I know there are not a lot of you out there that like Grappa. I happen to be one that does so indulge me. My son and I made the trek up to the Amador Wineries in Northern California to pick up our wine club selections. The Amador Wineries are about a 45 minute drive from our house. We usually drive up, go to the 4 wineries I am a club member of, have lunch and then drive home. It's a nice relaxing day in a beautiful part of California with the rolling hills full of vineyards. The best part is it's hardly ever crowded and the scenery and wine quality matches that of the more familiar areas in California. It's like going back in time to Napa when you didn't have to pay to taste and there were no crowds. Spring is coming soon and you might want to consider this option.
Now to the main point of this post. While I was driving from winery to winery I remembered that I was out of Grappa. For those of you that don't know what Grappa is, it's made by taking the leftover mash from the wine process and distilling it. My cousin Roberto in Italy makes his own and that's where I fell in love with it. There is one winery in Amador, that I know of, that makes and sells Grappa. If you know and love Grappa you will know that Grappa can have different tastes depending on what grapes the mash came from. We went to the Vino Nocheto Winery to buy the Grappa. There they had a Barbera and Sangiovese and I bought both. You can also get Moscato and Zinfandel.
Now Grappa is not for everyone and most of my friends think I'm crazy for drinking it but if you are like me and love Grappa then Vino Nocheto is a great option. If you live in the area and want to buy some, California law won't let you taste at the winery, then make the trip to Amador County and spend a day in the area. If you live too far away you can find locations that sell it online.
The address is 11011 Shenandoah Road, Plymouth, CA 95669 and they are open most days 11am to 4pm. Amador County is just southeast of Sacramento off of Highway 49 in the gold country.
