About Cellar 13 Winery!
What began as a learning experience turned into a passion! Like many wine enthusiasts, Darin Winton, the wine maker/owner of Cellar 13 Winery, started off volunteering for several years at Harvest time and became hooked on the process of wine making. That led to working with extremely talented wine makers and a career in wine making. Darin also happens to be Cherokee and is one of a few Native American winemakers in the United States! He takes great pride is in his heritage and our artwork on our labels reflects his pride. The artwork from our labels is done by the Cherokee artist, John Balloue, who is also Darin's Uncle. You can read more about Darin and his Uncle's Cherokee artwork here: CherokeePhoenix.org
Having had a successful career in Water Services, Darin retired in 2017 and was immediately hired as the Assistant Wine Maker at 3 Steves Winery in Livermore, CA. Given the chance to learn about wine making from start to finish at 3 Steves, Darin was later afforded the opportunity to make wine under his own label. In late 2017, Cellar 13 Winery was born, and with that a passion for Darin to make his own mark on the Livermore Valley Wine Region. In 2019, Cellar 13 Chardonnay was awarded Double Gold at the San Francisco Wine Competition, thus validating Darin’s passion and talent in wine making. 2020, 2021 and 2022 have brought more accolades to Cellar 13 wines, including a Best in Class as the Best Chardonnay in Livermore Valley for the 2019 vintage. While Darin does the Winemaking, Gail Henderson runs the operations and marketing side of Cellar 13 Winery. Together, they have created a Winery that embodies the best of their talents.
Wine making is our passion and we hope to share that passion and fun with you! You can purchase C13 Wines here. Please contact us at Cellar13Winery@gmail.com if you have any questions about our products.
