El Dorado Passport Weekend

From Venezio we made the almost 25 minute drive to Sogno Winery , the farthest west of all of the wineries in the event.  Sogno is a fairly new winery, but the grounds are beautiful, the wine selection incredible and the hospitality hard to beat.  This winery had the best food of any of the sites we visited, quite a statement in and of itself.  Tasting was offered in the event area of the winery as well as futures tasting in the wine cave.  Yet another wonderful opportunity to be served wines by the winemaker, Ron Davis, and get his philosophy of winemaking and picking the right grape situated to their little piece of wine country. 

From Sogno we drove the 20 minutes up Highway 50 to Apple Hill and Lava Cap Winery.  This had obviously been a popular spot for the weekend and was starting to party down from the big crowds.  They had an art show and a great barbeque to go with their great wines complete with specialty wine offerings.  I never can quite resist their Bordeaux wines, especially the Merlot.

We finished up at the oldest winery in El Dorado County, Boeger Winery.  Tasting was done in the wine cellar which had been decorated in almost a beach party atmosphere. They offered the ability to  buy a special six pack selection of wines you can’t find any other time at a great price.  One of them, a single barrel Cabernet Sauvignon, was a wonderful wine experience all by itself.  Sadly, based on the small quantities produced you couldn’t taste it until after you purchased it and took it home. By the time I tasted it I couldn’t get any more.  They also offered a sneak tasting of the latest Tempranillo that was an incredible wine (their Tempranillos always are).  The tasting was finished with a gourmet pot pie where we were lucky enough to have dinner with Kirby Boeger, who even posed for a picture.

Sadly, we ran out of time and couldn’t make it to the last winery on our list Madronna Vineyards.  We saved that for another day along with the rest of the wineries which for all accounts had similar great wine, food and fun.  Our overall impression was this was a great chance to eat good food paired beatufiully with some very nice wines and often served by the winemaker. We were able to try and buy wines that were not yet, or sometimes never would be, available for sale anywhere else. It was not horribly crowded and everyone seemed to be having a great time. We would definately recommend this as an event worth attending and a good value for the price.

Click here to read about our Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County Passport Weekend experience.

Places to eat and  stay:  There are a number of really great bed and breakfasts in the areas and a couple of the wineries (Fitzpatrick is a great example) offer lodging.  Be sure to book early, that weekend fills up very early and you want to be close in to enjoy the whole experience.  We would recommend going to the El Dorado Visitors Authority Website http://www.visit-eldorado.com/bed_break.asp – they have a very extensive list of accommodations.  If you are looking for a great food experience over the weekend we would recommend either The Sequoia Room in Placerville or Zachary Jacques in Pleasant Valley.  They are both a little hard to find, but are worth the effort and have incredible food with a very extensive local wine list.