Amador wine country - Great reds, some fun, but watch out for rattlesnakes!

Thursday, 27 September.  We met up with Laren about 10:30 in the El Dorado Hills town center, just east of Sacramento, and then headed into the Amador wine country, famous for its reds, especially the Zinfandels and ports.  We first stocked up with some lunch fixings at Andrae's Bakery & Cheese Shop in Amador City (terrific deli-style sandwiches and fresh baked goods from their bakery).  The locals know all about this place and before long I predict the word will quickly spread.  Laren then took us over to Sutter Creek where we did some sightseeing and shopping; Lynette picked up a cute little purse that she’s been searching for since we began our trek across the USA.  After these prelims, we headed for the Amador’s wine country off State Hiway 49.  Off 49 and onto Shenandoah Road brought us to the bulk of Amador County’s 40 wineries – and we stopped and tasted wines at a number of them.  We stopped for lunch at a nice shady spot at Nine Gables winery – where we purchased a bottle of Old Vine Zinfandel, a bottle of almond sparkling wine, and a chardonnay – before continuing our wine journey onto Shenandoah School and Steiner Roads.  A couple other Amador wineries that bear mentioning are Karamere (excellent port) and Charles Spinetta (several outstanding wines including a Chenin Blanc, Zinetta, Black Muscat, and a Frost Chenin, their version of an ice wine). I believe the total count at the end of the day was one bottle shy of a full case – and I think only one or two were Laren’s.  We came across several wineries – Helwig and Renwood come to mind – that have excellent venues including a couple where it was obvious there was some BIG money behind these ventures.  Beautiful tasting rooms, outside concert areas/amphitheaters, eateries on site, and of course, great wines.  Mostly reds, but a number of ports and some very nice sweet dessert wines.

And it wasn't all just wine tasting, as you can see from the following two photos.  Some of these wineries are very clever in their decorating ideas.  Anything to catch your attention, I guess!

One cool dude (me) and some OLD wagon

Lynette and a couple of colorful local characters - she never did get them out of that tub!

A word of caution: At many of the wineries we saw signs posted warning us to be aware this was rattlesnake country.  After seeing a couple of these signs, I wondered if the grape pickers were in any way bothered by this environmental hazard.  I finally asked one of the tasting room managers who told us that "Oh, yes, there are rattlesnakes throughout the vineyards.  But the pickers wear gloves, so no big deal."  We then learned that the baby rattlers like to crawl up into the grape vines and cling to the clumps of grapes.  And isn't the venom of the baby rattlers more powerful than the adults?  Wow, talk about hazardous duty pay as a picker.  Believe I'd pick the grapes from these vineyarda only once if my clump of grapes started moving!

I know that California is world famous for its Napa and Sonoma wine areas – and let’s not forget the Russian River and Mendocino coastal wines – but Amador’s Gold Country has an excellent climate and soil for producing some very fine wines – especially the reds. It just might be worth the hour’s drive west and south of Sacramento to spend a day in this area.  To learn more about this unique wine country, go to: http://www.amadorwine.com/new/pages/home.cgi. To see a map of the wineries and surrounding towns, go to: http://www.sierrawineries.com/amador/amador_map.pdf.