While Zinfandel and Barbara rule, other varieties are starting to find a foothold here in the Shenandoah Valley as well as the rest of Amador County. This prime spot thus produces the most unique and highest quality Barbera wines outside of the Piemonte region. The region’s warmth helps keep acid levels in check while, for some reason, the grapes do not over-ripen and become flabby. Yet, fortunately for us all, the match was made.
While the success of Zinfandel is easy to understand, Barbera, which is native to the cool foothills of the Alps in Northern Italy in mostly limestone soils, is another story. This combination of climate, soil, and vine age results in some of the best versions of Zinfandel on the planet. The old vines from OGP and dozens of other old vineyards produce small fruit in lower yields making for highly intense and concentrated wines. The Original Grandpere (OGP) Vineyard, for example, was planted in 1869 and is still a working vineyard that supplies grapes to three local wineries. Largely because of the region’s sandy soils, which the vine-root-destroying louse phylloxera doesn’t thrive in, the Shenandoah Valley is blessed with some very old vines. The region is further cooled by breezes from the San Joaquin River system which transports the cool air from the San Francisco Bay 100 miles inland. The Sierras, though, provide just enough cooling to keep the grapes from over-baking and to help preserve some acidity.
The Valley is situated in the western portion of the Foothills and at a lower average elevation than the regions to the east, making it quite warm. As a result, old vines of Zinfandel (the genetic equivalent of Primitivo from Puglia) and Barbera (from Northern Italy) have long dominated the region.
They brought with them a love of wine, and some also brought smuggled vines. Many of the settlers were of Italian origin. The region was settled during the Gold Rush and named after the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and West Virginia, though almost certainly out of homesickness rather than visual or geographical similarity. Small family-operated wineries, many of which are of exceptional quality, comingle here with much larger corporate-owned wineries. The Shenandoah Valley of Amador County is home to some of the oldest and most storied vineyards and wineries of the Sierra Foothills.
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