We took Pleasant Valley Road to Birchille Road, to Hwy 49 where Birchville Road becomes Tyler Foote Road, to Purdon Road (Mother Truckers is on the corner), right onto 1.6 miles of wiggly Purdon Road to the winery, on the left. This is by far the best route from Lake Wildwood if you don't mind wiggling down to South Yuba River State Park and back up toward Birchville road on the other side of the river. The entire route is wiggly, which is part of the fun on a leisurely drive.

Bob and Ginny Hilsman have been growing grapes on their ten acres for the past 30 years. They opened their winery in 1997.
Before we left home I called Bob to make sure they were open. He was just on his way out to door to a wine event in Auburn.
Ginny was there to greet us, and other visitors, when we arrived for tasting.

I asked Ginny to pose in front of their many awards from several counties and state competitions.
The awards range from bronze (a few) to silver, gold, and best of class in the state.

We met these wine lovers visiting from Maryland. Nancy Cavallaro is a program leader at USDA and David Dayton is in the GAO (Government Accountability Office), a federal agency that works for the Congress to identify $billions of waste in agencies of the executive branch. Instead of being rewarded for identifying many billions of waste, GAO is facing a hefty budget cut that could mean hundreds of layoffs (to which David says, raising a glass of wine, "Don't worry. Be happy."). Kill the messenger? Mmmm?

After tasting about eight wines we bought eight bottles of three varieties. Then, near the tasting room, we had a picnic lunch- supper of a chicken wrap and a peach (Mary didn't want one) we bought at Mother Truckers on the way to the winery. The store is on the corner of Tyler Foote Crossing Road and Purdon Road. The winery is about 1.6 miles south on wiggly Purdon Road.