Wine

March 7th was the 2nd anniversary of the Gold Country Cowgirl blog. I had intended to do a special post and a giveaway for the blog anniversary but between a three-day trip to Southern California, having company, lots of wine events, being sick twice and an especially busy couple of weeks of ...
Read More

Although Amador City is the smallest incorporated city in California, covering less than a square mile, it has lots to offer. It has a hotel and four great places to eat. Main Street is also dotted with unique shops, a wine tasting room or two and a museum. If you ...
Read More

When I learned that another eating and drinking establishment was opening in Amador City, I have to admit, I was a little jealous. They already had the Imperial Hotel and Jamison's Ale House, two of my favorite places to eat in the county. They had Andrae's Bakery, which puts out ...
Read More

When I attended the Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa in November, I signed up for an education session entitled Zinfandel Old and New which was put on by Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP). That's where I learned about ZinEX, their three-day Zinfandel Experience extravaganza devoted entirely to Zinfandel. I ...
Read More

You may have read elsewhere on the blog that I've been working on a post about old vine Zinfandel for some time. When I saw an opportunity to visit the oldest documented Zinfandel vineyard in the Americas, planted in the 1860s, I knew I had to go. The 3-day OGP ...
Read More

Last year, when I wrote a post about my most viewed posts of 2016, the blog had only been in operation for just under 10 months. During that time, I wrote 34 posts, an average of over three a month. I didn't meet my goal of at least four posts ...
Read More

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you know that I just returned from the Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa, CA. I attended my first International Food Blogger Conference in Sacramento a few weeks ago and this was also my first wine bloggers conference. It was a great ...
Read More

Jay Wilderotter is one of the lucky ones. He found his passion a long time ago and lives it every day. He told me, "I never feel like I'm going to work." Jay and his wife, Maggie, own Wilderotter Vineyard and Winery in the Shenandoah Valley in Plymouth, California. Jay ...
Read More

What do you do if you are a small, family-owned winery and don't have the room or don't want to invest in a bottling line? You could hire a mobile bottling truck. During a recent visit to Jeff Runquist Wines, the mobile bottling truck happened to be there and I ...
Read More

One of the members of our wine tasting group, the Vineyard Vixens, had read some reviews of E16 Winery and suggested that it be one of our destinations for our September outing. It was a great choice but, sadly, the member who suggested it couldn't go! I guess we'll just ...
Read More

7th Annual Schoolhouse Road Progressive Picnic You don't need an excuse to go wine tasting but an event or special occasion can add to the fun. On Labor Day, six of the businesses on the Shenandoah School Road loop in Shenandoah Valley participated in the 7th Annual Schoolhouse Road Progressive ...
Read More

When I learned that Dobra Zemlja was having an event to celebrate 22 years in Shenandoah Valley, I decided it would be a good time to pop in. I had visited once before during Spring Fling and loved the grounds but I wasn't able to photograph them. It was cold ...
Read More

A while back, my wine tasting group, the Vineyard Vixens, went to visit a couple of wineries in Fairplay, CA, and to pick up some futures. We had a bit of an unpleasant experience when we went to pick up our futures. Several members of our group had been wine club ...
Read More

I have done a lot of wine tasting in Gold Country over the past couple of years and the most enjoyable times have been when I learn something new about wine or winemaking. As I've mentioned, I'm no expert. I just enjoy wine and learning about it. On a recent visit to Wine ...
Read More

You've heard that membership has its privileges. Well, that is very true when it comes to wine club membership at local wineries in Gold Country. Scott Harvey Wines had its February Wine Club Release Extravaganza for wine club members and their guests this past weekend with food pairings from Taste ...
Read More

It's the beginning of a new year and I've been reflecting on the blog, looking back at old posts and setting some goals for 2017. Even though the blog hasn't been in operation for a full year yet (my first post was published on March 7th), I thought you might be ...
Read More

24 BRIX is a relatively new kid in the Shenandoah Valley. We watched over a period of weeks this past year as the old antique store on Highway 49 in Plymouth was transformed into the Schmitz 24 BRIX Barrel Cellar Tasting Room. When the Vineyard Vixens visited, we got a warm welcome ...
Read More

It seems I've been on a bit of an unintended hiatus from the blog. I've been so busy doing research, photograpy and coming up with ideas for content that I haven't had (taken) the time to write it down. Now I have so many things in my head it is almost overwhelming but I will ...
Read More

The Vineyard Vixens, the wine tasting group of the Mother Lode Newcomers, goes on hiatus for the summer. Earlier in September, we toasted another year of tasting adventures, beginning with Bray Vineyards. Some members of our group had been before but most had not, including me. We started our day ...
Read More

Kelly and I were headed back up the hill after a day at Horse Expo in Sacramento. Since it was still early, we decided to stop off at Drytown Cellars. I had been wanting to get some of their Vino de Mocca ever since I first tasted it a few months ago and ...
Read More

Wine Tasting When I was in my 20s and married, my former spouse and I visited north coast region wineries quite often when we traveled to see friends in Petaluma. In Southern California, we had wineries in Temecula which I visited. Somehow, in later years, wine tasting became something I ...
Read More

Start on Steiner is an association of the nine wineries located on Steiner Road in the Shenandoah Valley in California's gold country. As a group, these nine wineries hold three annual Start on Steiner events: Spring Fling in April, Summer Faire in August and Holiday Celebration in December. These events historically include complimentary ...
Read More