New Amador Wineries and Cheese Shop #2

The next monster winery to take the Amador Valley by storm is Andis Wines. I did not take a lot of pictures because the winery is a clean modern design and the winery was packed that day as well. If you look at the second picture you will see the wall of woven wood. Well, the wood is from re-claimed oak barrels that they used as a design feature throughout the out side of the winery. The winery was founded by a husband and wife team that are native Hawaiians and still split their time between the main land and the islands. They owned a home on the Silverado Trail for years and one day went to a Wine Club dinner at a Amador Winery and met their now Wine Maker, Mark Mckenna. The story in its' entirety is located on Drink Up Magazine.

I have now gone to the winery twice since I shot the images. The wines across the board are very good but like Helwig are very young and need some time to settle. The region grows Italian varieties best because of its similarities to the climate of the Italian Wine country. Many Italians settled in the region and found the elevation and climate identical to their native Italy and so they planted what worked best also French varieties are grown in the region and do very well also. Amador is completely different growing region from Napa, Sonoma, Lodi and Santa Barbara. Napa, Sonoma and Santa Barbara are near the ocean so that in its' self can tell you a lot. Lodi is very flat so that tells you another story all together. 

The tasting room is very large, clean and modern. When I first shot the images the room was packed so I did not want to shoot because I would have to get the crowds permission to post images with them in it. They have very cute out door furniture for you to buy a glass of wine and bring a picnic and enjoy their top of the hill views. Also a nice thing about Andis is their wines are on taps and you can refill your bottles when you come into the winery instead of buying corked bottles. They offer corked bottles but if you live close this is a great option. I think the winery is already a force to be reckon with, but give it another couple of years and you will see their wines featured in some top wine journals for sure.

Now on to Ben's favorite place on earth. The Sutter Creek Cheese Shoppe! This place is a great gem of a find. It is located on the main drag of the very cute Sutter Creek town. The Amador Valley is made up of all these old mining towns and they are all charming and cute as a button. If you love history then this is a great place to visit as well.

So what makes his little cheese shoppe so great is they let you taste every cheese they have and not even having to ask either. As soon as you walk in the door they shower you with samples and extremely detailed knowledge of the cheese as well. They know their cheese inside and out and have a true love for it.

They give you these tasting sheets and you can just down the list if you like. We usually walk out with maybe five or ten types of cheeses. They also are kind enough to give you extra pieces of that great french cheese paper that makes your cheese last extra long in the refrigerator at home. They even have the back history on the paper as well.

Harvest Time

Wild Turkeys abound around the Sierra Foothills.

Thank god the first signs of Fall, finally!!! Last weekend I was not sold that it was Fall even though the temperature felt Fallish over the weekend and we did one of our favorite rituals, going to Apple Hill in Placerville, Ca. During the week it was in the high 90s, so as you can understand not convinced. The weather lady on the local news said it is supposed to rain this week and we are on a permanent cool down. I got so excited that I told Ben the weather is great and it is September so what do you think we are doing today? We are going Winery hunting! We live on the out skirts of the Sierras and there are pockets of Wineries all around. One large one is in Amador( I am working on a post about some new places to visit around there to) but going up towards Tahoe you have a good amount as well. Ben found one on a Google map that was actually not too far away, and a little hidden. So we drove down a windy road and through the woods and pulled into a steep drive way to find Pescatore Vineyard and Winery.

Pescatore Wines 

 is owned by the the Wegner Family with David Wegner at the wheel. David is also a serious fishermen splitting his time between the Winery and Baja California. The Winery also host several wine dinners where his latest catch are sometimes featured. The Winery is about ten minutes outside of Newcastle, CA and tucked away in a hillside with incredible views. David and his family planted the vineyard themselves in 1997 and had there first harvest four years later. 

Ben and I arrived at the Winery and saw a sign on the door that said to call a number and David would be right down. So we called and he came hiking down a large hill to meet us and opened the wine room. They had a party the night before and you could tell it was a fun one. David started to open bottles for us and the first was incredible. I am thinking, they must specialize in whites. Well, I keep tasting down the line all the way to his desert wine and I am in shock. Every single wine is great across the board. This never happens especially with small wine makers. Usually only one out of the selections of wines are standouts. Maybe two if they can afford a professional Winer Maker. David is the wine maker and he was a home wine maker for many years and took class at UC Davis to perfect his craft. Years later he took the plunge and decided to buy some land and plant a vineyard. Thank god he did!

