NANCY AND BARB AT JODAR WINERY

We're on the last leg of Nancy and Barb's Apple Hill tour but I hear that there will be a follow up story to this. Here is Nancy's report. "We met Lisa Scott who told us that Jodar Winery's (Jodarwinery.com) tasting room is very personable
and educational at the same time. They want their customers to
understand what type of foods pair well with the wine they will
purchase.

Their grapes are grown near the El Dorado National Forest at 2,400 feet.
The American River provides a nice cool mist for their grapes. Annually
they produce around 5,500 cases.

They sell a wine that had won double gold. Compared to Napa Valley this
specific double gold medal wine sells for $22.00! Wow!

During the year they have wine club events, picnics, weekly featured
wine, and sometimes a four-piece band playing on the grassy area
adjacent to the building. I got a kick out of the glassy gem t-shirts they sold at the gift shop. For each shirt there was a particular saying about wine.

Photos by Nancy Kozicki. Tech by Barbara Coletta

NANCY, BARB AND APPLES

Nancy continues. "I want to highly recommend to those who live within a days trip to Apple Hill to please not wait until another year to visit. Don't be like me who took four passing Fall seasons to come here.

There is an Apple Hill Growers Association and those who are associated with this organization are listed on the Scenic Drive map. Remember, these are small family owned businesses who really do appreciate you! This season marked the associations 45th year.

Our trip coincided with one of the busiest weekends for Apple Hill. I was told the last two weekends in October is by far the busiest. However, go anytime of the year you wish to enjoy the beauty and bountifulness of the fruits and trees of this land. Now would be a good time to prepare keeping a day free open on your calendar to make a trip for the Holiday Season. Before your departure please obtain or go online to AppleHill.com to print out the official guide prior to your arrival of Apple Hill. This will assist you to locate the orchards and farms you want to visit and determine which exits you should take off of HIghway 50.

To wrap-up our days trip I told Barb at Jodar's we had to go back to Rainbow Orchards for more apple cider donuts. On our drive back home we discussed about coming back here by the end of the year to visit the orchards we could not go to on this particular trip. Bailey put her input in how enthused she wants to visit Willow Pond Organic Farm #34. Dogs are allowed to be themselves here! Most of the places here at Apple HIll are dog friendly anyways.

Barb, Bailey, and I started our 1st annual family tradition at Apple Hill this year and we are all ready looking forward to our next trip! However, since Bailey is 14 years old Barb & I thought it would be a good idea to surprise Bailey soon and make frequent trips every so often for her to enjoy the outdoors."

Nancy and Barb also want to share their video of a delicious apples process.

NANCY AND BARB AT CRYSTAL BASIN CELLARS

Well, I guess it's time for Nancy and Barb to toss down some vino. "We left Honey Bear Ranch and drove to Crystal Basin Cellars (crystalbasincellars.com). This winery and tasting room will not be found on the Apple Hill Scenic Drive map, but is located on Carson Road. Directions? You may also take this exit off of Highway 50. Bailey...you remember our dog...was greeted by Dakota another friendly four-legged creature.

Crystal Basin does not grow their own grapes, but they have the connections to obtain great local grapes. They have been awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals since 2001. The owners are a group of friends. Mike Owen is one owner who gave us a tour of the wine cellar and a demonstration of the Crusher and De-Stemmer machine.

I was pleasantly surprised that the wine cellar has 18 inch thick walls and they are filled with a natural insulation: sawdust from a local lumber. Great place to go during the heat of the summer, don't you think? Outside we were able to see grapes raked into a hopper. In this funnel-shaped chamber the grape stems were piling high on one side and on the other side the grapes came out crushed. What an amazing process! Certainly easier than stomping on grapes!

At the end of our tour Mike mentioned that when he was younger he remembered there being a farm house. On the current property of Crystal Basin the remains of the structures of the old stone pump house and a wood carving area.

There's one more place to visit before we end our Apple Hill tour."

Photos by Nancy Kozicki. Tech by Barbara Coletta

NANCY AND BARB AT HONEY BEAR RANCH

We arrived at Honey Bear Ranch #24 for lunch. Jody treated me to homemade chicken strudel and Barb had the pulled pork sandwich. Each plate came with a side of Waldorf salad...apples, walnuts, celery and mayo..and a slice of apple pie. Mmmmm...more apples. The chicken strudel was amazing and very delicious with its thin pastry-like dough.

Honey Bear Ranch (HoneyBearRanch.net)is known for its roasted pig that's slowly turning on the rotisserie outside on the grounds near a Koi pond and water wheel. Pretty fishies. I met Chips whose job is to stay outside during the entire roasting process and make sure it cooks evenly. Today's pig is for tomorrows pulled pork sandwich. One pig can roughly feed 125 people.

I was appreciative of Christopher who showed me an operating late 1800s apple peeler/core remover. Since Honey Bear Ranch bakes around 600 pies a day they surely need a fast way to get those apples prepared for the pies! Besides this antique machine in the backyard they also have an apple polisher and sorter on display.

I noticed a lot of children activities that included a crafting table, wagon and pony rides, pumpkin patch, Zippy The Clown and her balloon animals, along with Barkley the Honey Bear.

