Villa Toscano Winery

Villa Toscano Winery
10600 Shenandoah Rd
Plymouth, California
USA 95669
Phone: (209) 245-3800
http://www.villatoscano.com/

Contact: Jerry Wright
Email: [email protected]

When gold was discovered in 1848, Amador County and the Shenandoah Valley became a key part of the state’s winemaking history. Vineyards and wineries immediately sprang up, many established by Italian immigrants, to, in part, cater to this new market of mainly young, single men. As a legacy to this early vineyard development, some of the oldest Zinfandel vines in the state are grown in the Shenandoah Valley, exceeding 125 years old.

Amador County is located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in central California, approximately 100 miles east of both San Francisco and Napa Valley and 40 miles east of the state capitol of Sacramento. The majority of Amador’s best vineyards and wineries are in the Shenandoah Valley (the AVA was created in 1983), in the northern part of the county near the small town of Plymouth. Here, vines are planted on rolling, oak-studded hillsides ranging from 1,200 to 3,000 feet in elevation.

Most of Amador County’s vines are planted in volcanic Sierra Series soils – primarily sandy clay loam derived from volcanic rock and decomposed granite. These friable, moderately dense soils efficiently retain the region’s 36 to 38 inches of annual rainfall, enabling most growers to dry-farm their vineyards. Dry-farming, coupled with the low nitrogen and phosphorous content of the soils, results in sparse vine canopies, affording the grapes excellent sunlight exposure. Amador’s warm climate, high solar radiance (luminosity) and low humidity promote the full ripening of grapes.

Classified as a high Region 3 on the UC Davis heat summation scale, Amador is comparable to St. Helena – but cooler than Calistoga – in northern Napa Valley. While Amador heats up earlier in the day than those appellations, it rarely exceeds 100 degrees during the growing season. Equally important, temperatures typically drop 30-35 degrees in the evening as breezes cascade down from the Sierras and in from the Delta. This rapid cooling helps the grapes retain the acidity essential to balanced wines.

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