Wine Tasting in the California Sierra Foothills

This weekend my husband and I flew down to Sacramento to check out my brother and sister-in-laws new digs near Placerville (an hour's drive east from the airport).

Just 15 minutes from my brother's place is Coloma which is the original location of the gold rush. They have a cute town to visit if you'd like to try your hand at panning for gold and good historical information for kids. Also a big part of this area is rafting on the American River. There are tons of outfits everywhere offering rafting trips and on a hot weekend like we had the river was full of families on their personal rafts just floating along.

The area is pretty rural so it has many little towns that have some basic amenities to get you by. But head into Placerville or back towards Sacramento to stock up on supplies.

We spent Sunday morning at the craft fair in Placerville's old main street checking out the booths and shops. On this one street there were 3 old-time candy shops so we popped into one to stock up on salt water taffy and fudge.

The main highlight of the weekend was wine tasting in the Sierra foothills in an area called the Shenandoah Valley. We visited 4 wineries and while wined out by the end of the day we tasted some great finds.

First stop -Amador Cellars had a delicious sun-dried tomato basil spread which we picked up for a picnic lunch later that day and I really enjoyed their 05 Zinfandel which was much smoother and less acidic than their other reds.

2nd stop - my favorite - Deaver Vineyards - had a delicious Viognier that was a sweet and light white wine which we ended up buying. They also had 2 very good sparkling wines - one raspberry and one almond and a really delicious orange muscat port that wasn't overwhelming sweet. They also had a very good and large selection of spreads and dips. The two we tried I would have bought if I could take it back on the plane with me. The picture of the Red Bell Pepper & Ancho Chili Jam was served over a cream cheese and was the perfect combination of sweet, salty and sour.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at Deaver Vineyards where they have a small lake and picnic tables. We enjoyed a truffle cheese (which I must find again because anything with truffle oil is amazing), an herbed cheese, crackers, the sun-dried tomato spread, and fudge. A very delicious and local experience.

We also dropped by Dobra Zemlja Winery which offers a cool cave like experience and it's also a "cool" way to get out of the sun. And Villa Toscono was our last stop of the day which offers beautiful Tuscan inspired grounds, multiple dining options, and purse shopping too. We got a kick of their signage.