Fitzpatrick Winery and Lodge is located in the Fair Play AVA (American Viticultural Area) at the heart of the California's Gold Country, in the beautiful and idyllic Sierra Foothills of El Dorado county, nearby historic Placerville. We feature fine hand crafted wines made from organically grown premium wine grapes and a unique Irish Bed & Breakfast. 37 years in Fair Play. Fitzpatrick Winery & Lodge became Fair Play's first winery in 1980.
We arrived on a sunny May day and it was easily over 90 degrees. We stopped by Navarro and I have to say - the grounds were gorgeous! There was a bench with a picnic table for those who wanted to lunch and wine. It overlooked gorgeous green lushy grass on a hill. The tasting room was very cozy and small but definitely very welcoming. Our pourer was friendly and gave us a great restaurant recommendation.
If you like Pinot you will love this winery. Just driving to this winery is reason enough to visit! Its a small winery, that isn't super cute, but the service and tastings were great! Our server asked if he could just pour what he wanted and we ended up getting an extensive tasting.
Soquel Bargetto has the prettiest tasting room and patio overlooking a creek and wilderness. Getting to the wines, the Sauv Blanc and Pinot Grigio are pretty good and well balanced, the Chard not my preference. The reserve reds are quite delicious and the sweet wines are good if you are into the sweeter wines.
The winemaking heritage of Bargetto began with brothers Phillip and John Bargetto, who emigrated from Castelnuovo Don Bosco, a small town in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. Bringing with them years of winegrowing experience, they established BARGETTO WINERY on the banks of Soquel Creek in California.
Phillip was the first to leave Italy in 1891 at the age of seventeen. In 1909, John joined his brother in San Francisco.
The original Bargetto family winery was located in San Francisco from 1910 to 1917, operating under the name South Montebello Vineyard and Wine Company. With Prohibition on the horizon, the winery was closed, and the brothers relocated to Soquel in 1917.
In 1918, Phillip and John purchased the current site of BARGETTO WINERY and began producing wine in an old barn on the property. During Prohibition (1919-1933), the brothers continued to make wine for family and friends while selling produce to local customers and growing apples at their family ranch in Soquel. When Prohibition ended in 1933, they devoted more time to the wine business, expanding into a wholesale operation while maintaining their produce sales.
Phillip Bargetto passed away in 1936, leaving John as the sole owner of the business during the 1940s and 1950s. John continued to produce and sell wine both wholesale and retail, with the support of his sons Ralph and Lawrence during these years.
This place is great! The people that work here are always extremely nice and are very educated on their product! Mike is always such a pleasure to sit and chat with.
Barreto Cellars, founded by Michael and Joey Barreto, Barreto Cellars was established with the idea of becoming the leader in California producing high quality wines featuring grape varieties native to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). Because of relatives who migrated to America from these regions there is an obvious connection and desire to learn more about and develop wines utilizing these varieties. Many of these are unheard of in California except for a few elite growers and select winemakers. Currently we are creating wines in the New World style while trying to capture the truly unique characteristics each variety possesses. Each lot of wine is carefully hand-crafted from vineyard to bottle to bring the true sense of the vineyard to your glass. In an attempt to represent both Spain and Portugal equally, a red variety noted for each country is being produced.
We visited many wineries during our stay in Napa and thought that this was one of the best tours for the money. The location was beautiful and if you have nice weather, pack a picnic and plan to eat your lunch in their picnic area. Its located in an olive grove high on the hillside. Bring a camera.
From the lofty heights of Montebello Mountain the grapes make the journey down to the historic ranch where they are examined, pressed and crushed in the shadow of the original Picchetti homestead house. Under the gaze of the ever watchful and vigilant peacocks, sweet juice is magically turned to wine.
Deerfield is a winery where you're encouraged to sit and enjoy your wine. You're not crowded around a tasting bar, fighting for space and attention in order to sip your wine. Instead, the tasting takes place in a cave, with tables and chairs everywhere - encouraging everyone to have a seat, enjoy their wine and the sommeliers will be around to pour the wine.
Hatcher Winery was founded in 2002 by owner/winemaker Matthew Hatcher. His skills as a winemaker have put this winery on the map and the tasting room in Murphys is a very popular stop for wine lovers in the Sierra Foothills. Matthew Hatcher is the owner and winemaker, and his wine making talents have put Hatcher on the don't miss list of Foothill wineries.
