Thursday, October 29, 2015

History and Wine Served up Together at Sobon Wines, Amador County


At Sobon Wines,  you can take in a bit of history and at the same time taste good wines -- it is a double-win!  The Shenandoah Valley Museum located on the site of the old D’Agostini winery is fascinating.  You’ll learn about early agriculture and life in Amador County and early winemaking too.  There are tanks in the museum that over the years have contained hundreds of thousands of gallons of Zinfandel wine.  Many families from the area donated artifacts from their homesteads to the museum, which is dedicated to the homemakers, farmers, coopers, winemakers, and other craftsmen who migrated to California’s Shenandoah Valley in the 19th century.
Door to the historic winery at Sobon

In 1989 when they purchased the historic D’Agostini Winery, Leon and Shirley Sobon knew it was one of the oldest in the state of California.  The winery, founded in 1856, was designated as California State Historic Landmark #762.  The vineyards contained old vine Zinfandel and a lot of potential.  This was the acquisition that launched the Sobon Estate label, featuring the very best wines from their own grapes:  Rhone varietals, vineyard designated Zinfandels, and dessert wines you can only buy in the tasting room.

Sobon Estates is known as a premier Zinfandel producer in the area, and their fruit-forward, low-tannin wines are made with Sobon’s own sustainably grown grapes.  Their single vineyard Zins use some fruit from vineyards 70 and 100 years old and feature an earthy, peppery, spicy quality that is reminiscent of Old World wines.

Sobon Estate
14430 Shenandoah Road
Plymouth, CA 95669

Shenandoah Vineyards
12300 Steiner Road
Plymouth, CA 95669


The winery makes 55,000 cases of wine and on average produces 13 wines under the Sobon Estate label, 3 under the Vicious Zin label, and 12 Shenandoah Vineyards wines annually, using the following varietals:  Zinfandel, Roussanne, Cabernet Sauvignon, Barbera, Tempranillo, Tannat, Primitivo, Petite Sirah, Sangiovese, Viognier


(You can read more about this winery and meet the family at a special meal that photographer Johan Martin photographed for my forthcoming book...sign up to get updates/alert on publication date ... www.wineriesofthesierrafoothills.com)

No comments:

Post a Comment