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May 27, 2009 Not that we propose playing hooky from work, but sometimes you just can't beat a mid-week afternoon of wine tasting. And after the recent triple-digit heat, not to mention the daily work grind, a quick jaunt to El Dorado County's wine country sounded like the perfect salve. So desk and PC be darned, Highway 50 harkened and we headed east to the hills – Holly's Hill Vineyards, that is. The trek takes about an hour from downtown Sacramento, and the drive's especially easy during late morning and early afternoon in the work week (i.e. when most everyone else is chained to the work cubicle). The rat race becomes an afterthought as the car winds through the bucolic and tree-lined Diamond Springs district of El Dorado County. For a second, it feels like we're on our way to summer camp. Soon enough we're at Holly's Hill Vineyards, a winery with a wonderful view of the Cosumnes River canyons. All the sloping vineyards, hawks flying around and not a freeway in sight makes Sacramento seem like a world away. Photo opportunities aside, Holly's Hill produces wines that especially hit the spot this time of year. Holly's Hill specializes in Rhone varietals, including viognier, grenache, syrah and mourvedre. We'll save the zinfandel fruit bombs and puckery cabernets for another day. Rhone-style wines such as these tend to be especially food friendly and a little lighter on the palate. Holly's Hill has produced wine since 1999 and grows 25 acres of grapes. The sloping vineyards benefit from plenty of sun but get a nice cooldown at night as the air crispens. This climate and the soils around the area have proved to be an accommodating home for Rhone varietals. We step inside the tasting room, a rustic but charming sort of room with exposed ceiling beams and well-worn hardwood floors. The bar itself is balanced on some old oak barrels. And then it's time to sip. The wines are uniformly good, though the whites – a 2008 viognier ($18) and a roussanne-based 2007 Patriarche Blanc ($25) – are served a little too cold. The Rhone-style reds, however, really do us right. The 2006 El Dorado Patriarche ($30), a blend dominated by mourvedre and syrah, sung with its cherry fruit and lovely mouthfeel. No wonder why this wine nabbed a best of class award at the California State Fair. My partner-in-wine was especially feeling the 2006 El Dorado Wylie-Fenaughty Syrah ($25), which carried pronounced cherry and berry tastes with some spice on the back end. This wine would certainly work at the dinner table, perhaps with a pork tenderloin or leg of lamb. Or heck, we'd be happy to just sip this one on its own. The 2007 Grenache Noir ($20), a blend of grenache, syrah and pinot noir [not Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah], was also a hit. This wine's weight felt exceedingly good in the mouth, especially coupled with those strawberry and floral flavors. But no trip to Holly's Hill would be complete without a good decompression session in the picnic area. So we fetched some sandwiches packed for the trip and grabbed a picnic table, located just above a block of mourvedre vines. The air smells extra fresh up here, and it's almost silent save for the breeze rustling in the trees. Every so often a bit of construction noise punctuates the stillness – Holly's Hill is building a 6,900-square-foot wine production facility – but mostly it's the sound of peace. Good wine and food, good company, the picturesque setting ... Wednesday afternoons rarely feel this relaxing. But obligations beckon, and soon it's time to drive back toward Sacramento. Coming down the hill near El Dorado Hills, the Sacramento Valley air below looks murky. We can at least breathe easy, knowing that Holly's Hill is always a quick car ride away.
View the entire article at the Sac Bee website here. |
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