Oakland Urban Wine Trail

Distance: 3.0 miles

Elevation Gain: 10 feet

High Point: 30 feet

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 2 ½ hours including stops at wineries

Fitness: Walkers, hikers

Family Friendly: Yes. The tasting rooms allow children in them.

Dog Friendly: Yes, all wineries on this walk are dog friendly 
Amenities: Restrooms at all of the wineries and in Jack London Square Marina, benches and picnic benches along the Bay Trail.

Contact: City of Oakland

GPS: 37° 47' 49.5132'' N 122° 15' 57.816'' W

Map to: Lake Merritt BART

Strava Route: https://www.strava.com/activities/1645656632

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9qFaLGgRV61YoFZ8A

Getting there:

Public Transit: The hike starts and ends at Lake Merritt BART

Parking: There is $3 parking at Lake Merritt BART station

A short distance from the Bay Area are the world famous wine-growing regions of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. I love visiting wine country, but always wish it were just a bit closer. Well, now it is! Every day, grapes of from all over California are brought to the city of Oakland for blending, barreling, and bottling at a number of urban wineries.

In 2010, Oakland wineries and tasting rooms banded together to form an urban wine route through the city. Visit Oakland, the city’s visitors bureau got involved in 2015 to infuse the route with a branding and marketing boost. Since then the route—now known as the Oakland Urban Wine Trail—has gained popularity and includes 10 wineries in a 10-mile radius.

This hike, inspired by the Oakland Urban Wine Trail, visits four wineries in three miles as well as Jack London Square—an area named for the author who spent a lot his early life on the Oakland waterfront. Today in the square, you’ll find shops, restaurants, ferry service to San Francisco, a Sunday farmers’ market, a former presidential yacht, an 1880s saloon, and even Jack London’s cabin—rebuilt and relocated from the Klondike region of Canada’s Yukon Territory.

Wine lovers can sip tasty white and reds in industrial warehouses and on sunny outdoor patios. And drinkers and non-drinkers alike will enjoy a waterfront stroll infused with late-1800s history. This route is designed to be safe those who are imbibing. It’s short, spaces out the winery stops, and starts and ends at Lake Merritt BART so that no driving is required.

Get Moving

Start the hike at Lake Merritt BART, on the northeast corner of 8th and Oak Streets. Head south on Oak until 4th Street, passing some charming Victorian homes before passing under the 880 highway overpass. Turn left onto 4th Street to arrive at the first winery on this route, Dashe Cellars (55 4th Street). Dashe is situated in a red building that takes up the second half the block.

If you visit Dashe, head back to the intersection of 4th and Oak Street and turn left on Oak. At 3rd Street, cross to the far side of Oak and continue south (left). Pass 2nd Street and then cross over train tracks. Oak Street drops you on Embarcadero West where walk to the far side of the street and turn left. Stay on Embarcadero West 0.2 mile. Pass a building to your right with a striped roof, the Jack London Aquatic Center. Then take your next right onto a sidewalk, The San Francisco Bay Trail.

Follow the Bay Trail along the water 0.1 mile, past the Aquatic Center and to a park, Estuary Park. Pass a picnic area with a geometric wood overhang, then continue along the waterfront path and follow it as it turns right, passing a few sculptures as you continue. Stay on the path and exit the park, following a Public Shore sign to pick up a more manicured part of the Bay Trail. Over the next 0.6 miles, you’ll have iews of the Oakland Inner Basin and Alameda Island across the water. Toward the end of this stretch, you’ll see cranes that have become icons for the city of Oakland (no, they did not inspire the All Terrain Open Transport [AT-OT] walkers from Star Wars), views of the San Francisco skyline, and a marina.

You arrive at the Jack London Square marina, a building with a faux lighthouse tower. Just past this building, you can walk left and out onto the pier for a nice view of San Francisco. Whether you explore the pier or not, you’ll next want to head into pedestrian plaza full of palm trees. In the middle of the plaza, among other things, you’ll see Heinhold’s First and Last Chance Saloon and Jack London’s Cabin.

An 1800s saloon, still open today

Built out of an old whaling ship in 1880, Heinhold’s First and Last Chance Saloon was first a home for men working oyster beds on the San Francisco Bay. John Heinhold purchased the building in 1883 for $100 in and turned it into a saloon. When it first opened, waterfront workers frequented the watering hole as well as local literary luminaries Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Joaquin Miller. The saloon has been in continuous operation since its opening and became an Oakland landmark in 1975.

A cabin from the Klondike

Jack London is often called a native son of Oakland, but he was born across the bay in San Francisco in January 1876. His mother was Flora Wellman, and while it’s not confirmed, many believe his biological father was astrologer William Chaney. Flora Wellman married John London late in 1876, giving Jack London his last name. London went to grade school and high school in Oakland, then attended UC Berkeley.

He headed up to Canada’s Yukon Territory in 1897 looking for gold. While he didn’t strike it rich, his adventures became fodder for his writing. London’s log cabin was abandoned after he returned to California. It was later dismantled and reassembled as two cabins—one in Dawson City, Yukon Territory and the other right here in Oakland.

By age 30, London was internationally famous for Call of the Wild (1903), The Sea Wolf, (1904) and White Fang (1876). Before he died at age 40, he had written more than 50 fiction and nonfiction books and hundreds of short stories.

Continue by the plaza and turn left at the large Water Street sign to stay along the water and get more San Francisco views. When you reach a viewing area with an old mast, turn right. Continue on the Bay Trail and look for a statue of Jack London. Stay on the Bay Trail 0.2 more miles until the San Francisco Bay Ferry is on your left and Rosenblum Cellars is your right. This is Clay Street. Between the ferry and Rosenblum Cellars, look left out to the water where you’ll see the the USS Potomac, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidential yacht from 1936 until his death in 1945.

If you like, take a break at Rosenblum Cellars or keep going on Clay Street past Embarcadero West where you cross train tracks. Continue one more block to 2nd Street where you turn right. You’ll be on 2nd Street for a total of 0.5 miles. After two blocks, reach Broadway (no sign) where you look right to see a Jack London Square sign. As you continue along 2nd Street, you’ll pass an area with produce markets. Then four blocks later, at the intersection with Alice Street, pass by the Oakland Amtrak Station.

Arrive at Urban Legend Cellars on the corner of 2nd Street at Jackson Street. Take a left on Jackson Street and once you get to 3rd Street, you can pop into Brooklyn West Winery at 201 3rd Street. From here continue one block east to Oak Street where you turn left. Stay on Oak until you arrive back at Lake Merritt BART.

Go Farther

Have a picnic at Lake Merritt or walk around the lake.