Beer, Wine & Spirits in Oakdale

The family of vintners at Sorelle Winery, established on the historic Dodge Estate, curate its original 1866 home, tend to their vineyard, and ferment a collection of choice vintages. Though in its nascence, the winery has already taken home a gold medal from the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition for its 2009 sangiovese. Inside, the wood-walled tasting room invites couples to sip from crimson and amber glasses, comparing flavors, aromas, and who can spit-take the farthest. Lush lawns and low trees surround the outdoor patio, which grants views of the historic Dodge House property, a land once roamed by Native Americans, Spanish conquistadors, and horses with a nose for a good sangiovese.

For four generations, the Watts family has been growing grapes beside the Mokelumne River, and their fresh and fruity wines have drawn accolades at state and county fairs across the country. They began by simply growing grapes for other wineries and their pet bats before their first efforts at fermentation, and their long experience in viniculture show in a fruit-focused philosophy that seeks to draw out the best properties of their riverside microclimate. An intimate, recently built tasting room done up in vernal green welcomes oenophiles to try the latest blends or a sip from the Butterfly line, whose proceeds help support pediatric-cancer research.

At Wines of Wine OT’s polished, granite-topped wine bar, wine connoisseurs pour small sips of vintages from Six Hands Winery and Sorelle Winery. Catering completely to diehard oenophiles, the storefront stocks a vast inventory of handmade wine-barrel furniture. Artisans dismantle barrels and reassemble them into Adirondack chairs, cocktail tables, and fire pits. Additionally, they stock hundreds of white oak wine barrels, which customers can repurpose as home decor or fish-shooting galleries.

In the years following World War II, Dutch immigrant John Van Ruiten sought to fulfill his dream of owning a vineyard. With a simple handshake as his contract, he purchased the land that would help him turn that reverie into a verdant realty. More than a half-century later, the wine empire spawned by that handshake continues to sprawl as quickly as the vines of its zinfandel grapes. These grapes and more now stretch across the 800 acres that Van Ruiten Family Vineyards call home, earning the winery high accolades—including a nod in the Wall Street Journal proclaiming their 2007 old vine zinfandel among the top 12 wines in the world in 2009.

In Van Ruiten's tasting room, guests can sample the winery's signature zinfandel, chardonnay, and cabernet sauvignon–shiraz blend before retiring to shady corners of the courtyard or an outdoor patio overlooking the vineyards. Among the vines, nesting boxes house owls that—as an alternative to pesticides—hunt down rodents and use their bright eyes to scare away enterprising grape thieves.

The Sierra Nevada foothills have been tilled since the time of the gold rush, but its thin soil allows only the heartiest grapevines to thrive. But when they grow, the grapes there produce powerful wines full of intense flavors. The staff at Auriga Wine Cellars specialize in reds, which range from the peppery, black cherry notes of their Barbera to a double-gold-award-winning shiraz-and-syrah blend aged for one year in French and American oak. They complement these robust offerings with their small-batch sparkling wine and their sangiovese, which tastes of slightly spicy raspberries and strawberries with a hint of basil, thyme, and sage. They sell their vintages by the bottle, but the shop’s wine club delivers bottles to aficionados three times a year, letting them try out new vintages or spend more frustrating evenings trying to squeeze a model ship inside them.

Perry Creek Winery's consistent 90+ point ratings in Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast are due in no small part to the efforts of vintners Garrett Buckland, Stefan Tscheppe, and Scott Johnson. Drawing on cultivating experience in Napa, Austria, and the Sierra Foothills, the winemakers have carefully engineered 40 acres of ideal soil that brims with hand-pruned grape vines. The trio’s many varietals embody their distinct heritage, with different wine lineages such as the Altitude 2401 Reserve Series, the strong wines of the Cobra selection, and the estate wines that harness the diversity of the land’s grapes. An online store features the winery's choicest merchandise, from current varietals to futures and wearable hats and shirts made entirely of old corks.