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You are here: Home / Archives for Hanford House Inn

Getaway to the Sierra Foothills Wine Country

February 21, 2017 by Joe Becerra

Looking out on the Shenandoah Valley from the Andis Winery

Looking out on the Shenandoah Valley from Andis Winery

Sierra Foothills Wine Country

Do you travel to the California wine country? Most likely you have been to Napa Valley and Sonoma.  A getaway to the Sierra Foothills Wine Country is a vastly different experience.  It is much more fun and rewarding. Don’t get me wrong; I love the Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley wine country. Things have changed there recently, mostly in the cost and some snobbery. Not so in the Sierra Foothills. It is what the Napa Valley was like 25 years ago. We spent three days this last adventure in Amador and El Dorado Counties. We can’t wait to get back.

Sutter Creek

We made our home base in the old gold mining town of Sutter Creek, lodging at the Hanford House Inn. Owners Athena and Robert Gordon have made the Hanford House Inn into a warm, welcoming spot.  The place is cozy and very comfortable. The restaurant at Hanford House Inn is called Element and is currently serving fantastic breakfast dishes. The plan is to have the restaurant open for dinner later in the year.

French Toast at Element Restaurant

French Toast at Element Restaurant

Down the street, the best choice for dinner is the restaurant at the Hotel Sutter. The food is good with nightly specials, a full bar and wine list that includes local wineries. Two new spots are also preparing for dinner openings, Buffalo Chips and Cavana. Buffalo Chips has some fantastic sandwiches.  A good place for coffee and sandwiches is Sina’s Backroads Cafe.

 

The grilled ham & cheese at Buffalo Chips

The grilled ham & cheese at Buffalo Chips

 

There are a plethora of quality wine tasting rooms in Sutter Creek, including Sera Fina, Bella Grace, Scott Harvey, Baiocchi, and Yorba. If you can only make it to one tasting room, Yorba is it. Vintner Ann Kramer farms her Shake Ridge Vineyards and has winemaker Ken Bernards produce high-quality wines at reasonable prices that rival wines from any California wine region.

Amador County Wine Trails

Sierra Foothills wine country

The Amador wine country is 15 minutes from Sutter Creek. What we enjoy about this wine region is that most of the wineries are small and family-owned. Tasting rooms are quaint and friendly. Wine tasting fees are either free or no more than $10 per person. We have divided up the wineries into two distinct wine routes. Follow one of these trails and discover the spectacular Shenandoah Valley wine country in Amador.

  • Shenandoah Wine Trail
  • Shenandoah School Wine Trail

Fair Play Wineries in El Dorado

From Sutter Creek, the small town of Fair Play and the wineries of Fair Play are approximately a 25-mile drive through the beautiful backroads of both Amador and El Dorado Counties. Two wineries not to be missed in Fair Play are Cedarville Vineyard and Skinner Vineyards. Both make fantastic wines. The Cedarville Viognier and Petite Sirah are delicious. The owners Susan Marks and Jonathan Lachs will make you feel very much at home.

Cedarville Vineyards tasting room

Cozy Cedarville tasting room is located in the wine cellars

For complete information on all the regions of the Sierra Foothills – The Wineries of the Sierra Foothills. Here you will find all the information you need to plan a spectacular wine country getaway.

Filed Under: Amador County, El Dorado County Tagged With: Cedarville, Hanford House Inn, Sutter creek, Yorba

Ups and Downs in Amador Wine Country

February 25, 2014 by Joe Becerra

We recently spent a couple of days in the Amador wine country. We make this trip once a year, so we have a very good perspective of this lovely wine country area. This wine region is in a transitional period. There are many older wineries that are small, with simple yet inviting tasting rooms. Within the last three years, new wineries have opened that are lavish and quite a contrast to the older set of wineries.

amador wine country

Shenandoah Valley in Amador wine country

We packed a lot of activities into our two days and here are the highs and lows of our Amador wine country getaway.

The Highs in Amador Wine Country

Hanford House Inn
The newly-remodeled inn in Sutter Creek adds much to what has always been a great lodging experience. The owners, Bob and Athena Gordon, do a masterful job of hosting their guests. Please read our previous post on the marvelous Hanford House Inn.

