|
2 August 2009 - Shenandoah Valley, California Winding down US 49 toward Plymouth one can easily mistake the location for a back road in the
Appalachian Mountains rather than the Sierra Foothills. It is not surprising then to find Amador County's main valley named Shenandoah after the river
valley in the Appalachian foothills of northern Virginia.
California's Shenandoah Valley and the rest of it's superappellation,
the Sierra Foothills,
have been a hotbed of viticultural activity especially among Italian varietals and
Zinfandel, which is evolving into the premier grape of the region much in the way
Napa Valley is known for it's
Cabernet Sauvignon.
Shenandoah Road heads northeast out of Plymouth through the heart of the valley and is dotted with wineries along the route. Many of these wineries still
use the better known designations of Amador County or Sierra Foothills,
especially the large nationally distributed brands of Renwood and
MonteVina, the latter of which is owned by the Trinchero family of Napa Valley fame. Then there are
also local families like the Sobons. Not content with a single winery they run a pair - the eponymous
Sobon Estate as well as
Shenandoah Vineyards. The latter winery has already started to branch out into the rest
of the state, producing wines sourced outside the Sierra Foothills under the
Nobos label - Sobon backwards!
On the other side of the spectrum there are also small affairs, like Dobra Zemlja which is Croatian
for "good earth". There you can find the light-hearted owner Milan pouring in a small cave of a tasting room under his winery. He pours every day day,
but many of these smaller wineries have hours only on the weekend or by appointment so planning ahead is a must if you intend to visit them. An excellent
resource for planning a trip to the valley is
www.sierrawineries.com, which provides maps and tasting room hours for most
of the wineries in the region.
The stars of the valley though, bottling only wine from the California Shenandoah Valley appellation, are another pair of
wineries under the same owner: Bella Piazza and
Villa Toscano. As the names suggest, the wineries are Italian-themed with architecture and gardens
to evoke the old world while you taste their excellent invocation of this new world terroir. The latter also has a bistro on site, which serves as a
great way to end a day of tasting.
|