It has been awhile since Deb and I visited Amador County so we took the opportunity to tour the wineries this weekend on a trip to pick up empty barrels from Terre Rouge Winery (more on this later). It was surprising how many new wineries have opened since our last visit 3 years ago. Now 38 wineries participate in the Amador Vintner’s Association. Large and small, the wineries range from Tuscany-styled estates to down-home small family-run operations. Of course our first stop was Karly Winery. We were fortunate to be able to stay with winemaker friends, Buck and Karly Cobb, owners of Karly Winery in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. The Cobb’s winery is well-known for their estate-grown zinfandels and one of the most well-regarded of the Amador County wineries.
Murphy, the dog's, view of the vineyards from the porch of Karly and Buck's home!
Our first stop was the cellar at Karly, where Buck let Deb and I barrel-taste his upcoming Mourvedre!
Barrel tasting the Mourvedre with Buck!
KARLY WINERY 11076 Bell Road Plymouth, CA 95669 Tasting Room: Open 12 to 4pm daily tel: 209 245-3922 website: www.karlywines.com
The next day we visited Cooper Vineyards (we picked up their delicious Primitivo for the Queen’s Inn wine bar)…
Cooper Vineyards spacious tasting room was once the winery...now they have built a separate building for production.
COOPER VINEYARDS 21365 Shenandoah School Road
Plymouth CA 95669 Tasting Room: Open Thursday through Monday 11am to 4:45pm tel: 209-245-6181
website: www.cooperwines.com
Wilderotter Winery (we carry their Chard and Mourvedre in the wine bar),
Snickers will greet you when you visit Wilderotter Winery!
WILDEROTTER VINEYARDS 19890 Shenandoah School Road
Plymouth CA 95669 Tasting Room: Thursday through Monday 10:30 am to 5:00 pm tel:209.245.6016 website: www.WilderotterVineyard.com
Sobon Estate Winery (Loved their Viognier, Primitivo (which is the Italian clone of Zinfandel) and Tannat- yum! we will be ordering these for the wine bar! They also had a delicious estate grown and pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil),
We enjoyed walking through the museum at Sobon Winery, full of antique winery equipment.
SOBON ESTATE WINERY
14430 Shenandoah Road
Plymouth, CA 95669
Tasting Room: Open 9:30am – 5:00pm
Winter Tasting Room (Nov-March): Open 9:30am – 4:30pm
tel: 209/245-6554
website: www.sobonwine.com
and our last stop of the day was Terre Rouge / Easton Wines where we were blown away by their Rhone-focused wines….definitely worth the stop! Bill Easton, the winemaker is regarded as a founding father in the Sierra Foothills for making world class wines in the region.
TERRE ROUGE / EASTON WINES:
| Address: | Dickson Road, just off Shenandoah Rd., Plymouth PO. Box 41 Fiddletown CA 95629-0041 |
| Hours: | Friday through Monday 11am to 4pm September and October – 7 days a week 11am to 4 pm |
| Contact: | tel: 209/245-3117 website: www.terrerougewines.com |
Last night we enjoyed a girls’ night out with Karly Cobb at the incredible Plymouth restaurant, TASTE. I savored the “Monday Farm Supper”, a weekly prix fixe menu of three courses:
Taste Restaurant
9402 Main Street
Plymouth, California 95669
Open for Dinner Thursday – Monday
Lunch served on Saturday 11:30 to 2
209.245.DINE (3463)
info@restauranttaste.com
The Oct 3rd Monday Farm Supper menu consisted of:
first course
Warm Fig Salad
cipolline onions, treviso, walnut vinaigrette, brie mousse
second course
Seared Duck
black stickey rice, lemon, soy, truffle vinaigrette
This seared duck breast was delicious and went well with the 2007 Gevrey Chambertin!
sweet course
Vanilla Panna Cotta
blueberries
Deb really enjoyed her New York Steak, rare over risotto with crispy onions on top:
A New York steak with risotto and crispy onions.
Our dear friend, Karly, enjoyed her favored foie gras!
And of course we all enjoyed our dinners paired with this lovely Gevrey Chambertin!
A wonderful wine with food!
All in all, the trip was fun and we were able to pick up some of the empty barrels we will need this month for crush. We recommend touring Amador County wineries. It is worth the drive and you will meet some wonderful people during your visit. Make sure you go say hi to Buck and Karly!
Although, since the number of wineries has grown, so has attendance at the tasting rooms on the weekends….I suggest a weekday visit if you want to avoid the crowds.
idlehourwinery 