Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/148134
INTRO-VINOUS Baiocchi Vineyards TAKING EL DORADO WINEGROWING TO NEW HEIGHTS story and photos by Randy Caparoso I t takes just two and a half hours to drive from San Francisco to the El Dorado American Viticultural Area, but it may as well be a slow boat across an ocean, for all the attention this wine region garners from citified wine lovers and coastal-centric press. Yes, in some ways El Dorado's heyday came right after the frantic Gold Rush of '49. But make no mistake: El Dorado was, and always will be, a spectacular place to grow wine—where vines perch on mountainous 2,000- to 3,500-foot heights, matched in California only by a few isolated growths in Santa Cruz Mountains and Mendocino Ridge. Sharon and Greg Baiocchi. 90 / the tasting panel / august 2013 TP0813_066-103.indd 90 7/24/13 9:51 PM