23 replies to this topic

[folsombound]

I'm looking for some information on Amador County Wineries that produce good Zins. My favorite wine is Zinfndel and I tend to love Sonoma County wines. My favorites are Ridge, Dry Creek, Quivira, Lambert Bridgeand any number of others in the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys. Tonight at Costco I bought a bottle of Renwood (Amador) 2006 Old Vine Zinfandel. I haven't opened it yet but I thought I would ask the forum about Amador wines, particularly the Zins and who makes the best? I know this is very subjective but since I will be living in Folsom next year and have the time to visit the wineries out there I thought I'd get a head start and ask for some opinions.

What are the best foothill wineries for Zinfandel?

[mylo]

My suggestion: Skip Costco. There's a ton of great wineries that are struggling for your business. Head up the hill, taste around, find your favorites. Enjoy it!

My personal local favorite, however not Amador, is still Cantiga Wineworks
http://www.cantigawine.com/

Their Zin's are fantastic!

[Dave Burrell]

Somehow I knew you'd say that mylo

There's a lot of great wineries in the area around here - check out both Amador and Fairplay for some of the best Zin's in the state

Amador

Amador

Fairplay

Nice site about the entire area

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

MonteVina --- Oooopppps, they changed their name to Terra D'Oro: http://terradorowinery.com/home.php


Try their TDO wines, which are their upper end wines.

Their Zin, Barbera, and Aglianico wines are very, very good.

[Robert Giacometti]

Amador county has some great Zins.

Renwood is a must stop for Zins. I'd try Runquist, Karly and Sobon.

Sangiovese is another popular grape grown there, try Vino Noceto and Bella Piazza.

Youngs has about 4 varieties but has some of the best overall wines and the nicest grounds.

We try and hit 2 or 3 wineries per visit and are always impressed when we are there! You are going to enjoy it!

[DavidH]

Amador county has some great Zins.

Renwood is a must stop for Zins. I'd try Runquist, Karly and Sobon.

Sangiovese is another popular grape grown there, try Vino Noceto and Bella Piazza.

Youngs has about 4 varieties but has some of the best overall wines and the nicest grounds.

We try and hit 2 or 3 wineries per visit and are always impressed when we are there! You are going to enjoy it!

That's a tough question! I was in ED and Amador counties last weekend during the "Bring out the Barrel" tastings. Went to about 10-11 wineries and came home with 20 (!) bottles. There are some really good choices depending on what you're looking for in a Zin. Some Amador Zins are much to "hot" (i.e., high in alcohol -- >15%) for my taste. Probably my two favs from Sunday (Amador) were Youngs (which I'd never had before) and Holly Hill (not a Zin but a very good meritage). I was pretty impresed with almost all the wineries I went to, however.

There are tons in the area worth exploring!

[Steve Heard]

Renwood is one of the oldest, and I believe the owned the 'Grandpere' vineyard, the grapes of which are coveted.

Sobon and her sister winery, Shenandoah Vineyards, also have great Zins.

Story, to my knowledge, makes only Zin and 2 sparkling wines.

Stonehouse is good, as well.

Holly's Hill no longer makes Zin, focusing on Rhone varietals.

There are many others out there, so go out an explore.

When you get a chance, go check out Lodi.

[mylo]

Story doesn't make their mass produced "champagne".

[Thinkingoutloud]

I've been going to Amador County wineries for 4 years now and have yet to visit them all! I've had some incredible Zins (Bray, Kermere, Dobra Zimjlia come to mind) and yes, some duds (and they all vary from year to year as well). It's all a matter of taste as well - what I may LOVE, my husband hates, and vice versa.

There are so many clustered up there it's impossible to taste them all and pick one favorite. What's I've found is that every time I go, I find another "new favorite".

I recommend you spend the day up there and just find out which ones you like for yourself!

Bring a picnic - there are some incredible gardens/settings (Youngs, Dobra) to enjoy a lesiurely bottle of a newly found favorte and your lunch.

