Serendipity is defined as: the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.
Our discovery of Busby Cellars was serendipitous. For a new adventure, my wife chose Wine Tasting in El Dorado County for her birthday outing. We had tasted a few Wineries around the Apple Hill area and discovered the next group of wineries was a bit of a drive to the Somerset & Fair Play area where we’d never been. We knew we were on the correct road but we were essentially lost. When we finally reached the crossroads of Mt. Aukum Road, Bucks Bar and Grizzly Flat Road the Busby Cellars sign was a welcome relief that we’d arrived at our desired area. As we parked and got our car, Hank the Winery Dog greeted us and escorted us to the tasting room. Hank is no longer with us but his memory lives on in our hearts and in a book about Winery dogs.
Busby Cellars is a small Winery, typically only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. More often than not the
Owner/Winemaker or his wife is pouring in the tasting room. A graduate of U.C. Davis’ viticulture program, the owner’s expertise shows in the wines. There’s a good selection of red wines that are commonly grown in El Dorado County, you’ll find Barbera, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Syrah. All are full bodied with a great finish. A great table wine with a great price is the Meyers Ranch Red. For the white wine drinkers, there’s a very tasty Chardonnay, and a Viognier. They have a Bordeaux blend they’ve named Apparition, after the name of a sailboat the winemaker and wife were engaged on. The Barbera, Zinfandels, Myers Ranch Red and Apparition are among my favorites and I strive to have some Busby wines in stock at all times.
Recently my wife and I were on a weekend getaway with another couple who had also brought some wines to share. We opened a bottle of Apparition, he took a sip and the first words out of his mouth was “wow”.
The down side of a small Winery with really good wine is that they often sell out before the next year’s vintage is released, so plan your purchases accordingly!
For those that like to shop for clever wine themed nick-knacks, Busby Cellars has a fair sized collection. For those unfamiliar with the Fair Play, Somerset area, there’s little lodging available in the immediate area. Busby Cellars is helping to alleviate the lodging problem by renting out their original home on the property, a 3 bedroom 2 bath approximately 1200 square foot house. Details can be found on their website.
Drinking ‘wow’ wines from Eldorado County – that’s #NorCalWineLife
