Irish Monkey

Their wines are ok, not mind blowing but the owner is great so I decided to join their wine club. I wish I never did. In December they decided to do an «elective release», not sure why they called it elective as they charged my card and I’ve yet to receive my requested refund, at this point, I don’t think I ever will. They are unresponsive to my emails and now the tasting room is moving so it will no longer be conveniently located in Oakland.

Wonderful hospitality, wonderful host. Amazing wine. Will be back!

A true hidden gem in Oakland. So hidden, in fact, that if you’re using the wrong mapping program on your phone or GPS, you’ll likely be led to the wrong side of 880. Hint: the winery is in a cluster of warehouses along the water to the south of the freeway, and not near a gas station on the north side.
The reds here are incredible. I enjoyed the merlots and cabernet sauvignons so much that I took a couple of bottles home. Bob, the owner, is really passionate, enthusiastic, and engaging about what he does, and you can learn a great deal from him. He’s so creative, in fact, that he’s created a number of blends of his own, like the «syrbec» and «merbec.» And the casual environment of the venue makes it feel as if you’ve been invited to a private tasting session in the home or garage of the winemaker himself.
Relatively unknown, and as such highly underrated. Bob is fully deserving of all the extra publicity and accolades he can get.

Came here for a special event. I definitely have to say that Bob (the owner) is awesome. He was very generous to offer his space for our event/​party, and we had a blast. The wine that he poured were all delicious — and many of our guests ended up buying bottles. Everyone had a great time, and we ended up bringing a stove and cooking paella outside as well.
The space itself is small, but there’s plenty of outdoor area. It’s a little bit hard to find the first time you go though. Just keep in mind that it’s inside the end of a parking lot. If you come at night, you’ll probably have some difficulty — during the day, just follow the signs that say «wine» … if you can find them!
I’ll be back!

Lol omg Irish Monkey.
My friend and I had such a good time here a few weeks ago. We started off at Urban Legend, but they were super crowded and so the owners were being a bit stingy with their pours. We then ended up here where that was the last of our worries!
The wine here wasn’t my favorite — but that’s the only reason I wouldn’t come back. The environment is fun — the owner is hilarious and generous with his pours. It’s an extremely non-​pretentious, down home winery and the characters working and pouring in there really reflect that.
They do mostly reds here, and all of them had pretty intense flavors, at least to me. I’m not super well-​versed on reds but I enjoyed learning more about them.
For the experience alone, I’d definitely be back.

After reading all of the great reviews we had to try the Irish Monkey and we were not disappointed! A fun little tasting room tucked in the back of an industrial area we were made to feel welcome as soon as we walked in the door. There was not one red wine we did not like, and we were given the chance to «revisit» a few that we had decided to purchase. The owner, Bob, was busy in the back organizing things for the Labor Day party, but he took time to chat with us and made the visit even more enjoyable. This is a great place to spend an afternoon and we will definitely be back :)

For atmosphere/​vibe this place gets a 3, for quality of wine it gets a 1, hence the overall 2 stars.
I’ll start with the positive: Bob, the owner, is friendly, outgoing, and clearly enjoys serving people. He’s generous with the pours and happy to let you try a wine more than once. I’ve been there twice and both times he’s been attentive and ensures everyone has wine to drink. The music has been unnecessarily loud both times I’ve been there — this isn’t a bar, I shouldn’t have to shout to talk to the person next to me.
Now, the negative. The wine is really awful. I realize that pretty much anyone can make wine, sort of like anyone can brew beer. But just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD. I tried all the wines they offer and not a single one was even decent. One red, and unfortunately I forget which one, tasted like alcoholic grape juice. Truly awful. I’m not a wine snob but I do know the difference between good wine and awful wine and unfortunately this is the latter.
There are plenty of great urban wineries in Oakland, this just isn’t one of them.

We had my CO’s retirement celebration here. Bob was an amazing host, and the wine he crafts is the best!

Bob really makes this place special. I came here for the first time a few weeks ago. Bob was friendly and incredibly funny. As we went through our 9 or so different wines, we cracked jokes, told stories, and learned all about Irish Monkey wine. how Irish Monkey came to be is a really great story of friends who liked to make wine so they turned their hobby into a business. They are very lo-​tech and do what they can with what they have. All the wines were good, I would say these wines tend to have a lot more tannins than a lot of other wines I have tried.

First, let’s focus on the wine. Irish Monkey Is a wonderfully innovative producer of wines. Though predominately focusing on red (their Sangiovese is fantastic) they also produce very nice whites now and then.
Yet the real magic of this place goes further than their wine. Unlike so many traditional tasting rooms, when you arrive here, you don’t get the feeling that you need to quickly taste your wine, then go on somewhere else. This truly feels more like a «destination winery».
Now you might be confused about this because they’re not based at some spectacular vineyard with beautiful views and large picnic areas (unless you happen to be a fan of boxing and enjoy watching some members of the boxing club next door sparring with each other in the parking lot).
They’re in a rather nondescript industrial building just off of Interstate 880. No, it’s the people. Robert, who is the primary head of the winery/​tasting room makes you really feel welcome. The pours are very large, and there are lots of nice chairs and such to sit around and get to know people. They also have wonderful events quite regularly, including a Friday night music scene that’s fantastic.
This is the kind of place that you won’t visit once a year, but actually become enough of a regular that joining their wine club makes perfect sense, even for those on a budget. A friend of mine actually compared it to Cheers. That honestly may be going a bit far, but it truly is a wonderful place and I would strongly encourage you to check it out if you happen to be in the vicinity. And even if not, it’s well worth the drive from pretty much anywhere.

