Deep Roots Wine Bar

This is a locally owned wine bar thingy in the already awesome swan’s market paired next to a magnificent Neapolitan pizza joint. Since they share a space the owners get along really well and therefore sort of work together. It goes without saying that pizza and wine make a great pairing. Prolly not a co incidence.
If you are coming in the lunch hour it will be the pizza people serving you. The bad news is that as non wine bar employees you will be restricted to the very limited taps of beer (ballast point and linden breweries.) and the wine casks. Thus, no cocktails. The good news that the wine casks ARE TOTALLY AWESOME!!! Yeah, sure they are blended casks. Blended by a sommelier who knows what he’s about.
The hours are a little wonky. Closed (except for what the pizza peeps will serve) at lunch, and also sundays, mondays, and tuesdays. There is a very limited amount of seating at the bar-​enough for perhaps six people, but swans market itself offers unlimited seating. Perfect for a casual, sociable glass or two. Maybe three. Who’s counting eh?
In addition to the wine, there is a rotating selection of hand crafted cocktails, and for the teetotaler/​designated driver hand crafted lemonade sodas. Those have a heavier punch then the wine (of course) but are more focused on flavor and balance then alcohol content. They are in a word, exquisite, and totally worth making a trip during the wonky hours to try.
This is one of the best things in an eating area filled with spectacular restaurants.
Simply awesome

Here the deal. Don’t be rude. I don’t care if your customer comes up 5 minutes after you close and doesn’t see your sign. Don’t be rude. You won’t sell wine to that customer again.

My husband asked me if I wanted to attend a meetup at the Deep Roots Wine Bar in Swan’s Market yesterday. The clincher was Negronis on tap, one of my favorite of the classic cocktails. The idea that a bar would combine the best ingredients and let the flavors steep and be alchemically transformed into the perfect drink was irresistible. Also available are other cocktails similarly prepared, wonderful wines by the glass (also the tasting room for Periscope Cellars) and the full offering of food from (especially Hen House Kitchen providing delicious accompanying dishes) Swan’s Market: the perfect weekend afternoon treat. We will be back again and again and again…

THIS PLACE WAS SOO GOOD.
And from the reviews (and lack of a million of them), I’m hoping it’s still a bit of a secret. Crowds were very manageable and each stand was so personal. I absolutely loved spending some time here last Saturday.
We came here after spending a few hours nomming down on grilled cheese and trippels at The Trappist. We were looking for more food and possibly some wine. We were sold when we saw the Cook and her Farmer serving oyster po’ boys.
Ironically, we didn’t even end up eating there because we were too overwhelmed by all of the other amazing options. Being the wine-​o that I am, I was too distracted by the Deep Roots wine bar to even worry about food too much. The owner was so kind and friendly! He gave three free tastings and I bought a glass of champagne — it all was so delicious! But more than just the good wine, I really enjoyed hearing about his winery and all of the different wines. It felt very personal and interesting — like when you hit a good cellar in Napa type experience. I will definitely be back!

I just found Deep Roots/​Periscope Cellars at Swans a few months ago. I often stay at the Marriott Hotel a few blocks away and love the Swan Market.
Deep Roots is officially my favorite stop in Oakland and always try to make a stop whenever I’m in town. I love that I can have a great dinner and wine and still keep under my very low corporate dinner budget. I usually get the Little Gem salad, a pizza or the daily dinner plate. You can’t go wrong. Lately, my favorite wine has been the Grenache.
Best part — the wine is half the price of anything I could enjoy at the boring hotel bar — and always great conversation with the owner or other employees.

Super awesome pizza
Great to have some interesting local wines too

I had a delicious Tuscan Punch to go with my pizza from DRWB’s spacemates, Hen House. Had a nice chat with the proprietor.

Now that Deep Roots is open, it looks like Swan’s Market is 100% full, a destination itself within Old Oakland.
Deep Roots used to be the Periscope Cellars wine bar. They still feature the Periscope Cellars wines, but now in addition they have beer on tap ($ 3 Hamm’s! YES!), a cocktail program, and an entire Amaro (Italian bitter liqueurs) lineup. Hot damn.
And if there wasn’t enough awesome food already in Swan’s, Deep Roots also have a food menu with flatbreads, desserts, and veggie options.
I stopped by yesterday and there was a buzz around the space, but I snagged a bar stool and enjoyed a pint of Hamm’s (the beer refreshing) and chatted with the owner for a bit. He even let me taste some of the California wines on tap from Periscope and they were all solid.
Definitely check out Deep Roots, it’s such a fun space and you’re right in the center of all the hubbub in the market. I’ll be back often!