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Daffodil Hill in Wine Country

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Daffodil Hill near Sutter Creek

Daffodil Hill near Sutter Creek

Daffodil Hill in Wine Country – Volcano, California

Daffodil Hill is not open to the public this year

Amador County is a hot tourist destination for wine country travelers. There are many small boutique wineries to visit in the spectacular foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But there is another attraction besides wineries worth seeing, Daffodil Hill in the very tiny town of Volcano. Timing is everything for Daffodil Hill! We always set aside the month of March to travel to the area. Sometimes, we are lucky and can see Daffodil Hill in full bloom. It all depends on the weather for bloom time.

There is said to be a possible 400,000 daffodil blooms. Daffodil Hill is a working ranch and is only open to visitors during the bloom season. The usual hours are 10am to 5pm daily. Check the Sutter Creek Association Website for complete details. We lodge and dine in Sutter Creek. We think it is the best town in Gold Country. From Sutter Creek, we have easy access to the wineries in Amador County and those of Fair Play in El Dorado County.  

Daffodil Hill is a beautiful 13-mile drive from Sutter Creek. Once you are up at Daffodil Hill, there is plenty of free parking, and access to the Hill is free. Bring your camera along, and a tripod if you have one. It is a photographer’s delight. There is also a picnic area, so, if the day is nice, pack a lunch, sit among the Daffodils and enjoy Life.

As of February 2021, many wineries in Amador County and El Dorado County are open for outdoor tastings. Check our Wine Routes for this area. If you see a winery that interests you, call and find out if the winery is open for outdoor tastings. Above all, stay safe and wear that mask!

Wine Routes in Amador and El Dorado

sutter creek restaurants
The Gold Country town of Sutter Creek

Sutter Creek Tasting Rooms

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Serafina tasting room

The Serafina tasting room in historic Sutter Creek

Sutter Creek Tasting Rooms

Sutter Creek is our favorite gold country town in the Sierra Foothills. We love the town for its old buildings and historic points of interest. Just in the past few years, Sutter Creek has been enjoying a boom in wine country tourism. Wine lovers are spending vacation time to visit the wineries in Amador County. With so many tourists lodging in Sutter Creek, several wineries have decided to open a tasting room in the downtown area. The most recent addition to the tasting room scene is Serafina Cellars. Paul Scotto is the owner and winemaker. Paul is a fifth-generation winemaker in the Scotto Family and established Serafina Cellars, focusing on wines produced from Amador County. Serafina Cellars has a broad lineup of Amador wines that are delicious and priced reasonably. There are several other wonderful tasting rooms in Sutter Creek. Take a walk along the three-block stretch of downtown Sutter Creek, where you can spend an entire day shopping and wine tasting in this delightful gold country town.

More information on Sutter Creek

 

Borjon Winery in Amador

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borjon-winery

Borjon Winery – Mexican Family-owned winery in the Shenandoah Valley of Amador County

Borjon Winery in the Shenandoah Valley of  Amador County

This is another success story of a Mexican immigrant with hard work ethics who has worked his way from vineyard worker to winery owner. The Borjon Winery is turning heads in the world of California wine. What was once an unknown or hidden winery is now receiving accolades for its wines. The story of the Borjon Family began when Jesus and Nora Borjon migrated from Mexico to the Shenandoah Valley in the mid 1980’s. Jesus began as a farm worker in the vineyards, experiencing all the tasks of growing and caring for the vines. With his vineyard knowledge, Jesus and Nora established a vineyard management company.  Fast forward to the present and their son Isy Borjon now runs the vineyard management company and has established the Borjon Winery. The winery is located on Shenandoah Road four miles from Plymouth. The tasting room is very homey and inviting. There are three levels of wine tasting, plus touring possibilities. The lineup of wines includes three classifications or levels of quality. Prices range from $20 to $100.  Because Isy Borjon manages many vineyards in Amador County, the winery has been able to purchase grapes from some of the most noted vineyards in the area.  We tasted several wines on our visit and we certainly were impressed. The wines are well-made and balanced wines. Keep your eye on Borjon. Their wines will become very sought after.  The Borjon Winery is open Thursday through Monday from 11am to 5pm.

