Wine Country Getaway to the Sierra Foothills -
The Town of Volcano and the St. George Hotel & Restaurant

An overnight trip brings us to the beautiful hidden wine country of the Sierra Foothills near the town of Plymouth in Amador County. Plymouth is the gateway to the Shenandoah Valley, the heart of this wine country. Just beyond the Shenandoah Valley is the Fair Play wine appellation in El Dorado County offering another set of hidden wineries to visit.

We are spending the night about 30 minutes east of Plymouth in the tiny town of Volcano. Tiny means a population of 85.  Volcano’s appeal is the historic St. George Hotel and its epicurean restaurant. Volcano also offers visitors tranquility while still providing easy access to the wineries. A short 11 miles away is Sutter Creek, the best little shopping town in the Gold Country.

We arrive in Plymouth to unseasonably hot weather in the Sierra Foothills. Temperatures are hovering around 100 degrees. Our first stop is the Amador Vintage Market in Plymouth.  This is a relatively new gourmet lunch and deli spot. This deli offers several different wine picnic baskets as well as a variety of good sandwiches.  After picking up our lunch, we head for the Montevina Winery, less than ten minutes away on Shenandoah School Road. This a very large family-owned winery equipped with a state-of-the-art winemaking facility and a spacious tasting room. The winery has an extensive picnic area which is well shaded.  We like this winery because it has many well-made wines to offer and the wines are very reasonably priced. We do a little wine tasting and easily settle on the perfect wine for lunch on this very hot day. It is a dry rose, made from the Nebbiolo grape. At $8 a bottle you can’t beat this bargain. This is a very small production wine so the Nebbiolo Rosato is only available at the tasting room.

Following our delicious picnic lunch, we head to Il Gioiello Winery.  This winery is just a short distance away as the crow flies but getting there by car is a bit of a map challenge. With map in hand we work our way to Il Gioiello in about 20 minutes. The winery is open only by appointment. We are here to pick a case of Zinfandel “Futures” we purchased on our first visit to this winery in February. 

A very elaborate electronic gate opens as we enter the driveway.  We drive through the iron gate system and as we approach the winemaking facility, we are greeted by Scott who is the new winemaker at Il Gioiello. In chatting with Scott we learn that the winery is in a state of flex with the current owners of the winery going their separate ways. It remains to be seen if the winery changes hands within the next year.  One thing we do know for sure is the winery has made a delicious Barbera and Syrah. The Zinfandel tasted fabulous in the barrel in February and we hope that our case of Zinfandel will develop into an even better wine. The wine was just bottled so it will be best to let it age for several months.

After leaving Il Gioiello we continue up the Lawrence Rd. to Mt Aukum Rd. and to the very small Fair Play wine appellation. There are several good wineries in the area and we have time to visit just a couple. The very first winery on this road is Latcham Winery. On weekends the winery is very popular but today we are only ones in the tasting room.  Latcham is a fun family run winery offering many varietals of wine. One of the favorites here is the Latcham Gold Rush Red. It is a bargain everyday wine consisting of seven varieties of wine, including 2% Chardonnay. It’s the winemaker’s hodge-podge recipe that turns into a very affordable and tasty wine. Our favorite Latcham wine is the Barbera. It is priced at $25 a bottle but, at the nearby Pokerville Market, we find it for $18.

Our last stop is the Perry Creek Winery on Perry Creek Road in Fair Play. Again, we are the only ones in the tasting room. We taste a few wines but get the feeling that the staff has other duties waiting and perhaps unaccustomed to visitors during the week. We liked the Zin Man wine very much for $14 a bottle. However, that same wine we find later for $9.99 at the Pokerville Market.

Dinner at the St. George

The St. George Hotel, built in 1862, offers accommodations on its second and third floors. These rooms do not have private baths so occupants must share the bathrooms located on the hall floor. Our room on the second floor has a balcony that overlooks the highway and town below. It’s a great place to read, sip wine, and spend some quiet time. The hotel also offers bungalows that each have a private bath. The St. George also has a conference center, offering a retreat center for business meetings.

The dining room is newly decorated and very comfortable. The restaurant has become a favorite of many of the local communities and regulars come as far away as Sacramento.  The chefs, Gabe Gottstein and Steve Lacio, have prepared a fabulous menu of choices featuring seasonal foods.  Our entrée choices of panko crusted salmon and stuffed pork loin were absolutely delicious. The vegetable assortment of fresh squash was exquisite. We rate this restaurant a 4.5 on our “Five Point” rating scale.

Breakfast is a casual affair served in the parlor. Guests have the choice of either eating in the parlor or taking their breakfast out on to the patio. There are fresh fruits, coffee, breakfast grains, some pastries, and various breads to choose from. 

The weather this day is even hotter than the previous day. Instead of wine tasting today, we decide to shop for wine at the Pokerville Market and head back to the Bay Area before the heat gets over the 100-degree mark.

Pokerville Market

The Pokerville Market is located on the Highway blah in the town of Plymouth. For a small town setting, the wine department offers up a big city choice of local wines with many wines priced less than at the nearby wineries. We had planned for a day of tasting Sangiovese wines. The Sangiovese grape grows well in the Sierra Foothills and many of the wineries in this region are producing Sangiovese.  Since we are foregoing wine tasting on this hot summer day, we buy five local Sangiovese wines at the Pokerville market.  At home, we do a taste test and easily agree the best of the lot is the Bray Vineyards Sangiovese. We have never visited this winery but on our next trip up to this area we will be sure to stop in and load up on their Sangiovese.

For more information on the wineries of the Sierra Foothills, check our wine trails for this wine region.