The real kicker is he sells all his wines for the same price $13.00, with exception to the desert wine! I was in disbelief for sure. He says he has to compete with Trader Joes pricing and super markets with over whelming selections. The pricing makes it a stand out on the shelves over the more expensive ones no doubt. He says he rather set a very reasonable price and have return customers then sell his vintages comparable to everyone else in the region and not sell as much. 

So while most people walk out of local Wineries with one or two bottles his customer's walk out with CASES!!! Now he sells through the local Grocery Stores and at the winery. If you want to buy online he sells almost every thing with exception of his Whites, Rose' and Desert Wine, but if you call him he will ship you some. His Sauvignon Blanc is wonderful and like I said across the board everything was wonderful even the Rose' was stellar. Also he only uses his own grapes to make his Wines with exception to his Chardonnay that comes out of Sonoma. This is a can't miss place. So great!

next on the list to hit was 
PaZa

This is a very new winery. Just opened in July this year. Another wonderful small family operation. The winery is owned and operated by Pamela and Zane a husband and wife team. The winery is very sweet and has beautiful views as well. I was excited when I started to taste because the wines where great for a first run. The winery does not have a website yet and you cannot buy online either. Zane, is for sure focused on creating a quality wine first and then getting the online presence up and running later. If you are going up to Tahoe or want to do some wine tasting this is a great stop. They have a nice tasting set up where you can buy a bottle and just hang out in the Vineyard. 

If you want to check out the whole region you click on this link to the Placer County Visitors Bureau.

You can make a weekend getaway out of it with the cute old mining town of Auburn near by also Nevada City is not too far north either. Many Bed and Breakfasts around the area as well to stay at. In the link to the Placer County Visitors Bureau they have listings of places to stay as well.

Happy Monday All:)

Something that Bubbles....

So I received my Everyday Food magazine in the mail the other day. I love it first because it is a mini magazine:), but I also love it because for something so small it is packed with info. In the issue is a great condensed explanation of the major difference in Sparkling Wines. It is actually quite easy once you know the terminology. So in this post I want to take this short and sweet article a few steps further.

Now, a lot of people are not really big fans of sparking wine. They drink it at New Years or will be happy to mix it up with orange juice at brunch, but not really in to breaking out a bottle after work. I think they rather open a bottle of red wine just because you don't have to drink it all in one night which is the thought with sparkling wines that you have to drink up because it will go flat. Now, I have a problem solver for that. A sparkling wine stopper solves that problem. You can keep a bottle of sparkling wine in the refrigerator and keep the bubbles from fading away for about four days with this gadget that cost about four or five dollars at any kitchen store.

Ok so that solves that problem, now for the taste. When I started researching this post I knew I only knew a little more then the average person about Sparkling Wines. Now as I dug and dug and read and read I could not believe why Sparkling Wines are so cheap. I mean they should cost a lot more then they do. The effort that goes into these Sparklers is amazing! They are very fussy to make just like Pinot Noir wines. Pinots need loving care to be produced, and since Sparklers are half the time made from Pinot grapes you can image how fussy it can be. Way more effort then standard wines that is for sure. Did you know that up to SIXTY different wines from different years as well can go into a bottle of Sparkling Wine! They blend them with different years of grapes until they get the taste they want and those are called "non-vintage" Sparklers. Only the very best Sparklers will get a vintage. Those bottles that have a stated vintage are made from grapes that where grown in a perfect growing season where the wine maker knows that the grapes from that harvest will be good enough to stand alone. First read the labels and look for these key words that tell you how much sugar is in the wine:

Extra Brut 0% to .5% sugar

Example from Astor Wine and Spirits

Brut .5% to 1.5% sugar

-These are not sweet at all. They are great to pair with just about anything except of course anything sweet;) This is not a wine that you have alone. This is a food wine only.

Example from Mum Napa

Extra Dry(Sec) 1.2% to 2% sugar

-This wine has a little sweetness. This would work with appetizers at a cocktail Summer or Spring time reception with lite seasonal foods.

