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Northern California
Our Story and Mission- Ever since we were old enough to drink wine, we have been frequenting winery tasting rooms throughout California. Our trips in the late 70’s involved stops at 6-8 wineries (or maybe more) in a day. My first date with my wife was a day of wine tasting in Sonoma 31 years ago. So we are experienced with this stuff. I think there are several ingredients to a satisfying Tasting Room experience. The wine has to be good for starters and generally the known wineries all put out pretty decent wine. But there are other key factors in making the experience memorable. Sometimes a classy tasting room works for us, but sometimes standing around a barrel outside does the trick. At other times it is just good service that pleases us. Certainly one of the keys is the person serving the wine. So there are a whole bunch of things that make visiting a Tasting Room a positive experience. The point of this blog is to talk about and recommend Winery Tasting Rooms where we have had good experiences.The blog was conceived after spending a weekend with my sisters who normally do not frequent wineries and running into a couple of disappointing stops.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Bumgarner Winery     
Camino, CA (Placerville)
                                            
One our favorite stops on the way to South Lake Tahoe these days is Bumgarner Winery which is just off the freeway at Carson Road in Camino (five mile past Placerville).  Brian Bumgarner with previous experience with sierra foothill wineries opened this facility in the past year or two.  And he makes some pretty nice wine and quite a variety of wine.  He also has at times wines available on tap and has a program
developed for locals where they can return their bottles and receive a discount on the refillables.  We have stopped at the winery over the course of the last year or two and have tasted Chardonnay, a rose, Petit Sirah, Tempranillo, Pinot Noir, Mouvedre, Barbera and Cabernet.  On a recent visit the Chardonnay, Rose and Mouvedre were available from the tap.  Also a hard cider is available.

The tasting room from the outside and as you drive up appears to be not much more than a shack but it really is quite pleasant inside and there is a nice lawn area outside with seating.  This is a small winery and you are going to run into Brian, Brian’s wife Jennifer or Nicole.  Nicole has poured for us the last couple of visits and you can tell she really has some kind of food background as she has a great way of describing the wine she is pouring for you but not in a way that makes you feel like a dummy because you don’t get as much out of it as she does.  The wines across the board are good and I think are very restrained.  We have tasted the Pinot Noir, actually made from foothill grapes, and been pleasantly surprised.   The Cabernets also.   I don’t think you would immediately identify these as being from foothill grapes.  I believe the tastings are free but if not they can’t be more than $5.00. 

There are several tasting rooms in the area and even a couple within walking distance of the Bumgarner parking lot.  Chateau Davell, an organic winery 75 steps away, is quite interesting and we enjoyed their cheese and wine pairings.

What we like- The owners and Nicole
What we bought- It was a warm day and we bought the Rose

Vitals-
3550 Carson Road
Camino, CA  95709
(530) 303-3418
www.bumgarnerwines.com

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 12, 2012 at 5:10 PM

    Mark, This is a great idea....
    Your Buddy

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Weekend Wine TasterJune 12, 2012 at 5:11 PM

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 4, 2012 at 2:15 PM

    Went back to Bumgarner last weekend and all wines were very good.

    ReplyDelete

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