Will add some life to that side of Columbus, along with Tosca, etc.
Esther Mobley
Nov. 9, 2022Updated: Nov. 9, 2022 10:05 a.m. SF Chronicle
The ground floor tasting bar at Eco Terreno.
A biodynamic Sonoma County winery is opening an elaborate and unconventional tasting space in San Francisco. Eco Terreno opens Thursday in Jackson Square in a three-story, multi-use building that includes not only a tasting room, but also a high-end restaurant with nightly live entertainment called Lyon & Swan.
The 10-year-old winery, which produces wines like Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc from two vineyards in Sonoma County’s Alexander Valley region, hopes that this San Francisco outpost will give it a competitive edge, said owner Mark Lyon. He opted not to open a tasting room in Sonoma County, he said, because Wine Country was already saturated with them. And he found that Eco Terreno’s sustainability-focused mission wasn’t finding a receptive audience with Wine Country visitors.
“San Francisco has stronger tourism year-round,” Lyon said.
Each of the three floors at Eco Terreno, located at 140 Columbus Ave., serves a different purpose. The ground level is the Eco Terreno tasting room, which offers several different food-and-wine pairings, ranging from a five-wine flight with light bites ($50) to a five-course meal that includes six wines, including a glass of Champagne ($130). There’s also sidewalk seating for visitors who just want a glass of wine without food.
Lyon & Swan, the underground supper club at the new Eco Terreno space in North Beach.
The basement level will be Lyon & Swan, a “supper club” with a full bar, a menu that chef Joe Ball describes as “French-American comfort food” and a live performance schedule of musicians, drag queens and comedians. The upstairs level will be a private tasting room for Eco Terreno wine club members and special events.
Lyon, who started Eco Terreno after retiring as the longtime winemaker at Sebastiani Vineyards, bought the building in 2018. He discovered that it had an amazing history, playing an important role in each of the neighborhood’s chapters, from the Barbary Coast days to the Beatnik era.
From 1918 to 1922, the downstairs level was known as the Jupiter, a so-called “black and tan” club where Black and white patrons mingled. Jazz luminaries like Jelly Roll Morton played the Jupiter, and in the 1930s, it housed Mona’s, often credited as the first lesbian bar in the city. (Lyon believes it was the first lesbian bar on the West Coast.) From the 1950s until 2012, it was the Purple Onion, a hub for the Beat crowd. Comics like Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce and Phyllis Diller performed there, as did musicians like Andy Williams and the Kingston Trio.
Eco Terreno makes wine from two biodynamic vineyards in Sonoma County's Alexander Valley area.
At first, Lyon planned to use only the ground level (which had been a barber shop), and rent out the upstairs (which had been an accordion maker’s studio) and the historic downstairs club. But hospitality director Dawn Agnew encouraged him to considered the possibilities of taking over the whole building for Eco Terreno — and reviving the nightclub.
He gutted the building for the renovation, which saw major delays due to the pandemic. Lyon also discovered he would have to get three different liquor licenses, one for each floor. The liquor license in the upstairs private tasting room requires him to make some wine onsite. So he has installed a small wine tank up there, where he’s aging Saint-Macaire, an obscure French red grape variety.
Lyon wants the whole Eco Terreno universe to be an educational ambassador for responsible farming practices like biodynamics, which he practices at his two Alexander Valley estates, the Lyon and Cisne vineyards. His 100 acres of grapes are interplanted with fruits, vegetables, olive trees and insectary gardens, with about 15% of the land set aside as riparian habitat. The wine list at Lyon & Swan will feature organic, biodynamic and other sustainable wine producers in addition to Eco Terreno’s own wines.
Pavolva dessert at Lyon & Swan.
The dinner menu at Lyon & Swan includes dishes like fennel-crusted kampachi crudo with yuzu kosho, pork belly pastrami with pickled mustard seed, ricotta gnudi in brown butter bisque and sea scallops with green farro risotto.
Initially, Lyon & Swan will be reservation only. The nightly entertainment might be jazz, four-piece bands, cabaret singers or other genres. On some evenings, when there’s a higher-profile headliner, there will be scheduled dinner seatings to coincide with the performer’s sets.
Lyon is hoping that the unusual combination of functions at Eco Terreno will “blow San Franciscans out of the water,” he said.
The private tasting room on the upstairs level of Eco Terreno.
“I believe in San Francisco, in the future,” he continued, “and I’m looking forward to being a part of the change happening in these wonderful neighborhoods — Chinatown, North Beach, Jackson Square.”
Eco Terreno. Open for wine tastings by reservation 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. 140 Columbus Ave., San Francisco. 415-429-5200 or ecoterreno.com
Lyon & Swan. Open for dinner 5 p.m.-midnight daily. 140 Columbus Ave., San Francisco. 415-429-5200 or lyonandswan.com
Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicle's senior wine critic. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com
https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/eco-terreno-wine-tasting-room-17565282.php
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