[chris v]

Please support Youngs as much as you guys can.

[folsombound]

Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas. I'm still living in the Bay Area so I can start looking for some of the wines in stores here. I'll have to wait until next year to do much of the visiting. Dave, those websites were great. I've bookmarked them to spend some more time on.

[FolsomVW]

Amador county has some great Zins.

Renwood is a must stop for Zins. I'd try Runquist, Karly and Sobon.

Sangiovese is another popular grape grown there, try Vino Noceto and Bella Piazza.

Youngs has about 4 varieties but has some of the best overall wines and the nicest grounds.

We try and hit 2 or 3 wineries per visit and are always impressed when we are there! You are going to enjoy it!

My wife and I were married at Bella Piazza. While the venue was nice, we always recommend their sister winery, Villa Toscano for their better wines.* Presuming this is still the case, check out VT's Old Vine Zin, if they still bottle it. Pretty nice, and a great alternative as a desert wine for folks who don't like how sweet typical desert wines can be.

* In our venue search, we found that affordable venues and great wine typically do not correlate well!

[Devdave]

We do the same thing these days - Skip Napa / Sonoma and head to Healdsburg / Russian River Valley for all the Dry Creek and Alexander Valley Zin producers!

Have you been up to Bella Wine Caves in Healdsburg, we always enjoy their Zins too. Ridge was a long time favorite that we've been passing on lately. Also enjoy Rosenblum, and Armida.

Back to Amador though, there are a lot of good producers in Amador, and the weather really helps with Zinfandel, Barbara, and the like. I find that Amador wines are a lot more "Earthy / Funky / Terrior" then I find in AV or DCV. BUT we love them. It just after doing Amador for some time, then going back to RRV / Healdsburg, the Zins in RRV / Healdsburg seem almost too mellow

We like quite a few of the Amador producers, and I'd say we enjoy Dobra Zemjla and Karly, a lot. Also enjoy Sobon / Shenandoah Valley (Sobon Family), Karmere and others as well.

DZ's Zin runs on the high ABV side, but he manages to temper it in such a way that it doesn't come across so "hot". Their "Kikas" Last Harvest is good, blended with Grappa.

Karly can be found at the local Costco, and we really enjoy visiting with Rita at the tasting room - she's such a commedian and very talented artist to boot.

Oh one other place I should mention is Dillian's. Thomas and Thomas (father and son) are sooo friendly and always happy to see us, and they are producing good wine!

Mental note - plan another trip to Amador soon.... *check*.

I'm looking for some information on Amador County Wineries that produce good Zins. My favorite wine is Zinfndel and I tend to love Sonoma County wines. My favorites are Ridge, Dry Creek, Quivira, Lambert Bridgeand any number of others in the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys. Tonight at Costco I bought a bottle of Renwood (Amador) 2006 Old Vine Zinfandel. I haven't opened it yet but I thought I would ask the forum about Amador wines, particularly the Zins and who makes the best? I know this is very subjective but since I will be living in Folsom next year and have the time to visit the wineries out there I thought I'd get a head start and ask for some opinions.

What are the best foothill wineries for Zinfandel?

[Robert Giacometti]

Karly can be found at the local Costco, and we really enjoy visiting with Rita at the tasting room - she's such a commedian and very talented artist to boot.

She reminds me of that short lady bartender on "Cheers".

They also have the creamiest blue cheese they serve with their Port/Desert Wines.

A while back they used to bake their own bread and when you walked into the tasting room the aroma was out of this world.

[beachbum]

Nice to hear from someone that also likes the wines in Russian River! Some of our favorites are Quivira, Dry Creek, and Preston.

We love Amador wines as well. So many wineries there now: Runquist, CG DAirie, Renwood, Sobon, Karly, Story, the list goes on and on.

You will have a wonderful time exploring the area. And discovering Fair Play, El Dorado County wines.