Smoke, Smoke, More Smoke and Wine

 

Why, of all the places we could be, are we in smoky California?

 

 

In the background you can see the cooling towers from the decommissioned Rancho Seco nuclear power plant.  (This is probably interesting only if you have been in the nuclear energy field 

El Dorado County Fairgrounds

In one word, wine.

 We can hear many of you (yes, Mom, we hear you). We know there are places other than California (that are not burning) where we can taste wine. But, for us, it’s about the hunt. It’s about finding the wines that best satisfy our palates at a price we can afford. We haven’t found any better full bodied, fruit forward, smooth wines that please us as much as what we have found in California (however Eastern Washington has recently gotten our attention.) We love the small, boutique wineries where each vintage is a surprise, depending on the weather and other factors. The casual tasting rooms fit our personalities and our lifestyle.

Driving through the rolling hills covered with vineyards sets the tone; somewhat reminiscent of Tuscany.

It wasn’t our plan, but over the past 12 years we have kind of created our own wine trail through the North Coast, Central Valley and Sierra Foothills regions. We understand the superior quality of the grapes is due to the cool temperatures at night and heat of the day. Our favorite time to visit is during crush when the grapes are beautiful

and everyone is excited about harvesting, barrel tastings and new releases. Needless to say, it was much more subdued this year. Due to the wildfire near Healdsburg , we were disappointed we could not visit our favorites in the Dry Creek region. However, the change in our schedule led us to return to Lodi and we wondered why it took 7 years for us to revisit.

The tasting rooms were very conscientious in keeping visitors safe. At all wineries we were instructed to wear masks until we were seated at tables placed a safe distance apart.

We only tasted where we could stay outdoors. The hosts all wore face coverings and kept the required 6-ft distance from guests.

 

Most used the “flight” system limiting the time hosts spent at tables.

 

With a few exceptions, most tasting rooms required a reservation to limit capacity and to provide contact tracing information.

Typically we would visit 3-4 wineries a day but, knowing our judgment could become impaired, we decided it would be best to do only one and chose appointments early in the day when it would be less busy.

Unfortunately some of our favorites wineries have closed, but we discovered some new favorites. Also, we have noticed a slight change in our palates, so our “wine trail” continues to evolve.

Getting our vote for the most cautious tasting room during COVID is Terra D’Oro in Amador County where we had the required reservation. Upon arrival we were greeted by a security person checking to see if we had a reservation before we could proceed to park. Checking in at the tasting room we were required to sign a liability waiver, given a welcome pack

and led to our table.

This year’s vote for the best ambiance goes to Lewis Grace in El Dorado County.

 

View from the patio at Lewis Grace Winery

Best newly discovered for our palates goes to Klinker Brick in Lodi.

Old Ghost Old Vine Zinfandel

Borjoin in Amador County continues to be our favorite all-around winery. (Outstanding zinfandels and Petite Syrahs!)

It's not what you might think; they were small tastings.

And the best surprise was our friend Bill’s Barberra, produced under his new label, William Gunn.

We knew it would be good, but didn’t expect the “WOW!”  His chardonnay is excellent and we can't wait to see what his blend "The Boss" will be like in six months to a year. 

 The smoke and COVID did not keep us from finding some very good wines. But was the aggravation worth it? We’ll let you know when our shipment arrives at our home in late October.

 The Wanderer is pointed east with “home” on the radar.

 

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Revisits and New Gems

Our search for good zinfandels took us back to the Dry Creek region of Sonoma County California.

Parking The Wanderer at Alexander Valley RV Park in Healdsburg, we set out to do some tastings. First we revisited a couple of our longtime favorites, St. Anne’s Crossing,

and Pezzi King from the Wilson Family Wineries as well as Foppiano’s. At the suggestion of a friend, we checked out some other vineyards and came away with a couple of gems, Limerick Lane (especially their Old Vine, Block 1910) and Martinelli for good zins and a fun tasting room.

Of course we couldn’t be in Sonoma County and not visit our good friend, Trudee

who lives on a farm and is a locksmith in Sonoma.

With The Wanderer pretty much loaded with zinfandels from Sonoma and pinot noirs from Washington and Oregon, it was time to revisit our dear friend and excellent winemaker, Bill, in Eldorado County.

Bill and Randy go way back, like all the way to their high school days at A&M Consolidated. Not only does he make exceptionally good wine for Jodar Winery, Bill is a very talented musician. We always have a grand time listening to Bill and Wayne at The Wine Smith in Placerville.

Over the years of visiting Bill, we have become acquainted with a lot of folks, some we now call friends. Wayne, with the help of his wife, Isabell, barbecued some amazing ribs and fixings. and invited us as well as Bill and Zachrie, to their home for dinner. 

Another gem, Zacharie is the new owner at The Wine Smith.

Such a fun gal!

Yep, made of wine corks.

With friends,

we braved the near 100° temperatures

to listen to Bill andWayne’s Excellent Adventure at Skinner Winery on Sunday afternoon.

With more great memories in our bank, we left the Eldorado County Fairgrounds where we were camped for four days.

(Not exactly a pretty site, water and electricity but no sewer and certainly no Wi-Fi, we were one of three RVs, the showers were clean and spacious; at $35 a night in California, we were pleased. Actually we liked it better than our previous stay at the KOA which was $65 and it is closer to The Wine Smith. )

Next we headed over to Amador County and the Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort RV Park.

For an extra $10 (that would be $45) a night, we had full hook-up, concrete slab, high speed internet, laundry facility and a beautiful walking path. 

The staff was very friendly; we couldn’t find anything we didn’t like here. I’d say we found a gem!

Many of you have been a recipient of a glass and maybe a bottle of Borjon Zinfandel or Barbera, so you know it is a favorite of ours from Amador County  

(and, yes we stopped in to say hello and to pick up our wine club shipment.)

We had planned to do a bit of tasting in other Amador wineries, but many were closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. (Good thing as we were just about to the end of our wine budget.) However, we did wander into Sutter Creek (a gem in itself)

So love the small towns!

and found the Scott Harvey tasting room. The wine was good but the real treasure was the tasting room host.  Enthusiastic about Sutter Creek and Amador County, he sent us down the street to taste some sparkling wine at Le Mulet Rouge. (After a taste of the California Sparkling Wine, ABN was hooked! Even though there was no almond flavoring it had an almond taste.)

He strongly recommended we make a visit to the Union Inn over in Volcano. So we did. 

It was obviously a popular place with the locals as folks greeted one another on the comfortable patio. The food was good, especially the heirloom tomato salad, but what really got our attention was the smooth stout on nitro. (Does anyone see a theme here? We do like our zins and dark brews.)

Sadly, our time in wine country has come to an end, but we will return!  

Some of you have inquired about the wildfires, fortunately we have not seen any. There has been some haze but no smoke. Temperatures have hovered in the high nineties, reaching 100+ at times. With lack of high humidity, it cools to a very comfortable temperature in the evenings.

The Wanderer is pointed east; next stop, Hoover Dam.

Note to email subscribers, hitting reply to the email notification of a new post will send your reply out somewhere in cyber space and we will never know of your comments.  If you wish to comment, please do so in the comment section on the blog site or send a note using the email address you have in your contact list.