El Dorado Wines Passport 2026

El Dorado Wines Passport 2026 is a grand tasting wine festival held over 2 days — April 18–19, 2026 — in Placerville, California, giving ticket holders access to over 30 family-owned wineries across El Dorado County's three American Viticultural Areas. General admission tickets are $65, and the event draws participants through appellations spanning the El Dorado, Fair Play, and Sierra Foothills AVAs. The county's vineyards range from 1,000 to 3,500 feet in elevation, producing wines from nearly 100 distinct varieties across hundreds of microclimates.

El Dorado Wines Passport 2026 is structured as a self-guided weekend passport event, allowing visitors to move between participating wineries at their own pace while experiencing special tastings, food and wine pairings, and live music. Over 75% of the wine produced in El Dorado County is both grown and produced locally, a distinction that sets its member wineries apart from larger commercial appellations. The El Dorado Winery Association member wineries are described as small, independent, and family-owned, with winemakers invested in the agriculture of the land. The region's steep hillside vineyards, shaped by warm days and cool nights, produce wines characterized by luscious fruit, gentle tannins, and structured balance.

El Dorado County is less than an hour from both Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe, making the Passport weekend accessible for a day trip or short overnight stay. Visitors planning to attend multiple wineries across the county should consult the interactive winery map available at eldoradowines.org. VIP and designated driver ticket pricing had not been announced at time of publication.

El Dorado County's winemaking history dates to 1848, when California's Gold Rush brought the first vines to the region. By 1870, it ranked among the state's largest wine producers. The El Dorado AVA was formally designated in 1983, and the county today supports approximately 50 wineries and more than 2,000 acres of vines — a foundation that gives the Passport weekend its depth of variety.