by Fred McMillin for May 26, 1997 A Cab Lab Prologue: "The higher, cooler vineyards in El Dorado County of the Sierra Foothills can come very close in quality to those of Sonoma...The Sierra Vista Winery shows this most often."...by Bob Thompson in his "Wine Atlas of California." The Rest of the Story: The established red wine grape of California Gold Country is Zinfandel, not the national favorite Cabernet Sauvignon. For example, 25 years ago in El Dorado County there was only one acre of Cab. However, plantings have been increasing steadily since then, and my panel is very happy about it. They gave high marks to the medium-body, medium-priced '94 Sierra Vista Cab...plenty of pop...clearly one of the best $13 Cabs they've tasted in several months. 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon, El Dorado County Sierra Vista Winery Placerville, CA $13 Category: Highly Recommended in its price range Postscript: The eight-county Sierra Foothills wine region is jumping. The total California harvest of wine grapes in 1996 was down 2% compared to 1995. In sharp contrast, the Sierra Foothills harvest increased 8%. Monetary return from their grapes was up a rousing 31%. Shades of the 1850's, when the area produced more wine than Napa and Sonoma counties combined. About the Writer Fred McMillin, a veteran wine writer, has taught wine history for 30 years on three continents. He currently teaches wine courses at San Francisco State and San Francisco City College and is Northern California Editor for American Wine on the Web. In 1995, the Academy of Wine Communications honored Fred with one of only 22 Certificates of Commendation awarded to American wine writers.

Read more articles by Fred McMillin in the eGGsf Welcome to WineDay, the electronic Gourmet Guide's daily update. Monday through Thursday, WineDay presents a wine profile. Then on Fridays we present the Winery of the Week to take you through the weekend Current WineDay January WineDays February WineDays March WineDays April WineDays 05/23/97 Winery of the Week De Loach Vineyards 05/22/97 When the Vintners Drew a Blanc 05/21/97 Barbera with Backbone 05/20/97 Make Mine Merlot 05/19/97 Waiting for Verdot (vair-dough) 05/16/97 Winery of the Week Sutter Home Winery 05/15/97 What's OVOC Zinfandel? 05/14/97 The Olympic Games White, A Reprise 05/13/97 Roy's Niche in Time 05/12/97 Meanwhile, Back at the Chateau 05/09/97 Winery of the week Gundlach-Bundschu Wine Company 05/08/97 A Pretty Pink for Mother's Day 05/07/97 Was the Wine a Success? 05/06/97 A 365-Acre Adventure 05/05/97 A Little Star 05/02/97 Winery of the week Scharffenberger Cellars 05/01/97 Pinot Noir's Kissin' Cousin

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