Sierra Foothills Rhone Varietals
Grow in Quality and Popularity

by Jean Deitz Sexton
May 16, 2008

An informal Rhone varietal cabal in the Sierra Foothills back in 1988 led to the first Rhone Rangers tasting a decade later. Today, the Sierra Foothills is a leader in the production of Rhone varietals in the U.S. The quality of the wines grows higher as well as shown at the first BEST-OF-APPELLATION EVALUATION tasting which yielded numerous Gold and Silver awards.

[>] see full story

Related Stories...

Discovering the Best of Amador

Evaluation of the Sierra Foothills

The Best-of-Appellation Program

Sierra Foothills Zin: How Diverse

Situated on rolling hills between 2,000-3,000 feet, the Fair Play AVA has the highest average elevation of any appellation in California. It provides winemakers with the epitome of mountain-grown fruit. Fair Play is entirely contained within the El Dorado and Sierra Foothills AVAs. Vignerons from here take full advantage of the low annual rainfall that forces roots deep into the loam soils, creating highly-concentrated, complex wines. The fruit exhibits remarkable natural acidity, due to cool nights in these high altitudes. There are approximately 350 acres of vines, with up to 200 more in the planning stage. There is growing interest here in Rhone and Italian varietals, alongside the ever popular Zinfandel.

Current Feature

Granholm v. Heald 3 Years Later
Notes on the current state of direct-to-consumer shipping
By Eleanor & Ray Heald
May 29, 2008

May 16, 2008 marked the third anniversary of the U.S Supreme Court decision in the case of Granholm v. Heald. Wine Institute figures show that 36 of the 50 states now have some form of direct shipping. [>] continue