Day 8 Thursday, September 17 - Vinavigator

Today no one had to drive. We were picked up at the campground by a beautiful white luxury coach furnished by our guide Martin Raisman. Martin specializes in tours of the Sacramento wine region where there are 200 wineries, many award winning. Most of these wineries are considered artisan and boutique wines, producing 1,000 to 10,000 cases per year and are family run.

While enjoying Starbucks coffee and muffins, we drove through the countryside to Amador County about 45 miles southeast of Sacramento in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The terrain changed from flat lands (very brown and barren) to hills (still brown but with trees) Along the way we passed farms growing vegetables, pecan and almond groves and pumpkin patches. Many of the vinyards had huge clumps of grapes ready for harvest. There were numerous small communities, many not incorporated along the road. The area is becoming known for its beautiful scenery, great people and great wine.
Our first stop, however, was NOT at a winery but at the largest alpaca ranch west of the Rocky Mountains. As the big bus pulled into the driveway of the Retiredice Alpaca Ranch everyone let out a long "awww" when we caught our first glimpse of these beautiful, gentle creatures. Paige, the owner, talked to us about raising alpacas.

This ranch is for breeding and each "cow" has one cria (baby) per year after 11 1/2 months gestation. She has 70 animals one of which was born last night and another that was two days old. Entering the pen area where the older females and their offspring wandered, she told us
they were docile and loved people. If we knelt down, they would come over to investigate. Their wool is very soft and has no lanolin. Fully grown they weigh 150 to 180 pounds. They are sheared once a year in the spring so they are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Tearing ourselves away from the animals, we visited her shop filled with hats, gloves, socks, sweaters, blankets, etc., all made from the alpaca wool. Several members made fashion statements with the hats.

Latcham Winery was the next stop of the day. It has been in operation since 1981 and has many award winning zinfandel wines, some produced from vines that are over 100 years old. It was our "task" to sample any of the 15 wines we desired (I managed 7 tastes) including the 2009 Best Zinfandel of California winner (a 2007 Special Reserve which many of us purchased). The vinyard was beautiful and the tasting room walls were covered with many ribbons and medals.



In addition to the wine, we were served "Margaret's Pass the Port Brownies" made with semi-sweet chocolate chips and port wine -- Heavenly!! She also provided the recipe.

Back to Sacramento we traveled, going beyond the city westward to the delta area of the Sacramento River. Our lunch stop (yes, we sampled wine before lunch) was in Clarksburg at Husicks Country Store which was in a building constructed in the 1800's. It had been a general mercantile with a post office, then a hardware store. Along with lunch was wine tasting.

Driving along the levee road following the river, we headed for our last stop at the Bogle Winery. It is the 13th largest winery in the country producing one million cases per year. There we relaxed and of course tasted more wines. It was interesting to hear the comparisons the wines we tasted in the hill country this morning with those we were now tasting in the delta low country


The big white coach wound its way through many back streets of downtown Sacramento to avoid the heavy traffic on the highways. Some MIM'ers took naps while others sat outside and talked about our day's activitie. Gene after wine tasting