In search of gold in El Dorado – pines, vines, wines, and views!
OK, not gold. I’m hopeless at that. Excellent wine and questing adventure is vastly easier to find in the hills of the El Dorado wine region. Katya and I joined up with mostly local and Nevada tasters for the Tour de Vine, the region’s harvest festival.
El Dorado is about as laid-back as wine regions get. It is so laid back that only about half the wineries participated. That left 20 to visit in two days so we weren’t short of new experiences. We found the wines everywhere to be excellent and with enough variety to keep it interesting.
We worked pretty hard and shot all the video and photos we need for the first version of the Discover El Dorado Wine Region video we’ll have available online this winter. We also tasted a little vino at Gold Hill, David Girard, Boeger, Narrow Gate, Sierra Vista, Holly’s Hill, Miraflores, Fitzpatrick, Perry Creek, Colibri Ridge, and Mt. Aukum. (I taste, not drink, for the most part.)
El Dorado is probably the finest collection of mountain wineries in California and unbelievable back roads to explore! There are about 40 that are regularly open to the public and they are scattered through the pine and oak hills. Many have great views. There are good to excellent picnic areas. Between wineries enjoy the winding country roads and occasional Gold Rush architecture. Placerville is an old Gold Rush town with galleries, quaint coffee shops, and not enough quality restaurants downtown.
Services are limited in the Fairplay area. One restaurant and a hardware store “downtown” and a gas station nearby. Along Carson Road near Highway 50 are numerous fruit stands so stop and try the unfiltered apple cider and homemade pies. Follow the local “Farm Trail” to other tasting adventures.
As always we were asked many times which winery is our favorite. We don’t pick favorites but you can find your own on WineQuesters.com when we have the winery profiles for this region online by early next year (2009).
- jim
Tags: back roads, El Dorado