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Where is Fair Play?
How did Fair Play get its name?
How many wineries are there in the Fair Play area?
How many acres of grapes are there in the Fair Play
area?
What makes the Fair Play area special?
What varieties of grapes do you grow in Fair Play?
What's an appellation and what does the Fair Play
appellation mean?
Where should I stay and eat when I visit Fair Play?
Where is Fair Play?
Fair Play is located in California, in the foothills of the Sierra
Nevada, in south El Dorado County at about 2500 feet elevation.
Fair Play is about 20 miles southeast of Placerville and Highway
50, about 35 miles northeast of Jackson and Highway 88 and about
50 miles west of Lake Tahoe. We're just an hour's drive from Sacramento
and two and half hours from San Francisco. For more detailed location,
visit the map.
How did Fair Play get its
name?
During the gold rush era, as many as 20,000 people flocked to the
area to seek riches at the area's gold mines. Two founders of the
town got into a not-too-gentlemanly fight, and a peacemaker decreed
that "from now on, we'll have fair play, here". It was immediately
adopted as the name of the town. For more about the history of Fair
Play, click here.
How many wineries are there
in the Fair Play area?
There are over 20 wineries in Fair Play. They're all family-owned and they range in size from just over one thousand cases produced per year to about thirty thousand cases. The Fair Play wineries are quite small compared to the giant wineries in many other areas. Almost all the wineries in Fair Play have regular tasting hours. For more information, visit the full
list of wineries.
How many acres of grapes
are there in the Fair Play area?
At present there about 300 acres of producing vineyard, with at
least another 250 acres coming into production. For more on what
we grow here, visit the Local
Varietals.
What makes the Fair Play
area special?
Well, as far as the wines here go, Fair Play has the highest average
elevation of any appellation in California so it truly represents
the best of mountain grown fruit. The area has deep, well-drained
decomposed granite soils and a marvelous combination of warm summer
days and Sierra-influenced cool nights that provide a balance of
fruit flavors, body and tannin in the wines that other areas just
don't achieve. Fair Play also happens to be a peaceful and beautiful
place to visit, with friendly wineries waiting to show you their
great mountain-grown wines.
What varieties of grapes
do you grow in Fair Play?
It's a long list, but it includes all the major varieties grown
in California. Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petite Sirah
and Cabernet Franc all make especially distinctive wines here. For
more on what we grow here, visit the Local
Varietals.
What's an appellation and what does the Fair Play appellation mean?
Appellation is a modified French word that refers to a specific
grape growing area. The Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms
maintains a rigid list of area names that can be placed on wine
labels to identify where the grapes were grown. The official term
is really American Viticultural Area (AVA), but appellation is used
in ordinary conversation. The Fair Play appellation means that the
Fair Play area has been recognized by the BATF as being a distinct
viticultural area, with recognizable characteristics of climate,
geography, soils, elevation, history and grape quality. It also
means that wine made from grapes grown within the appellation can
be labeled "Fair Play" instead of "El Dorado" or "Sierra Foothills".
For all the gory details about our appellation, click here.
Where should I stay and
eat when I visit Fair Play?
There are a few places to stay right in Fair Play, and lots of places
to stay and eat in Placerville (25 minutes away) and Sutter Creek
(40 minutes away). For details, visit our listing for food and accomodations.
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