Woods Beer & Wine Co. Grows with Expanded Wine Program and New Location in San Francisco's Lower Haight

In chaotic and unsettling times, Woods reinforces its commitment to its workers and its community with exciting new wines and a brand-new location. They’re restaffing, restocking, and growing their business to continue to share their creations with their friends and neighbors.

Woods Beer & Wine Co. began making and selling its creative beers to San Francisco’s curious drinkers in 2012, at a small brewpub on the corner of Dolores Park. When their brewing adventures led them to co-fermented wine-beer hybrids like the Divine Origins series and a robust list of natural wines on offer at their bars, their customers embraced the exciting new flavors and minimal-intervention approach — and wanted more. So in 2018, Woods began making wine alongside beer at its Treasure Island production facility. 

Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Now in its second year of winemaking, Woods continues to focus on making wines with little or no sulfur, and without any fining, filtering, or cultured yeasts. This year, after a modest harvest in 2018, they processed 60 tons of ten different grape varietals across four different AVAs, fermenting them in concrete, oak, and stainless steel vessels. Like their beers, Woods wines are made from rare and special ingredients. Unique grapes such as Corvina, Ribolla Gialla, Chenin Blanc, and Carignan showcase a breadth of style and creativity, and many of these grapes are dry-farmed on vineyards over sixty years old. Woods also uses more classic California grapes like Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel, but with novel techniques like skin-contact fermentation and minimal-extraction saignee.

One big difference with this year’s wine releases is that instead of offering the majority of its wine in kegs, Woods decided to package it for home enjoyment. Its team spent the second day of shelter-in-place filling 1,000 cases of bottles and recently released four different canned wines as well.

Woods is eagerly looking forward to a day when drinkers can again gather at its outposts for wine and beer on tap, and so they’re especially excited to announce their sixth location at 530 Haight Street in San Francisco's Lower Haight. 

The Lower Haight has a well-established beer scene with stalwarts like Toronado and Noc Noc, and newer enterprises like Fort Point’s Black Sands, and Woods is thrilled to join the community with something a little different.

Larger than most of our existing projects, the new Woods location will provide plenty of space to showcase its own wines alongside their favorite producers from California and Europe. They will curate a list of over sixty producers that work with organic fruit and utilize native yeasts.

Woods will open its to-be-named Lower Haight location on Friday, June 5, 2020. They will offer Woods beer, Woods wine, guest wine, and El Porteño empanadas to go, seven days per week. 

As soon as they are allowed to do so, while ensuring the safety of our staff, customers, and neighbors they’ll open for on-premise consumption. 

Meanwhile, during shelter-in-place, Woods is offering pick-up beer, wine, and El Porteño empanadas at all of its six locations, as well as same-day delivery in San Francisco and the East Bay, and shipping all over California. Woods has also created a brand-new beer, Sing From Windows West Coast IPA, and a home-brewed Woods Hand Sanitizer from wine distillate. A portion of proceeds from the sales of beer and sanitizer will go toward supporting Woods team members and frontline workers. 

About Woods Beer & Wine Co.

Woods Beer & Wine Co. is a family of bars, brewpubs, and wineries around the Bay Area. We make creative, small-batch beer and wine inspired by nature, place, and tradition.