Started in the late 1970s, the Amador County Wine Competition is the oldest in the foothills. It’s different from its bordering El Dorado and Calaveras county competitions in that Amador only allows wines to be entered if they’re made exclusively from grapes grown in the seven-county Sierra foothill appellation. This year saw a record high of 445 wines entered in the Amador judging from more than 70 wineries. The contest was judges by 22 people from a wide range of wine-related backgrounds.