Yes… The generous pours are a huge plus.
But the owner on site writing a customize tag line on each bottle if their reserve you purchase. Priceless.
Venue is pretty tough to find thanks in part it’s in the back of the complex, but good place take a little hard work to get to.
Décor won’t be on Wine Enthusiast anytime soon, but how many wineries in oakland fill that category.
Staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. No complaints by me!

IMC’s wine has a unique signature all its own. The intense flavor that is characteristic of their wines will keep you coming back for more. Love the small intimate venue for tastings and community gatherings — you are sure to meet some fun and interesting people here! I’ve lived in the bay area for quite awhile and this winery is my favorite, hands down. Loads of character all around!

Amazing winemaker Bob Lynch has produced some of the most amazing wines I’ve ever tasted, and I’ve had quite a bit thanks to a father who had a cellar of over 10,000 bottles. One of Bob’s Cabs was awarded a triple-​gold, which is quite a feat. As a member of his wine club, I stop down often to see what’s now ready to open, to see what’s new, and just to say hi to the crowd. But the best thing, by far, is helping to make his wine, as Bob calls on his friends to help with the crush, the pressing, and the bottling. Worth a visit, for sure!

I didn’t have very high hopes with this small winery but I was pleasantly surprised. The server (didn’t catch his name) was very friendly and helpful. We sampled about 5 of their wines but my favorite was the ’08 Primitivo, which they didn’t have open. But one of the ladies sampling wines at the bar with us begged (well not really) the server to open a bottle and he did. It was really delicious. Buy a bottle.
They even use special glasses that are blended with titanium, and it changes the flavor of the wine, in a good way.

I’ve been to this winery several times. Hands down Oaktown people are way more down to earth than other local wineries I’ve visited in the past. In any event, the staff is extremely accommodating, friendly, off beat, and hella funny. I would highly recommend this winery, although it’s a little hard to find. But once you discover it you’ll be in love. The wine is refreshing, and the ambiance, well let me just say you may walk up on some funny sh&t… I’m just saying:)

Hey Oakland who knew your wine be pimp’n !
Tried this place out at the Passport to the East Bay Wine Trail and this place was one of my fav’s. Let me just start by saying that the people who work here are amazing. Each person I talked to let’s just say was quite a character and made you feel really welcome. Rather than talking about the wine we were tasting we were fed by jokes inspired by no doubt wine. I forget the guy’s name who was pouring in the front but this wise guy seemed like he belonged behind a bar in the rough part of New York and should have been pouring us shots of the hard stuff. I loved it!
This place was by no means pretentious and felt really low key. On top of that their wine is bombdiggity, who would have thought the Biggity Biggity O would have some fine wines to top off their already awesomeness. Among my favs were the 2008 Sangiovese, 2009 SyrBec, and their 2008 Cab Sauv with this unusual but delicious spicy kick to it!
This place is open every weekend for tasting. Pricey bottles of wine on my pre-​unemployment salary (I’m a grocery outlet wine kinda gal) but some day Irish Monkey I will have a few of your bottles in my collection.
Forget wine country and head to Oakland!
$ 5 tasting fee, waived if they like you or you buy a bottle

I had a great time at Irish Monkey. We biked around Oakland to a bunch of wineries and stayed a longest at Irish Monkey.
Bill and Rob were exceptionally good hosts and you could tell they were passionate about wine making. We even got to try some of their newly pressed wine!
In one word: exceptional.

This is a small end local winery but a great place to do some tasting. I went their with a friend and we both enjoyed the wines they have available. Their prices are good and the owners are very kind. You can sit back and enjoy some wine and stories from the owners and on some nights local entertainment.
The place is a bit difficult to find. Park as close to the place as possible as near the entrance to the parking lot cars are broken into all the time.
I bought four bottles before leaving California to bring back to my family. If you have an event or corporate function you can provide logos and they can create custom labels for the bottles.

Why the name «Irish Monkey»? Well we asked and we got an answer.
The founder is Irish and spent over a decade making wines as a hobby with friends. One day, the wife got fed up and yelled «you guys need to stop monkeying around and make this a business!» And voila, Irish Monkey was born!
The guys pouring you the wine are the same guys who are making it. They’re a great, fun group who are obviously very passionate about their product and loving what they do. They fill up that small warehouse with their passion and energy.
They give out free snacks (we had salami, cheese, and fresh bread) for tasting which is always awesome. And oh, their wine is fantastic as well. Check this place out!

Yay for Bob and his trusty sidekick Courtney. We wandered over here after Lost Canyon and it was a perfect way to end our wine tasting day. While Lost Canyon was friendly and nice, Irish Monkey has character and was a lot more memorable. Lost Canyon is like having lunch with your boss, Irish Monkey is like watching the sunset with your best friends and having a cooler of wine next to you so you don’t have to get up. The tastings, conversations and random wine facts are all free — what more could you ask for?
Aside from laughing and drinking a lot, the wine was great also! I especially enjoyed the Merbec and the Merlot. I look forward to drinking both bottles very soon and coming back for more!