For my second dessert of the day we stopped at the Fudge Kitchen and that is where I met one of the owners Dorothy Franklin. I tried two samples of fudge pumpkin spice and maple walnut. This tasting led me to purchasing slices of those mentioned plus a caramel apple. With a wonderful food tasting experience we were off to visit two wine destinations.

Photos by Nancy Kozicki. Tech by Barbara Coletta

Nancy and Barb Visit Lava Cap

Nancy and Barb seem to be off to their next destination in El Dorado County. "Our next destination brought us to Lava Cap Winery on Fruitridge Road number 26 on the Apple Hill Scenic Drive map. I do want to point out that from Rainbow Orchards #10 to the winery there was another great Fall scent. The smell of wet autumn leaves! How I miss that from growing up on the East Coast in Massachusetts.

Upon our arrival to Lava Cap I first noticed the rolling hills and the golden sun at 11 am. Yay sun! We met one owner from this family owned business, Beth Jones. She told us the whole story behind the winery. There is certainly a lot more to learn than just grapes!

The land of Lava Cap is rich in history. The land was bought by Beth's Father-In-Law David Jones and his wife Jeanne in 1980. He was a well-known geologist and his two sons started this venture from an old small pear orchard they purchased. David Jones (vs. Davey Jones)and family wanted to preserve the fields and maintain the space and beauty by preserving this rural landscape. The grapes are grown in Volcanic soil along with the sloping terrain. Gold was found under the Lava Caps making it a famous area for gold miners because of the deposits (vs. withdrawals. Later, this region was recognized and known for its pears.

In 1981 the plan to convert the orchard to vineyard was developed by the family. Beth explained that there is a lot of sun exposure and for the grapes to obtain more sun they pull off the leaves from the grapevine. Their grapes are harvested after the Sonoma and Napa Valley grapes. These grapes at Lava Cap are at a higher elevation than the previous areas mentioned providing cooler evenings and prolonging the harvesting of the grapes. This allows the grapes to mature to their best potential.

As for wines, Lava Cap is known mostly for their Zinfandel, Chardonnay, and Petite Sirah. It was a proven fact when I walked by their display case full of award winning medals. Lava Cap produces on average 20,000 cases of wine every season.

I like to budget my money and how can you go wrong with no tasting room fees, a smaller production area, and supporting a family run business? I have heard Napa Valley wineries charge tasting fees! For more information to their website visit lavacap.com

At this point in our travels Barbara, Jody, Bailey, and I were ready for lunch...on to our next stop. Photos by Nancy Kozicki. Tech by Barbara Coletta

California Apples With Nancy and Barb

Since I can't be in NY and California, I have sent my crew, Nancy and Barb to explore further areas in the Gold Country. "It has been almost five years since I moved to the Sacramento area and I have always heard of many people talking about taking a trip up to Apple Hill during this time of year. Barb and I planned to find out for ourselves what the positive talk was all about on Sunday, October 25th. Our itinerary had us meeting Jody from the El Dorado tourism bureau at 10 a.m. Rainbow Orchards...one of many Apple Orchards in the Apple Hill area.

We drove East towards Lake Tahoe on Highway 50. Apple Hill is just East of Placerville, CA which is on Highway 49, part of Gold Country. There are several exits you can take depending upon what part of Apple Hill you want to visit first as the roads mainly intertwine at some point. To make more of a direct route to our destination we took the Cedar Grove, exit 54. I had picked up an official guide to Apple Hill and thought that was the best route and it was, Rainbow Orchards being about 5 minutes from our exit. The guide is also available online at AppleHill.com

On our way to the Orchard we got a little taste of the picturesque view of Apple Hill: the rolling hills of grape vines, apple trees, and rows of pine trees for the Christmas Season. Wow..it's it almost Christmas?

If I had closed my eyes I would have still known we had arrived at Rainbow Orchards. The smell of freshly baked goods mixed with the smell of Apple Cider donuts waft through my nostrils. Our dog Bailey was excited to stretch her legs while Barb took her to the grassy area. PHOTO OP!

The three of us walked into the barn and again the smell of freshly baked goods captured both our nose and eyes. A long row of apples, jams, gourds and pumpkins stood there is all it's fall glory! What a wonderful idea! There's a table with sliced apples each listing the variety of apples available at the Orchard. A feeling of the holidays arose in me when I spotted the hanging white miniature lights from the ceiling. Jody, our tour guide of Apple Hill for the day, treated us to a taste of warm Apple Cider and Apple Cider Donuts. Will this keep the doctors away? We met Christa, the owner of Rainbow Orchard and her dog Sasha greeted our Bailey. Christa explained how apple cider is processes.

I guess that working for a journalist gave us privy to a tour of the kitchen and today was the final day of their making Peach Cobbler. mmmmm....then we saw the process of the Apple Cider donuts being made as well as a lady mixing the topping for the cobblers. I noticed the line starting to stretch out towards the door with families eager to purchase the goodies of Rainbow Orchards.

Outside of Rainbow Orchards there are artists were selling their arts and crafts, as well as a quaint wooden stage with hay stacks for sitting...if there was a performance to be held there.

Since this was our first stop along the Apple Hill Scenic Route I already knew this would be a great and enjoyable day with tasty samples along the way. Hey, that rhymes! Off to the next stop!" Photos by Nancy Kozicki
Tech by Barbara Coletta