Andrae’s Bakery

Daily baked bread

Daily baked bread

If you are anywhere in the vicinity of Amador City, make a stop at Andrae’s Bakery. On weekends there will be line out the door. Patrons are there to feed on freshly baked bread, pastries and desserts. There is also a good selection of prepared sandwiches that you can pack to many a nearby winery for a fantastic picnic in the vineyards.

Vino Noceto Winery
Vino Noceto is one of Amador’s signature wineries. Family owned, small, quaint, and focused on estate wines, especially Sangiovese. How often does one find the person working the tasting room to be the owner? It was Jim Gullet pouring wines to customers and loving every minute of it. Jim and his wife Suzy started the winery in 1987. The wines are good and reasonably priced.

Yorba Tasting Room in Sutter Creek
The Yorba label belongs to the renowned vineyard grower Ann Kraemer. Her nearby Shake Ridge Ranch provides grapes for many small but upscale wineries, many of which are in the Napa Valley. When we visited the Yorba tasting room, we asked if Ann Kraemer was there and, before the answer, Ann stepped out of her office to greet us. She is a delight and loves to talk about her vineyards and wines. She is a master vineyard manager and, for her Yorba label, has selected small plots on her ranch for fine tuning the vines that go into the Yorba label. The Yorba Tempranillo is amazing!

Quaint Yorba tasting room on Main St. in Sutter Creek

Quaint Yorba tasting room on Main St. in Sutter Creek

Amador Vintage Market

Picnic delights

Picnic delights

The Amador Vintage Market in Plymouth is another wonderful deli and a hangout for many of the locals in the wine industry. We always call ahead with our order and pick up our lunches on the way to the wineries. The place is usually packed and you could end up spending a good 30 to 45 minutes waiting for your order. It is best to call at least an hour before. You will not be disappointed.

Hotel Sutter Restaurant
New owners took over the old American Alliance Hotel a year ago. They have completely renovated the hotel and restaurant. We enjoyed our dinner there very much. It was Valentine’s Day so the restaurant was very crowded. There are a few kinks to be worked out but, on the whole, our dining experience was quite enjoyable.

The Lows in Amador Wine Country

Turley Cellars
Turley purchased the old Karly winery a year ago and has opened a tasting room on Shenandoah Road. The plan is to focus on high-end Zinfandel from the Karly old vines. The Turley wines are big and bold with prices at the higher end for this area. We love the wines, no doubt, but it is just it little off to see part of Napa Valley invade the Sierra Foothills.

Andis Winery

Andis Winery

Modern and industrial

Since the Andis winery opened some three years ago, we have stopped by just to sample the Sauvignon Blanc and the Semillon. These wines are very delicious. Many folks up here do not like the modern and industrial look to the winery or even the young hip crowds that hang out here.

When we visited, the winemaker was the only one in the Andis tasting room. That should be a good thing, right? He was very unenthusiastic. And we were disappointed that we could not taste the recently-released 2013 Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion. He said: “I think they are even better than last year. Sorry but we will not pour those in the tasting room until the wine club shipment goes out.” Huh!

Borjon Winery
Borjon is a Mexican-owned winery that is gaining a rapid reputation for the quality of its wine. For the second year in a row, I have tried to connect with this winery so I could interview the owners or winemaker and do a blog posting. This year I left two email messages and voice mail. We never heard back from Borjon. What is up with that? Perhaps if I were Robert Parker or a writer from the Wine Spectator, I may have had a chance.

Overall the Amador wine country remains a relatively-undiscovered wine region of California. If you have not been to this wine region, plan a trip sometime in 2014. It will offer some really fun experiences for the wine country traveler.

Filed Under: Amador County, Wine Information Tagged With: Amador Vintage Market, Andis winery, Borjon wine, Hanford House Inn, Turley, Yorba Tasting Room

Sutter Creek Winery Update

June 22, 2010 by Joe Becerra

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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Filed Under: Amador County, Travel Tips Tagged With: Amador Wine Country, Driven Cellars, Hanford House Inn, Jefff Rundquist Wines, Sutter Creek Wineries, Vino Noceto, Young's Vineyards

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