After your mogul-beaten, wind-chapped body makes it back to the lodge, and you shed fifty pounds of equipment, gear, and polar-sports apparel, your first thought is to slide into a comfy chair by the hissing fire and cup a challis of wine. Maintaining this state, fortified with cheese and crackers, became our group's nightly ritual. Eventually we would amble out to get a fine meal, accompanied by some unique California wines from boutique wineries that never make it this far east. Predictably we would end the evening at one of the area’s many casinos and stay until the ATM machines were empty. This of course was the one place we didn't drink wine--with the blanket of cigarette smoke the only beverage that can hold its own is Kentucky Bourbon.

The El Dorado Wine Area
Skiing was not the only purpose of this trip. An hour's drive west puts you into one of California's oldest, pre-gold-rush-days, viticultural areas--El Dorado County. As you leave the snow-capped Sierras and begin your four thousand foot descent into the foothills on th California side, the terrain and climate change dramatically. Soon, your are rolling down your windows and cruising through fields of sheep and horses, interspersed with vineyards, trellised and canopied, old and young. In this mountainous topography, twenty wineries are delivering small lots of handcrafted wines, representing some forty grape varietals hailing from Bordeaux, the Rhône, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The AVA of El Dorado County contains a sub-appellation of Fair Play. We visited seven wineries last week within Fair Play, and true to prediction, the hospitality and warmth received was nothing short of family.

Unlike their better know cousins to the West, Napa and Sonoma, these wineries portray a kind of easy-going, down-to-earth, friendly nature. Their obvious passion for the grape and the wine-country lifestyle is evident. It is not uncommon to see mom, dad, granddad, sons and daughters all playing a role in the business, be it estate winery or simply grape-growing. The commercial fame in Napa/Sonoma has come at a price, paid in the very spirit that was (is) its magnetic attraction--but not here in El Dorado. The yields of these wineries is typically lower, and matched with its remote-ness means less visitation, but not necessarily less wine sales. At six of the seven wineries visited the tasting rooms were abuzz, filled with wine enthusiasts, some even on bikes. Many were members of wine clubs and rather than accept their monthly shipment to the home, they get out to the wine country on a beautiful weekend, pack picnics, and pick up bottles directly from each winery! If only this was our way of life in Georgia.

(back to Top)

The Wineries of Fair Play
Our first stop of the morning was to Latcham Vineyards. As we turned through the gate, we are immediately greeted with symmetric lines of vines--and they are old ones, as evidenced from the girth as well as the gnarled ends from years of pruning. We would learn later that these were Sauvignon Blanc vines, adjacent to some "old vine" Zinfandel. The Latcham family were grape growers for 10 years, until they decided to market wine under their own label. Then about 10 years later, the Latcham's purchased a neighboring winery, Granite Springs, giving them
everything necessary to process grape juice into bottled wine.

While the Latcham's are mindful of running a business, your visit to the tasting room feels like coming home. Homemade soup, fresh brownies, warm cheese mixed with sundried tomatoes are all available to pair with their wines. They offer a wonderful selection from this 28-acre estate, typical of the "fruit-forward" New World style, but with Old World varietals. Their Cabernet Franc was delicious, as well as the barrel-tasting of Goldrush Red (39% Cab Sauvignon, 37% Zin, 20% Merlot, 4% Black Muscat), which they are selling futures of currently. They offer an award winning Petite Sirah, some nice Zins, and produce an Italian Barbera with Big cherry fruit from grapes grown at a neighboring vineyard. Margaret Latcham, as well as her father Frank, and Margaret's nephew had dropped by for the day to visit. They were gracious hosts, helping with questions about their wine, as well as providing a little "wine history" about the area. Evidently, early vineyards of Zinfandel, which had been planted as far back as the 1860's, were often blended with Petite Syrah in the vineyard to the tune of 10%. As we discovered at other wineries that day, that blend is still used today--even in a few Ports that I tasted. All of our seven stops that Saturday were enjoyable, but Latcham stands out as being "off-the-chart" in warmth.

