Wine and Food

It rained the entire way from S.P., out Route 80 to Sacramento and Route 16 East into the Sierra Foothills, but when The Great Plotnik, Great Ducknik, Zinfandini and Mrs. Z got to the Imperial Hotel in Amador City, built in 1879, they found their rooms cozy and waiting for them.



The balcony would be great if it weren't so wet, but still you get a nice view of a very old Gold Rush-era town.




First stop was a vineyard and winery named Nine Gables. The wines up here are really spectacular, and the tasting rooms uncrowded, and you feel like the minute you walk inside that everyone is ecstatic to see you and anxious for you taste their wines. Charge for wine tasting? Why would we do that, when we know that once you taste the sangiovese you're going to want to buy it?

At Nine Gables, they have an acre and a half left of Mission Vines, the original vines the Franciscan fathers brought from Spain that are the precursors of the entire California wine industry. The vines are gnarled and gorgeous.






Last night's food-wine pairing dinner at Il Gioiello Winery, the Plotniks' favorite, was spectacular -- at least a dozen wines to taste, five courses served with at least two wines per course, served in the barrel room.




Amador and El Dorado Counties are only a few hours drive from S.P. Cousin Two and Big E we'll have to come this way next year. Everyone says Napa was like this fifty years ago.

We'll be home this afternoon.