Explore Miraflores Winery: A Gold Nugget Found In The Hills Of California’s 49er Country
The Pleasant Valley District of Placerville in California’s Gold Country is home to some wonderful California wineries. One is Miraflores Winery, founded in 1988. They produce white and red wines from Pinot Grigio to Cabernet Sauvignon and varietals in between.
Nestled in the rolling hills of El Dorado County at about 3,000 feet elevation, the tasting room overlooks rolling hills of oak and pine trees with large swaths of grapevine. There are 45 acres planted with 16 different grape varietals.
The winery has seen its share of accolades. Throughout the years more than 50 their wines have received 90+ points from Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast. It also has been voted El Dorado County’s best winery in 2015 through 2022.
That’s an impressive run.
Care has been taken in creating the tasting room. We sampled wine under a giant gazebo created from wooden beams salvaged from the Oakland ferry building in 1936. As well the tasting room’s stone flooring was created from 200-year-old tiles imported from Europe’s Mediterranean area.
Here’s what we sampled:
2019 Estate Yellow Block Zinfandel $36 ✰+
2016 Estate Reserve Zinfandel $54 ✰
2019 Estate Syrah $36 ✰+
2017 Estate Petite Sirah $36 ✰+
2016 Estate Trilegato Reserve $50 ✰+
Our Saturday tasting was pleasant and unhurried with five samples brought out a wooden paddle. This allowed us to compare and contrast the different Zinfandel’s against the blended wines. We went home with an Estate Yellow Block Zinfandel we’ll enjoy at home.
Some notes on our wine ranking system.
Bill & Erin Hodge write about California Wine, the estates & winemakers producing them and educational information about Vino. Living in California Wine Country provides a front row seat to the places you want to visit the most here in the Golden State.
– -✰ means -What’s next on your list of wines
-✰ means -Not liking it too much
✰ means -We’ll drink this wine, especially if it’s hosted!
✰+ means -You’ve got our attention and we might buy this wine.
✰+ + means -We’re hooked and we’re going to buy this wine.
When you see -✰/✰+ with a slash, it means we disagree.
