Amador Day 3, 2025

​We almost did not include Jeff Rundquist Wines on our wine tasting journey through the rolling hills of Amador County.  They were holding their wine club pick-up parties and were not open to outsiders.  Fortunately, one of our group decided to join their wine club and we proceeded to have a wonderful start to day three of our travels.  Lovely facility, nice wines, great people, and Touriga….
Ah, you say, what is Touriga?  Touriga is the Jeff Rundquist name for a wine made from the Portuguese grape Touriga Nacional.  While you probably have not heard of this grape, it is most likely that you have drunk wine made from it.  You see, true Port wines come from the region of Portugal around the city of Oporto (from which the name derives).  The most common grape used to make Port is Touriga Nacional.  Hence, if you have ever had wine that is legally labeled Port you have probably tasted Touriga Nacional.

​Jeff Rundquist and many others also use the grape to make a dry red wine.  This is particularly significant 1) because the resulting wine, as I learned on day three in Amador County, is quite good; and 2) because Touriga Nacional is one of four super-tannin grapes, joining the Greek grape Xinomavro, the Italian grape Sagrantino, and the French grape Tannat.  I have written about how highly I regard Tannat and Sagrantino, the latter so much so that we made it a point to visit the Sagrantino home in Montefalco, Italy, to taste the true Italian version.  Tannat has found a home in Uruguay, and wineries in Southern California are making some very nice wines from it and Sagrantino.   Xinomavro is a rarely grown grape, but wines made from this grape are compared favorably with Barolo.  I have not found Xinomavro in any wineries.  While I never put in plugs for restaurants, Yanni’s Bar and Grill, located on Scripps-Poway Parkway in San Diego, has an excellent vintage available.  Being the owner is a true wine lover, the wine is served at the proper temperature – and their food is exceptional.  (I should mention that Yanni is a former neighbor of ours, hence the plug).

​Getting back on track, we had a chance to taste the Touriga.  Excellent, just excellent!  They also offer a Tannat, but it was not available for tasting.  Given how well they handled the Touriga Nacional grape, we purchased a bottle of the Tannat – along with two of the Touriga.  Note however that both the Touriga Nacional and Tannat grapes are grown in Lodi, not Amador County.

​We visited two more wineries on this last day of our Amador adventure, Teneral Cellars first, then Cooper Vineyards.  New owners still working with former owners’ so-so wines, so not fair to review Teneral.  Cooper Vineyards, on the other hand, is well worth discussing.

​The winery was started by Dick Cooper in the 1970’s, and he is notable not only for making some very good wines but also for helping other wineries in the region get started.  Dick Cooper passed away a few years ago.  His four daughters have continued his legacy, though I understand that the winery has recently been put up for sale.

​The Cooper tasting menu is shown below.  The Barbera was very nice, though I preferred the Zinfandel.  In addition to their wine making, they are also a source of excellent grapes, with seventeen varieties available.  Overall, a perfect ending to our three-day wine tasting tour of Amador County.  By the way, we did ship back quite a few bottles of wine with two bottles hand carried.  The two bottles were both from Cooper….