Just finished a book I bought at Corti's:
Gold and Wine: A History of Winemaking in ElDorado Cnty by EricCosta. Forward by DarrellCorti.
The first half is devoted to grape-growing in the 1850's-1890's, during the heart of the GoldRush. It's a fascinating read and lots of good/old-time pictures of these old folks w/ dour looks. Didn't anybody ever smile at the camera back in those days??
One of the things I hadn't realized is that, in terms of tonnage, ElDorado once exceed Napa & Sonoma counties. Huge production.
The second half is devoted to the rebirth of ElDoradoCnty as a grape-growing wine area. In 1966, the total grape acreage in ElDorado was a scant 11 acres. Fortunately, a pear blight forced them to refocus their agriculture efforts, which included apples and wine grapes. The map depicting the variety of soils in ElDorado is fascinating. It then goes on to describe the 4 primary growing areas and provides a blurb on some of the wineries in each area. It's not a comprehensive list, but includes the important ones (though..Cedarville is not included). Some to the winery descriptions are quite good & thorough, some read like they were cut&pasted from the wineries WebSite.
I guess I'd like a little more detail on the 1890-1950's time frame and more details on the early days of the rebirth in the 1960-1970's time frame.
But, all-in-all, it's an interesting read and makes me want to spend more time visiting ElDorado.
Tom