El Dorado County – Fair Play
Enough of the wine tasting for now. After tasting over 20 different wines, it was time to move on to Fair Play.
View from our room at the Barkley Historic Homestead Bed and Breakfast
We drove down Mt. Aukum Road towards Fair Play. On the way, at the intersection of Grizzly Flat Road and Bucks Bar Road, we spotted the Gold Vine Grill. This was one of the places Jolaine suggested for an evening meal. We stopped to look at the menu but it only showed the choices for lunch so we went inside to ask if we could see the dinner menu. They were only too pleased to do so. The lady we spoke to was very friendly and said her husband was the chef and he prepared amazing sauces. The menu did look good but we haven’t not made up our minds yet.
Further on, at the junction of Fair Play Road and Perry Creek Road, we spotted the Italian restaurant Bocconato, which was another suggestion by Jolaine. The menu also looked good. We decided to book here as it is closer to where we are staying.
We continued on Fair Play Road, passing lots of wineries. They all looked interesting and the names were enticing – Granite Springs, Single Leaf and Fitzpatrick. We passed a sign telling us we were in Fair Play but, as I expected and Jolaine confirmed, there is no main street. There are a few businesses scattered around but no central focus. It did not detract from the charm of the setting though.
Our destination is the Barkley Historic Homestead Bed and Breakfast which is on Stony Creek Road. A short drive down this road brought us to a sign proclaiming we had arrived at the right place. We drove through the gate, passed a small lake complete with lily pads, a small landing stage and a couple of boats, and arrived at a small tasting room. This is where we were told to check in. As we walked through the door, we were greeted by a man who asked if we were there for the wine tasting or the Poker Run. I knew there was going to be a poker run because the owner phoned the night before to confirm our booking and asked if we had signed up to take part. Now I had no idea what a Poker Run was and assumed it was a big poker game and envisioned a host of people in one room playing poker continuously all weekend. Tom, on the other hand, thought it was an actual race. Neither option appealed to us, so we declined. We now learned that a Poker Run is something completely different. It cost $90 per person. You visit 8 different participating wineries where you are given a bottle of wine and a poker card. At the end of the run you have accumulated eight bottles of wine and 8 poker cards. There is a dinner where everyone opens their poker cards and presumably the best hand wins a further prize. Maybe if we had known what a Poker Run was, we would have signed up for it. At least we know for the future.
We were shown to our room by the owner’s daughter. She was born and brought up in Gilroy, which is about 20 miles south of where we live in South San Jose. Small world. To get to the room, we walked up a small hill and then steps to a veranda. There were another couple of rooms off the same veranda. Our room was called the Winemaker’s Room and was large with rustic overtones. Outside on the veranda were a table, two chairs and an umbrella but we had our own small balcony off the side of the room with two wicker chairs and a table plus a view of the lake. It looked a great place to sit out later and watch the sun go down.
I sat outside on the front deck under the umbrella and wrote up my journal. It was so peaceful, with just the tinkling sound of a small fountain nearby and occasionally the calming tones of a wind chime in the soft gentle breeze. I looked down to the lake and off to my right I could see a wooded hillside in the distance. A golden retriever ambled up to me to say hello and then settled at my feet for a five minute rest. Utter tranquility.
At 6, we drove to Bocconato for dinner. There were several groups sitting outside under the umbrellas but we decided to sit inside. Nobody else was sitting inside so we had a choice of tables and during the meal we realized it wasn’t the best choice. We were right next to the door leading to the outside patio so the servers were going to and fro constantly. Also, a couple of flies got inside and made a nuisance of themselves. We were forever swatting them out of our faces. Tom dispatched one pretty smartly with his napkin but the other evaded Tom’s most determined efforts.
To eat we both chose the two appetizer specials. Tom had brushetta with chopped heirloom tomatoes, onion, capers and cheese and I had the Caprese – slices of mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, olive oil and basil. To drink we had a Zinfandel from the nearby Perry Creek Winery. For our main course we both had the same – chicken cooked slowly in wine and served on polenta. The starters were good, both made with locally grown tomatoes and very tasty, but we were a bit disappointed with our entrees. We were expecting the polenta to be firm but it turned out to by runny and the two pieces of chicken on top were sinking into the middle of it. It was difficult to eat with a knife and fork. The chicken was very tasty but we were not impressed with the polenta. Although it had the wine broth in which the chicken had been cooked in, it was sort of bland. Plus we should have ordered a side of vegetables to go with it. We both had deserts. Tom’s choice was a chocolate tortini with an ‘equisite lava’ inside. I had the green grape gelata. They make fresh gelata every day. Apart from the polenta and the flies, we had a very enjoyable meal.
