Morse Wines / Il Gioiello Winery

This winery is a jewel you have to find. Wine here is top notch and employees are friendly and helpful. Bring a picnic lunch and play bocce ball while you are tasting. Some of the best wines around, including Napa. You might even get lucky enough to come on a pizza day, made fresh in the pizza oven at the tasting room. Be sure to join the club and get great discounts and specials. Rob and Lisa are the proprietors and are great people. The wine is scrumptious and the location is breathtaking. If you miss this place during your wine excursions, then you are missing a great time and great wine. A family owned winery with a Tuscan touch. On Lawrence Rd above the Fiddletown area.

Visited for the first time today and it was, by far, the best experience of the day. We tasted a variety of reds, all were delicious. We ended up taking a bottle of the 2012 Montepulciano home and cannot wait to visit again. This winery is very welcoming and the view from the tasting room window is a must see!

We visited this winery after Brian from Amador 360 recommended their wines. It’s a little bit off the beaten path but well worth the drive. We loved almost all their wines. We had a picnic after tasting. The staff was very friendly and informative. We will definitely return.

Sometimes you find a place that’s so perfect that you really don’t like to share it. If you go to Amador and haven’t been to Morse Wine you are making a HUGE mistake. The wines are many and the quality is high. If you like Amador reds as i do, you’ll love their Zinfandel & Barbera. If you truly appreciate great reds you’ll love their Triumphe. They have many other varietials like syrah, petite syrah mouvedre and sangiovese which are all great. They have great whites also (that is coming from someone that typically doesn’t like white wine). Come here and you’ll feel like you are in Italy.

Loved this spot! Excellent wines at a great price and fantastic customer service. Worth the drive!

No, please don’t go here. If you do, there might be less for me. I have very mixed feelings about suggesting this place, as it is as close to perfection as the foothills have to offer. So, please don’t go, I want it to fly under the radar, but, at the same time, I’m rooting for success.
Yeah, I joined the club, but you don’t have to.
Yeah, I came home with almost a case of wine on my first visit, but really, you don’t have to.
Sure, Mr. Morse is making great wine under three different labels using a number of different grapes. When I asked him what he was most proud of, he answered, «…what are you eating? Wine goes with food and it all depends on the meal.» It was a great answer.
Can you picnic at the winery? We did, we suffered, we had to deal with people playing bocce, we had to eat tasty meats and enjoy a really really good zinfandel. Yes, we suffered, but you don’t have to. Skip the drive up the hill, stay on the main road, don’t come here.
Does the soil matter to the wine maker? Be sure to ask Mr. Morse, as this spot was chosen for particular reasons, and he’s proud of them. The soil has an absolute impact on the quality of the wine, and the soil was a top consideration as he started the winery back, I think, in 1999.
Is the wine affordable? Why else would I leave with nearly a case?
I forgot to mention how great the place looked. Again, fantastic, but please don’t take my word for it.
This winery, these people, this winemaker, they were all a blast of fresh air for my wife and I, and we will be back. One last tip, don’t buy the Block 2 Zin for the obvious reasons.

Pros: excellent red wines, great scenery, beautiful winery, bocce ball, gas grill you can use, outside seating, hammock, dog friendly, and host great events for the affordable wine club.
Cons: none

Fantastic winery! My husband and I got married here 4 months ago and had a beautiful wedding with the vineyards and rolling hills in the background! Robert and Kim are great and very helpful! Spot and Coco (resident dogs) are always there to welcome us. The wines at Il Gioiello are versatile and appropriate for all occasions. Best wine in Amador and well worth the extra 10 min drive. Bring a picnic and enjoy a fun game of Bocce ball. This tasting room is relaxing and feels like you’re drinking at home with friends!

We came here today with a group of 22 people, and all I can say is that they were
wonderful! Their property was beautiful, and everyone enjoyed the wines! Even after our party bus broke down, the owner helped fix our bus, let us stay and drink beers as he fixed it, helped us find another winery to go to while we waited. All around amazing experience and would strongly recommend anyone coming to Amador to come check them out! They also had a great wine sale going on.

This winery is the best of Amador County. Very yummy wine. Beautiful winery. Down to earth, friendly owners. My husband and I love to go wine tasting all over northern California and we’ve never become club members until we found this place. Very worth getting off the beaten path for.

What a wonderful hidden paradise this winery is! It’s in Amador County, but right on the El Dorado County line. Don’t be put off by 2 mile country lane that gets you there from Mt. Aukum Rd — it’s well worth the fairly quick drive.
We’ve never had a bad wine there, but we particularly love their Syrahs and Barberras. Go there on a sunny afternoon and enjoy a bottle either near the outdoor fireplace or on the patio. The owners are always welcoming (including plying visitors with great appetizers), and they and their shaggy little dog are very dog friendly.

The wines here are top notch. My favorites are the Primitivo, Barbera, and Mouvedre. The tasting room and property are tastefully designed, but the drive here was a little difficult — you need to take a narrow single lane road, and not all of it is well paved, so beware if you’ve been drinking and this isn’t your first winery of the day. The drive is absolutely gorgeous though.

Morse Wines, aka Il Gioiello, is a hidden gem in the Shenandoah Valley! If you are willing to drive just a few miles off the beaten path, you will not regret it. As you drive down the tiny «road» that leads to Il Gioiello, you may doubt whether you are going the right way, or whether you should turn back… keep going! Once you reach the gates, you will see the gorgeous grounds and tasting room :-)
The tasting room is very homey – you almost feel like you are just hanging out in a friend’s kitchen, enjoying some great wine (and sometimes some delicious food pairings!) They have both Italian style (Il Gioiello) and Rhone style (Morse) wines, so there is something for everyone’s preferences. Chris and I have brought several friends with us, and no one has ever been less than impressed!
While all of their wines are delicious, our favorites are the Montepulciano, Ensemble Blanc, and the Triumphe (a red blend). We actually just opened a bottle of their Zin last night, and it was excellent!
They also have a very inexpensive white and a red selection that are really great, and perfect for opening up while playing a game or two of bocce ball out front. We have never picnicked there, but they have a great area for that as well.
One sidenote: We have made the trip out there a couple of times on rainy days, and they sometimes experience power outages – if you’re heading out in a storm, might want to call ahead!

People are really missing out by not coming here! The wine was really good, the people were very friendly and knowledgeable about the wine. Oh, and they have a BEAUTIFUL vineyard! Gorgeous area, several tables with umbrellas, a covered patio with an outdoor fireplace and two really nice bocce courts. There’s even a grill setup, although I am not sure if they allow people to use it — my guess is yes, based on friendly and hospitable everyone was. We sat outside, played bocce ball, drank several bottle of wine — there were 10 of us — and ate a picnic style lunch. Very pleasant way to spend the afternoon — so much so, that we almost didn’t make it to the next winery on our itinerary. I bought a couple bottles of the Cabernet and a bottle of their Viognier.

Morse wines are outstanding. This winery is way off the beaten track in Amador county but Robert Morse totally knows his stuff. It is only a matter of time before the word gets out.