Borjon Winery

Cool logo at the Borjon Winery

Additional information on Amador Wine Country

Amador 360 – Wine Tasting Room

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Amador 360

Amador 360 tasting room in Plymouth

Amador 360 – Wine tasting room extraordinaire

This was our 17th annual visit to the Amador wine country. We love visiting this wine country for so many reasons. It is a wonderful change-of-pace from the Napa Valley or Sonoma wine country. Amador is a quiet wine country with fewer visitors, but nonetheless excellent wines and cozy tasting rooms. The price of wine and tasting room fees are priced like the old days of the Napa Valley. Each year, when we travel to the Amador wine country, we find something new. This year we discovered the Amador 360 tasting room. The tasting room is run by Brian Miller.  Brian features local wineries that do not have a tasting room. These are small-production wineries. Some are just getting started, and others do not have the budget for a tasting room. Besides the tasting room wines, Brian offers consumers and wineries shipping services to 45 states. The tasting room has couches and a very laid-back environment. We tried five different wines from small producers. They were priced around $20 and very tasty.  The tasty menu changes daily.  The Amador 360 Tasting Room is sponsoring two wine and food extravaganzas in Amador wine country. They are the Amador Four Fires and the Barbera Festival. The Amador Four Fires takes place on May 7th at the Amador County Fairgrounds.  It is an outdoor festival, focusing on the wines of Amador County and the culinary art of open-fire cooking, showcasing the “Four Fires” concept of four regions: Southern France, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, and Heritage California. The Barbera Festival takes place on June 11th at Terra d’Oro/Montevina Winery. Amador County is famous for its Barbera vineyards and wines. In addition to Amador wineries, other wineries from all over California will be present to pour Barbera wines. Local top chefs will prepare foods that pair well with Barbera. The Amador Four Fires event is a two-day event.

More on Amador Wine Country

Plymouth wine country

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Plymouth wine country

One of the first vineyards just outside of Plymouth

Plymouth wine country

Is Plymouth wine country the new Napa Valley? For sure it is not! It is a unique wine country with a character all its own. For the most part, Plymouth wine country has many small family-owned wineries. A few “big boys” have recently arrived like Turley and Andis, but this wine area is all about small and tucked-away wineries, beautiful rolling hills of vineyards and oak woodlands. The town of Plymouth is small and the downtown stretch is only one block long. Begin your trek there at the Amador Vintage Market. You can stock up on picnic goodies before you head out to the Plymouth wine country. We always call ahead and have the deli prepare our lunch in advance. We learned our lesson the hard way. A few years back (we’ve visited once year since 2002), a large wine tour van arrived just before us. The staff is meticulous at the Vintage Market and we waited almost an hour to get our lunches made. Directly across the street is the finest restaurant in the area, Taste. You may want to dine there for dinner on your wine country getaway. Your next stop is Shenandoah Road. Go back to Highway 49 and then across the road to Shenandoah Road. There are several wineries to visit, and we have divided the area into two distinct wine routes (see below). In Plymouth on Highway 49 there is a tasting room that features most of the local wines. It is Amador 360, a Wine Collective and Tasting Room. You may want to stop in there first to get your bearings. For lodging, we like to stay over in the Gold Country town of Sutter Creek. It is a throwback in time and looks much like it did in the old mining days. There are restaurants, boutique shopping and tasting rooms in Sutter Creek.

Additional Information on Plymouth Wine Country

Shenandoah Valley Wine Route
Shenandoah School Road Wine Route
Restaurants near Plymouth
Lodging near Plymouth

Amador Flower Farm on Shenandoah School Road

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Amador flower farm

A gardener’s delight. Combine wine tasting and gardening in one wine country trip.

About the Amador Flower Farm and wine tasting

Here is a chance to combine two hobbies, wine country travel and gardening. One of wine country’s prettiest backroads is Shenandoah School Road in Amador County in the Sierra Foothills. The Shenandoah School Road connects at two ends to Shenandoah Road and is about a four-mile stretch of rolling hills lined with vineyards, majestic oak trees and grassland.  Among the wineries and vines of this backroad is a wonderful garden nursery, the Amador Flower Farm. Their specialty is day lilies but they have many other plants to delight the gardener. There are over 900 types of day lilies available for purchase online or at the nursery. You can also enjoy a picnic lunch, so pack your deli sandwich. On this stretch of road are several wineries, but we particularly enjoy Wildrotter Vineyards, Cooper Vineyards, and Karmere Vineyards. We enter Shenandoah School Road from the Plymouth end, and then it returns to Shenandoah Road in about four miles. The Amador Flower Farm is located at the northern end of Shenandoah School Road. The closest town to this backroad is Plymouth, but we prefer to lodge and dine in the historic Gold Country town of Sutter Creek.  Sutter Creek has much to offer the wine country traveler.

Additional important information about this area

Sutter Creek Winery Update

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Each time we visit this area of the Sierra Foothills there are new wine adventures to be discovered. This time we found a couple of new wineries and revisited some of our old favorites. We always make our home base the town of Sutter Creek and stay at the Hanford House Inn. Even though the town lacks a really good gourmet restaurant, there are several places to dine within walking distance that offer good meals. Most of the wineries are about a 15-minute drive away on the beautiful backroads of the Shenandoah Valley. Almost all the wineries in this area are small family-owned wineries, and rarely do any charge a fee for tasting wine. Napa Valley, take note!
sutter-vineyards

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