Back to the Barkley Homestead where we we sat on our side balcony and watched the sun go down and then had an early night.
Next morning, after a peaceful nights sleep, we were up at 6.30. Yesterday we were told that the track running behind the house is the old Fair Play Road and the stage coach used to drive along it. As breakfast was not until 9.15, we decided to go for a hike on the old road.
The view at the top of the hill during our early morning hike
There was nobody else around and very quiet as we set off. Soon the road branched and we didn’t know which way to go so we took the uphill route, hoping to get a good view. The road was very rutted probably caused by heavy winter rains. Grape vines were growing on our right and we passed a dilapidated structure on our left which was probably once used to house some sort of animal. At the top of a rise we came upon a small lake, which obviously had fish in it as we saw bubbles and small ripples. Then we came to a gate and realized that we had taken the wrong road.
Back down the hill we went and at one point had a marvelous view over a small valley. At the bottom we took a right. Surely this must be the old stage coach road. I spotted some bramble bushes and stopped to check out the blackberries. Boy, they were good. For the next twenty minutes we picked and ate to our hearts’ content. I ventured too far into the bushes and got snagged on the brambles. Fortunately Tom was there to rescue me. If I’d known there were blackberries to be picked I would have worn jeans. Shorts did not protect my legs from the wicked barbs. When I finally stopped gorging, I looked at my hands and they were stained purple but I’d had the time of my life.
On with the walk Margaret. We passed an old picnic site with a large BBQ pit and even a smaller one with a spit but it must be years since either were used. Nearby was a little wooden bridge which had become really overgrown with vegetation and didn’t seem to lead anywhere.
Once again we came to a fork and did not know which way to go. We found out later that we should have turned left but we didn’t and finally ended up back where we’d started.
We went back to our room and made a cup of coffee. Still an hour to breakfast so we sat out on our private deck, looking over the lake and drank our
Dead give away. Margaret has been eating black berries. And plenty of them too
coffee. It’s going to be another warm day and it was wonderful to sit there and watch the birds. On the lake, a couple of ducks were ducking and diving. They constantly dipped their heads into the water and stuck their bottoms up in the air. A blue jay started squawking and landed on a tree near us. The birds we spent most of the time observing were a family of woodpeckers – the parents and I’m guessing three fledglings. They kept flying between a huge pine tree and a power pole. The young were vying for position at the top of the pole and tapping into the wood. Sometimes they flew over our heads and we watched their flap, flap, glide mode of flight.
To the sides of the balcony were apple trees and one of them had branches that were within reach. They were loaded with little apples. I couldn’t resist picking one and biting into it but it was not quite ready. Another week and they could be picked and, along with the blackberries, they would make a wonderful blackberry and apple crumble.
Eventually it was time for breakfast and we walked a few steps from our room along the veranda to the big dining room where we met up with the other guests – a group of four from Sparks in Nevada and another four who arrived just as we were leaving. They had been out until the early hours of this morning at the Perry Creek Winery for a special ‘Find the Zin Man’ dinner.
For breakfast, we had fresh fruit – water melon, melon, canteloup, bananas, grapes and strawberries; followed by scrambled eggs with bacon and fried potatoes. Coffee and orange juice were available to drink and we could toast our own bread or bagels. All very enjoyable.
Time to settle up and drive home. We have had a wonderful two days in El Dorado Wine Country and if you are bored with the much visited Napa wine region, branch out and sample the multitude of family run wineries in this tucked away little gem.
August 22 2009 06:14 am | Special Places
Jolaine on 03 Sep 2009 at 8:19 am #
What a lovely trip! Thanks for sharing all of the details of your El Dorado excursion. Hope that other Bay Area friends will follow your lead and enjoy a visit to our beautifully diverse and welcoming foothill wine country.
Margaret and Tom on 03 Sep 2009 at 11:18 am #
Thanks Jolaine. We had a great time and will certainly be back.
Matthew Johnstone on 11 May 2010 at 9:50 pm #
Wanted to know if I could use http://california-travels.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/fairplay-2_sml.jpg and reproduce it in Vine Times.
Margaret and Tom on 13 May 2010 at 9:48 pm #
Hi Matthew,
I replied in separate email to you but yes, you can use that photo if the use agrees with the Creative Commons license. We have a link to that at the bottom left on the home page.
Thank you for asking. You’d be surprised at the number of folks who just copy photos or, worse, link to a photo and use our bandwidth without permission or acknowledging where the photo came from.
Regards,
Tom