El Dorado is an AVA that covers most of El Dorado County in the Sierra Foothills region of California. Famous for the 1848 discovery of gold within its borders that led to the California Gold Rush, El Dorado is now known for bright, full-bodied red wines made from Zinfandel.
The AVA lies immediately south of Placer County, and north of Amador County and the small Fair Play AVA. Sacramento is just 35 miles (55km) from the area's main city of Placerville, and Lake Tahoe and the state of Nevada lie just to the east.
El Dorado's name (meaning 'the Golden One') harks back to the Gold Rush of the 1850s. The discovery of gold near the town of Coloma brought settlers to California in search of fortune, and a wine industry quickly sprang up to supply them with wine. The population decline following the Gold Rush and the nationwide ban on the sale and supply of alcohol in the 1920–33 Prohibition era saw the stagnation of the El Dorado wine industry until America's wine renaissance in the 1970s, when vignerons rediscovered the potential of the land.
Elevations here range from 1200ft to 3600ft (365–1097m) above sea level, which, although not the highest in the state, are sufficiently high to cause significant diurnal temperature variation. Far from the reaches of the coastal Californian fog, the region enjoys summer days that are warm and often sunny, providing optimal ripening conditions. Cooling influences are provided by evening breezes from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The extended growing season allows the grapes more time on the vine to ripen, leading to fresh, vibrant wines with good acidity.
The soils are thin and rocky and are largely made up of decomposed granite, shale, and volcanic remnants from old lava flows. Infertile and free-draining, these soils stress the vines, leading them to produce less energy-sapping foliage, and berries with a higher concentration of flavor.
Site selection is important to grape-growers in El Dorado. The mountainous terrain offers all manner of slopes and aspects, leading to hundreds of different mesoclimates within the AVA. Vineyards can be found facing nearly every compass direction, allowing for a wide variation of sunlight exposure across the whole area. Vineyards planted high on hills enjoy prolonged exposure to sunlight, while those on lower slopes are more sheltered from prevailing winds. Because of this, a diverse range of grape varieties can be planted in El Dorado, and these are made into a variety of wine styles.
Zinfandel is the most widely planted grape in the El Dorado AVA, although the heat-loving Rhone varieties of Syrah, Marsanne and Roussanne also perform well, as do Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay.
