roca is on a quest to reveal the soul of the unique terruño of the Alt Penedès in Catalunya. He founded Anima Mundi in 2015 to display the true expression of grape and place through keen observation of the land. Join us and our friend Alyssa Papiernik from Farm Imports to try some of our favorite wines from a region that holds an incredibly special place in our hearts. Tapas will be available a la carte as well.

Vine Street ⬇️
Friday, May 29: Biodynamic Wines of Alsace w/ Charles Frey 🇫🇷
Biodynamic farming pionieers Charles Frey have been some of our and customers favorite wines from Alsace. Delicious wines, made with care for the earth and our fellow humans. The new vintage has just arrived and we're so happy to have Gregoire Montot of G. Montot Wines here to pour and share these exceptional wines of Alsace!

What’s in your future this week? 👀🔮🍷

College Ave ⬇️
Thursday, May 21st: Wine Club Pick Up Party: 🎉
Elmwood's club party! Free for members and a plus one. We'll have all the wines open for you to try, plus some snacks. Curious about the wine club but not ready to commit? Come taste through the wines and see what we're all about!

Saturday, May 2rd: Wine and Tarot Party: 🔮
Immerse yourself in the world of tarot through the lens of wine with Julie Albin, DipWSET - founder of Tarot Vin. Tap into your intuition and deepen your connection with your palate as you explore tarot, astrology, and discover your divine energy with every sip. Julie will be offering both half (10-12min $35) and full (20+ min, $55) readings to gather insights on your current situation and future path. We will have tarot themed wines by the glass as well as a 3 wine mix-and-match flight for $12

Vine Street ⬇️
Friday, May 22nd: Friday Night Flights 🍾
Come start off your weekend with a wine flight highlighting some of our favorite, brand new wines to the shop! We'll be hanging out, tasting wines and spinning vinyl. Wines available by the glass and bottle too!

Saturday, May 23rd: Lo-Fi Oysters and Wine: 🦪
Lo-Fi Oyster Co. is the brainchild of Emma Thomas-Sand & Justin Esposito, a roving pop up featuring natural wine, jazz & freshly shucked oysters. They throw parties all over the bay and we're so glad they're back at Vine street. Grab a ticket to RSVP and purchase oysters (singles and dozens) plus wines by the bottle or glass at the party!

Solano Cellars ⬇️

Friday, May 22nd: Blind Tasting 🤔
Blind tasting: it's become a Friday night tradition for Solano staff (and we mostly enjoy doing it, even when we're wildly off-base with our guesses)... so why not invite everyone else to join the fun?? Come test your palate with a flight of 6 wines and helpful guidance from the SC team, with special discounts awarded for a winning tasting score.

The second annual Hella Chenin Wine Fest may be sold out (hope you got tickets!) but we’re keeping the Chenin love accessible!

We’re so happy to be hosting Bree & Chad Stock of Oregon’s Limited Addition while they’re in town for the fest. Limited Addition is a Willamette Valley project championing exceptional organic grape growing, with a focus on planting new varieties to build more diversity and resilience in the region.

They make surprising, delicious, organic wines at the forefront of Oregon’s natural winemaking movement. Yes, we’ll be pouring Chenin Blanc, but also a fun lineup of whites, reds, and orange wines.

Come meet Bree & Chad, taste some beautiful wines, and celebrate Berkeley’s own Hella Chenin Wine Fest with us.

Tickets are available now, grab yours using the link in bio!

A very delicious week ahead: 6 events across our shops, with food + wine taking center stage. Tickets are moving, so don’t wait.

Solano Cellars:
Wednesday, May 13th: Balkans Class w, Danch and Granger 🇭🇷
Class #1 will take us on a deep dive into Croatia, exploring the vast, varied terroir stretching from the sun-soaked coast to the rolling hills near Zagreb.

Friday, May 15th: Domaine de L'Ecu Wine Dinner 🍽️
We're thrilled to feature Domaine de L'Ecu's stunning wines for our second wine dinner of the year. Eric Quily of Merchants of Thirst will join us in exploring the depth and complexity of the L'Ecu lineup alongside a menu of seasonal dishes that highlight the gastronomic quality of these incredible wines. As always, seats are extremely limited!

College Ave
Thursday, May 14th: Wine & Crafts: Wine Charms w/ Lisa Solomon 🎨
We’re celebrating Lisa’s new book (which we will also have for sale), Art, Craft, Color, a collection of projects that leans into making things that are thoughtful, a little imperfect, and actually enjoyable to do. We’re starting with something simple and useful: wine charms.

Saturday, May 16th: Pop's Creole Pop-up! ☀️
Pops Creole started as a tribute to chef Gabe Lamothe's father who was born in New Orleans and taught him how to cook. Every dish is inspired by memories shared with family and friends from the Bay Area and New Orleans. We'll be turning our back area into a little outdoor wine garden for additional seating, so bring friends!

Vine Street:
Friday, May 15th: Hella Chenin x Limited Addition Tasting ✨
We're so happy to be hosting Bree & Chad Stock of Oregon's Limited Addition, a Willamette Valley project championing exceptional organic grape growing--focused on planting new vareities to provide varietal diversity and build the regions resilience to climate change. They make surprising, delicious, organic wines that are at the forefront of Oregon's natural wine making movement.

Saturday, May 16th: Paella & Wines of Los Chuchaquis w/ Jehan Hakimian! 🥘
Our friend Jehan Hakimian is back--serving up his amazing chicken & chorizo paella and pouring an awesome selection of his Santra Cruz based Los Chuchaquis wines.

Next week at College Ave on May 14th: We’re teaming up with Oakland-based artist Lisa Solomon and Berkeley publisher Hardie Grant for a night of wine and crafts.

We’re celebrating Lisa’s new book (which we will also have for sale), Art, Craft, Color, a collection of projects that leans into making things that are thoughtful, a little imperfect, and actually enjoyable to do. She’s also spent plenty of time leading workshops, so you’re in good hands.

We’re starting with something simple and useful: wine charms. You’ll shape your own set from clay, add the hardware, and walk away with something useful.

No experience needed.

Clay needs a little time to dry before final assembly, so you’ll either finish your charms at the end or take them home to wrap up. Easy either way.

What you get:

• All materials (clay + hardware)

• Guidance from Lisa throughout

• A full lineup of wines to taste

Come make something, have some wine, and leave with something you’ll actually use. Tickets in our bio! ✨

The May events at College Ave are ones not to miss! Save this post, share with friends, mark them on your cal, and get tickets using the link in bio.

Bubbles, paella, comedy nights, and the first of our Unfiltered Wine Festival events!