Example from Chandon

Dry(Sec) 1.7 to 3.5% sugar

-This is your best type to mix with orange or grapefruit juice or to mix in cocktails. Has a nice sweetness but does not give you that overly sweet taste.

Example from Mumm Napa

Demi-Sec(Dry) 3.35 to 5% sugar

Example from Shramsberg

Example from Domaine Carneros

Doux(Sweet) over 5% sugar

-This is your drink alone at the pool type or to be paired with not too rich deserts. This type is made with more juice and is very juicy:) Italians are best at producing these!

Example from Astor Wine and Spirits

Example from Astor Wine and Spirits

Quick facts:

*Now, not all bottles will be labeled this way. Mostly all Champagnes will but only big fancy US Sparkling Wine producers will take the time to add these terms to there labels. I have noticed the terms on lower priced Sparkling Wines in the last couple of years though.

*Sec means dry in French

*Doux means sweet in French

*Brut is French for rough or raw

A little more info on sparkling wines. Sparkling wines are called different things in different parts of the world, and for sure some taste differently.

In France not only is the famous Champagne produced in the Champagne region but Saumur, Vouvray, Touraine, Cremant de loire that are from the Loire region. France has many different laws that dictate how you can harvest the grapes for theses types and what types of grapes can go into each type. They all can either be white or rose. If it is not grown in the Champagne region you cannot call it Champagne it is called Sparking Wine or a regionally excepted name. This is just the tip of the iceberg for info on France's Sparkling wines read more in these great books:

Karen MacNeil's The Wine Bible, Mark Oldman's Oldman's Brave New World of Wine and Tom Stevenson's World Enycolpida of Champagne and Sparkling Wine

In Spain sparking wine is called Cava. Cava by law must be made anywhere from one to five types of grapes types: chardonnay, parellada, xarello, macabeo. Like other sparkling and Champagnes, that are non-vintaged, many years of grapes can go into a bottle of Cava.

In Italy sparkling is called Prosecco-Spumante(made from White Prosseco grapes) or Asti-Spumante (can be made from white grapes like Moscato and red/black grapes like Barbera and Nebbiolo)

Quick fact:

*Spumante means foaming in Italin

*Frizzante means fizzy(less then foaming) in Italin

In Germany Sparkling is called Sekt and is made with only white grapes like Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and of course Riesling and Weissburgunder.

Quick fact:

*Sekt means Sparkling Wine in German

On Sparking Wine labels you will also see other words that may be a mystery as well like: Golden, blanc de blanc, rose' and blanc de noirs. These are terms that describe the style in which the wine was made. These terms are mostly found only on American Sparking and French Champagnes.

Golden- fine Sparkling wine that once poured looks like liquid gold usually made from Chardonnay grapes

blanc de blanc- means white from white. Meaning this type is made from only white Grapes. Usually only Chardonnay Grapes.

Example from Domain Carneros

rose'- off dry(slightly sweet) in taste are made from red grapes, but skins are left on for a very short time compared to reds. Very fruity in smell with a little sweetness, but not too sweet.

Example from J Vineyards

blanc de noirs- means white from black. Meaning this type is made from grapes with red skins(french call red grapes black grapes). Only the juice and pulp is used and is white not red like the skin. Usually only Pinot Nior grapes are used to make this type.

Example from Schramsberg
Red- a type that I have seen more and more of. Basically mostly only made of red grapes: Pinot Noir, Brachetto, Cabernet Sauvigono, Merlot, Syrah/Shiraz, Lambrusco. Mumm Napa has a very good explanation of how they make there red sparkling wine called Cuve'e M Red. Basically the grapes are soaked in cold water for a five day period before fermentation and then right after the fermentation process the skins are extracted. Then Mumm completes the fermentation process by aging the wine in French Oak so it picks up a rich and spicy flavor

Examples from Mumm Napa

Example from Astor Wine & Spirits-Brachetto d'Acqui "Rosa Regale" Banfi- 2009
Quick facts:
*Blanc means white in French

*Nior means black in French

There is so much more to know about Sparkling Wines. Below are some great resources that helped me put this post together and can help you have a deeper understanding as well.

Sources: