Our Sierra Foothills Flights and Bites Adventure – Part 1

Posted on   March 16,2022   By John Compisi

We had the chance to visit Folsom, CA and a very small segment of the very large Sierra Foothills American Viticultural Area (AVA) recently. Our experiences prompted this two-part series about Folsom, the judging of Sierra Foothills Wine Competition and our experiences in Fairplay, a specific wine growing region in the El Dorado AVA. We have previously written about our experiences in Plymouth and the California Shenandoah Valley (AVA) which bridges Amador and El Dorado Counties.

I had been invited to help judge the wine entries from nearly 70 of the wineries in the Sierra Foothills AVA, the 3rd largest in California at ~2,600,000 acres and spanning portions of Yuba, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa counties. The judging was held in the Palladio in Folsom on Saturday March 5th in preparation for the 2^nd Annual Sierra Foothills Wine Festival which is open to the public and will occur on April 2nd, 2022, also at the Palladio, from 5-8pm (additional info below).

Approximately 23 judges gathered in Folsom’s historic district on Friday evening for a delightful kick-off dinner hosted by the Greater Folsom Partnership at Plank Craft Kitchen + Bar. The dinner offered the judges, mostly wine media, wine buyers, winemakers and sommeliers an opportunity to rekindle friendships or create new ones. The food and beverages provided by Plank and their great staff assured a positive outcome for this gathering.

On Saturday morning, we gathered at a professional space at the Palladio for a casual breakfast and instructions for the judging. Tables with name plates on them were set for the various panels. At our places were scoring sheets for the various wines we would be tasting. In my panel we were set to taste flights of Grenache, Mourvèdre (also known as Mataro or Monastrell), Syrah and Rhône based Red Blends.

Most panels had three judges but ours had four. I was fortunate to be seated with some great people with amazing experience starting with Elizabeth Smith, PhD, Napa Valley Register; Kara Sather, Director of the El Dorado Winery Association; Jeff Stai, Owner/winemaker of Twisted Oak Winery in Vallecito, CA. I learned a great deal from these fun and experienced wine aficionados.

We had our first flights at 9am and with a brief break for a nice buffet lunch we were able to complete our judging of ~45 wines by 1pm. Each flight came in a glass with a numeric designation. The judges only knew the varietal and principal grape for blends. Definitely a ‘Blind Tasting”. Lots of swirling, sniffing, sipping and spitting was observed as we tasted and scored each flight of wines. At the end of each flight, we shared our scores, guided by our panel moderator and discussed whether we would be awarding Bronze, Silver, Gold or no award. If we were unanimous that the wine deserved a Gold, then it was awarded Double Gold. We also determined which of these Gold or Double Gold awardees would advance to the Sweepstakes round on Sunday morning when Best of Show selections occurred.

The judging was exceptionally well organized by Mike Owen, Wine Chair for the Foothill Wine Festival competition and public event and Coleen Schwietert, Competition Coordinator along with her team of great volunteers.

We learned later on that the Best of Show winners in each category for this 2^nd Annual Foothill Wine Festival Competition were:

Best of Show Red was the 2018 Casino Mine Ranch Tempranillo from Shenandoah Valley, Amador County.

Best of Show White went to the 2021 Bella Grace Vineyards Vermentino from Amador County.

Best of Show Rosé was awarded to Vino Noceto for their 2021 Noceto Rosato di Sangiovese from Shenandoah Valley.

Best of Show Sparkling once again went to Gwinllan Estate, for their 2019 Estate Rosé Sparkling from Fairplay.

Best of Show Dessert was awarded to the 2021 Lewis Grace “Fashionably Late”, Late Harvest Viognier from Fairplay.

You can taste all of these great wines at the Public Tasting event on April 2nd at Palladio. Tickets and great hotel deals, can be found on their website www.foothillwinefest.com. These deals include hotel stay, 2 tickets to the Wine Event and an$25 gift card to the Palladio.  Check it out.

Having completed my judging responsibilities Linda and I, with our friends Gil and Julie, took the opportunity to explore and dine around the historic district of Folsom. Although I had been there the night before, the scene was dramatically different on a Saturday afternoon. The blocked off portion of Sutter Street had become a block long, sidewalk to sidewalk wide chalk board with the theme, “Let’s Chalk About It”. We learned that anyone could produce some street chalk art, take a picture of it and send it in for a competition of some sorts. A really great idea embraced wholeheartedly by the kids, dogs and adults who were in the street.

We enjoyed walking through numerous shops, stopped for a late lunch at Citizen Vine and then stopped in at one of three tasting rooms in the historic district. Citizen Vine offered a very nice wine list including various flights of three, 3oz pours. We thoroughly enjoyed the Margherita and the Pesto, Chicken & Bacon Flatbreads outside under a nice shade umbrella with great heaters. Even our pup enjoyed himself in this pet friendly town.

After strolling through the chalk master pieces again, we wandered into the Crystal Basin Cellars tasting room. Again, pet friendly, where we found 4 seats at a common table for 12. The people left and right of us were having a great time and soon we were a part of this larger group. Owner Melissa Owen was ably assisted by Stacy as we worked our way through numerous lovely wines, some with interesting names, like Chateau Meau-Faux out of a pouch. Hilarious!! Very innovative and a very fun stop.

Later that evening we decided that we would dine at one of the numerous restaurants in the Palladio. There must be at least 10-20 of them and they all looked very inviting. We choose the Iron Horse Tavern because it was dog friendly and had nice outdoor seating patio with heaters (the evenings were chilly). The Iron Horse Tavern has a sister location in Sacramento and is from Sacramento restaurateurs Mason, Curtis and Alan Wong.

The food was delicious. Linda had the Tavern Burger (yum), Gil said the Cubano was excellent, the Beer Battered Fish and Chips was also quite good as was the Roasted Salmon. All fresh and flavorful. We all agreed we would go back to the Iron Horse Tavern anytime.

Finally, we would be remiss if I didn’t mention the breakfast that we had at the Courtyard by Marriott, where we stayed near the Palladio, on Sunday morning. Most importantly, for some, they serve a full Starbucks beverage menu. The breakfast items, however, were a step above Starbucks in both appearance and flavor. I had the breakfast sandwich and Linda has the Avocado Toast. Both were delicious.

All in all, our first full day of our Folsom adventure was a big hit. Stay tuned for Part 2 where we will tell you about our day of tasting in Fairplay, before heading back to Reno!