The 2006 Crush in Amador County

Amador and El Dorado Counties feel like Napa and Sonoma twenty five years ago. The tasting rooms are low key affairs (at Vino Noceto you taste outside under a tree), tasting is always free, the reds (especially zinfandels) are first class and the people behind the counter are not kids taking degrees in marketing. Not all the wines at the 2006 Crush were great, fewer yet were worth buying, but a select few really were.


On Saturday our Group of Six went to Nine Gables and Sobon (excellent Reserve Zin), then spent an hour driving down dusty gravel roads in a vain attempt to find El Gioiello, from which tiny winery an especially yummy zinfandel had been sampled at dinner the previous evening; afterwards we stopped at Dobra, Deever and the wonderful Vino Noceto. Ever heard of any of these wineries? We hadn't either.

On Sunday we hit Sutter Ridge and Avio, then took another extended drive through the charming town of Volcano (est. 1856) on the way to Latcham Winery. (Everyone along the road told us we had to try Latcham's cheap Gold Rush Red. It took us an hour to get there, we sampled the Gold Rush Red, and it wasn't very good.)

But the Hotel St. George in Volcano is a hoot. A string band (two fiddles, banjo and washboard) played in the back for a lesbian wedding, and the marquee out in front of the town's other hotel read: 'Change is In The Air.'

Wine tasting has gotten to be no fun at all in the Napa Valley, where you feel like you're standing in line at Six Flags. Sonoma is nicer and the Russian River nicer yet, but still you are always made aware you have only a few seconds to sip and make up your mind, then, if you wouldn't mind sir, if you're all done sir, excuse me, sir. Up in the Sierra foothills -- maybe their mortgage payments aren't so hefty. You take your time, you taste each wine several times. If you really like something, maybe the owner will take you to the back to taste out of the barrel. Maybe you'll even help in the crush.