We followed the non-descript signs to Charles B. Mitchell Vineyards and were met at the door by a farm dog sprawled out in the sun, as well as sock-footed cat sleeping on top of an old wine barrel. The tasting room bar was lined end to end with people, many of whom seemed to be on a first name basis with the pourers. The walls were lined with ribbons for previous vintages, and the winemaker had an impressive collection of French wines, from Premier Cru Classe châteaux, as well as a Premier Crus Sauternes, and all had price tags on them. The winemaker, Charles Mitchell, makes annual pilgrimages to the Bordeaux region, where he evidently stocks up on these impossible to get wines. The winery offers a unique collection of Rhone-style wines, 3 types of Port, as well as some Zins, Pinot Noirs, Cab, Merlot and a Sangiovese. From viewing the 2003 schedule on the website, this winemaker has an impressive schedule of "wine trips" this year. Charles was on hand that day to allow us some very unique barrel-tastings--our favorite was the Mendocino Pinot Noir, not due to be bottled until June.

(back to Top)

Our next stop was at Perry Creek Vineyards. Our experience was pleasant, but characteristic of the "hi-bye" mood typical in the robotic-service style of Napa/Sonoma. This winery had a paved parking lot, was finished in expensive building materials, and had the polish of bigger winery businesses. They offered Rhone-style wines typical of this AVA, as well as two interesting desert wines, a White Muscat Mistelle and
Black Muscat Mistelle.

A few folks had previously recommended Windwalker Vineyards, so our expectations were a little elevated prior to our visit. We were not disappointed, as owner Arnie Gilpin allowed us to join right in with his Wine Club members for a delicious private tasting as well as chardonnay-marinated potatoes, grilled veggies and seared/grilled marinated pork tenderloin! The Windwalker Pinot Noir or the Mourvedre went great with this food. Arnie speaks matter of factly about his ability to sell all of his cases, for which he depends greatly on his Wine Club members. Unlike some of his neighbors, he doesn't consistently use the sub-AVA of Fair Play on his bottles, about which he has strong opinions on the matter. My visit will be forever marked by tasting one of the biggest Syrah's that has ever left me standing. I grabbed a bottle of this along with his Pinot Noir--a feat since I was not a Wine Club member and he sells out of these wines simply by futures and wine club reservations.

On email prior to our wine trip, Brian Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick Winery & Lodge mentioned that he would be in the vineyards doing some pruning. On our visit, sure enough, there he was with walkman headphones and electric pruning shears among Chardonnay vines. He does all of the vineyard work himself, but more importantly, Fitzpatrick is committed to farming organically without the use of chemical herbicides, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. The tasting room is part of the Lodge, which Brian's wife Diana runs, along with an impressive gift shop with clearly an Irish bent. Of particular interest to me was the huge Adobe wood-fired oven that roasts pizzas and select meats on Fridays. Diana told me that three weeks earlier, they threw a medieval party in period dress to debut the Kings Red X, a meritage style wine with multiple grapes from multiple vintages, all estate and organically grown. She let me buy two bottles, even though they had not been released to the public at that time.

Our next stop up the road was Single Leaf Vineyards. Their Zinfandels were particularly tasty. I don't know if their dry-farming (no man-made irrigation used) had anything to do with it--the winemaker was not on hand otherwise I would have asked.

Finally, across the street was Granite Springs Winery, owned by the Latcham family. At this point in the day, six hours had disappeared since we first stepped into Latcham Vineyards--it seemed like only 45 minutes had past though. Granite Springs was a mirror image of Latcham in warmth and hospitality. The pourers were friendly, the spread of food (completely different than Latcham) was welcome as their are no eating
establishments to be found in these hinter-lands and after all, we had imbibed somewhere between 30-50 ounces of wine over the course of the day! All of the wines we tasted had a hint of pepper, characteristic of the soil around this estate winery. The Syrah and Petite Syrahs were delicious and a good value.

We'll Be Back
All in total, our trip to El Dorado County to witness "winemaking at a higher level", which is a crafty way of touting the quality of the wine while reminding people that these vineyards are in some cases at 3,600 feet above sea level, was exhilarating, educational, and memorable. There are another 13 wineries that our schedule did allow us to even visit, but are on our checklist next time. And if you already know that you are a fan of Rhone-style wines, then take note of the 6th Annual Rhone Rangers Wine Tasting in San Francisco, April 26, 2003.
More info available at www.rhonerangers.org

(back to Top)