Raise a toast to San Francisco's military past
The Armed Forces may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you picture San Francisco, but before it was a tech capital, before it was a hippie heaven, this was a military town surrounded by several bases set in the region.
Downsizing and consolidation led to a wave of base closures in the 1990s, which, after some tidying up, created a number of interesting spaces that have been turned into parks, sound stages, offices and other commercial applications, and, in what may be the tastiest development, settings for urban tasting rooms.
Housed in an old Navy brig, this winery is one of several set on Treasure Island, an artificial island in the San Francisco Bay built for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition World's Fair.
Taken over by the Navy in 1941, the island hosted strategic command and communications center headquarters and remained a military installation until 1997.
[...] the SS Red Oak Victory, last surviving World War II-era vessel of those built at the Kaiser Shipyard, is moored nearby.
Riggers Loft has a collective tasting room that is home to R&B Cellars, Carica Wines, Irish Monkey Cellars and Far West Cider Company.