Day 3: Amador County Wine Tour 2018, I wake up thinking to myself, “I could live here. This tiny little town with these incredible winds, I could totally buy a house here and become a wine country resident." Then I remember, I said the same thing when I was in New York, “I could totally live here. I could be up on the 20th, no make that 50th floor of some penthouse suite. Awesome!" And that reminds me of the time we were in Miami, “I could totally live here, one of these $5 million houses along the canal with my yacht. Awesome!" Of course I could totally live that lifestyle, now I just got to figure out where to come up with the other $4,997,000. OK, back to reality and another day of tasting before heading back to cousin Michael’s house, so let’s hit the road. We only have Helwig scheduled as we’ve been passing up on that every day, and then we'll just wing another vineyard before heading off to lunch.

Helwig Winery greets you with a huge driveway marker. Pulling up, the first thing we noticed is that unlike the other locations, this one has some huge grounds ahead of it. We drive along a the roadway with decorative lanterns to light the way in the evenings, a little pond off to the left here, and finally up the road to the tasting room. The location is a modern historic design. Steel beams supporting an antique wood theme.  Helwig has a reputation of "come for the wine, stay for the views". The backside of the tasting room as a patio overlooking a valley that is quite breathtaking, and quite frankly my pictures don’t do it justice. Back inside, we chat with the few other guests while I really enjoy the Sparkling Rose. I pick up a bottle and we head off to our next destination, Vino Noceto. Nobody really has mentioned this winery to us, but it is on the list of the nine wineries that Shenandoah Inn partners with for free tastings. We see the sign and we pull in.

Vino Noceto sets in a classic style red barn. The tasting room itself is a quaint little room, but filled with an tasty collection of Zinfandel, Barbera and Sangiovese wines and Tamara behind the counter. A fun time was spent talking with Jeff and Lisa, from Pasadena. Jeff has been coming here for the last 30 years loves the little get away from the big city. Pasadena just 20 miles or so from my house so being here in Amador County it’s like we’re neighbors. The Noceto reds are pretty bold for my taste. Maybe they just needed to aerate a little longer to mellow out. The Barbera was just a little too tart, the Zinfandel just a little to sweet, it reminds me that these need a proper pairing with food, as in is it is getting towards lunch time. But then I have a sip of the Riserva Sangiovese, and I'm good to go! Luscious fruits come through at just the right pitch, so I pick up a bottle and bid everyone a good day. As we walked back to the car, Nancy remarks that we have a bottle for every winery that we visited and then some. We have to figure out how are we going to take this back home, somehow, someway. I tell her don’t worry about it as I'm sure we will find a way to drink it all before we leave. Plus, we are headed back to a major metro area, I'm sure we can buy some sort of travel pack or larger luggage to handle it. Worse case, we can find a FedEx shop to pack it up and ship it home.

As we head down the hill we see a distinctive 'R' on the left-hand side of the road, so we pull in and find ourselves at the Jeff Runquist Wines. Jeff is well liked in the valley, his wines do quite well at tasting events and competitions. We step in and have a sip or two, our tummies are starting to grumble and we're ready for lunch, so we’ll call it a day with three wineries and head on home after this. I don't feel like messing around and go all in on the reds, and right off the bat, the Tempranillo beckons me. Just enough cherry and dark berries on the front to send me to dreamland where the heavenly angels keep refilling my goblet. A soft flowery scent, lavender or hyacinth, follows up as I pull the glass away. wow, that was really good. Nancy, who has wined out at this point, and just wants a few sips of my juice takes one sip and is hooked. She does her own tasting and falls hard for the Petite Sirah. And she swears she's not a PS person, leaning primarily to Pinot, but she loves it and joins the wine club on the spot. Whoa! Baby 's gone all in on this one! We pick up two bottles,  a Tempranillo for me and she gets the Petit. We head back to the car and now we are really in trouble. The travel totes are now full, So the Runquist wines are packed in and now we really have to decide what to do about getting these home. A fun gent at the bar tells us about Amador 360, a local wine collective that also serves as the main, if only, shipper for the valley. great, and by the way, he also recommends Gold Dust Pizza back in Sutter Creek as a stop for lunch.

We grab a tasty looking pizza, pair it up with a Zinfandel, something a little sweet to cut through the oil of the pizza, and have ourselves a tasty little lunch. Now I'm feeling pretty good at this point, so what the hell, one more tasting! Oh come on, we're this close to more tasting rooms, so let’s just walk the town and see what we find. We hit Main Street hang a right and the next block down we see a sign for 1850 Wine Cellars. Its the most intimate of tasting rooms so far. Behind the counter is Guy, pronounce"Gee", a veteran of Amador County wines. He actually retired a few years back, but has since returned to the counters as he misses the interactions with fellow tasters. We taste a couple of wines, and then he does something I’ve never seen before, at any tasting room, ever! He pours a perfect taste of wine, and then lays the glass on the counter and begins rolling it back and forth.

What? Don’t get me wrong I’ve seen people put a glass of wine on its side, usually after making some wild gesturing with their hands and out spills some Cabernet. But what he does is pour the exact amount of wine so that the glass just touches the lip when on its side. The purpose is that a glass on its side has twice the surface area of a glass standing up, and this aerates the wine wonderfully, coaxing all of those lovely fruits and flowers out into a luscious bouquet for tasting. You had me at hello, and we pick up another bottle of Sangiovese. And I wasn't wrong. In doing a little research after the trip, I find 1850 Wine Cellars scoring multiple 91 pt wines with Wine Enthusiast. Nice!

Now it’s getting late we really have to go, and what are we gonna do with all this wind? Guy point us in the right direction, back to Plymouth for the Amador 360 wine shipping service. Oh great, same service the other gent at Runquist informed us about, so I guess that's the go-to service for getting your wines back home. We head back and find that for a nominal fee, around $35, they will ship 12 bottles of wine back to home for us via UPS. I do add this note, if shipping, pay the extra $10 to have it refrigerated. After we got home, our wine apparently had some mix-up in shipping, and spent 2 days in the back of a van during a warm spell. The wine seems ok, my palate probably couldn't tell the difference, but what if...? With 12 bottles packed away, that leaves us with four bottles to take back to cousin Michael, and I’m sure we can find someway to drink four bottles and over the next two nights. Hint, the first night he invites us to BBQ at this funky little neighborhood spot, full of hipsters with their kids. Since we couldn't pack Karmere's Temperance Tarts, it's a 750ml jug, we bring it along, and perfect timing. The jug makes quite an entrance when I bring it in, and it pairs wonderfully with the BBQ. As a blend, the Syrah and Zinfandel give it a sweetness that compliments the BBQ sauce, and the Primitivo goes it a good acid balance to work the meat.

As we leave Amador County on the lovely California Highway 49, we reflect on a wonderful time, some wonderful wines, and the most wonderful people. Of the 12 wineries we visit, we quickly realized we’ve covered less than half of the area. And that’s just Shenandoah Valley, El Dorado was right next door with Wines that are in ranking with Amador, so it looks like we'll have to return sometime soon to break new ground and make new friends.