Much of the gold was taken out of the Sierra foothills decades ago, but the region's newest treasure can be found in abundance.

Wine grape vineyards, which began taking root in the foothills during the mid-1990s, continued to grow in prominence in 2002.

The harvest yielded 16,485 tons of grapes last year, worth $17.4 million to growers, according to the 2002 Grape Crush Report. Growers earned an average of $1,056 per ton for their grapes.

Production climbed 4 percent from 15,908 tons in 2001, though the price fell 5 percent from $1,113 per ton and the total value was down from $17.7 million.

The 2002 harvest was a modern record for the foothills -- the region was a prominent producer of grapes in the 1800s, when records weren't kept -- and the volume should continue to grow.

The foothills had 4,128 acres of producing vineyards in 2001, according to the state's most recent grape acreage survey, with another 827 non-bearing acres projected to bear fruit by 2004.

Calaveras, Amador and El Dorado counties are the heart of the region's wine industry, with Mariposa also growing grapes.

Amador planted an average of 125 acres of grapes annually from 1998-2001. El Dorado added 75 acres a year and Calaveras developed 50 acres of grapes a year.

Calaveras has 10 wineries, including the landmark Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys, while Amador and El Dorado each have nearly two dozen wineries.

While prices for grapes grown in the San Joaquin Valley rank among the lowest in the state, foothill grapes fetch a nice price.

Growers earned an average of $977 per ton for zinfandel, $1,210 per ton for cabernet sauvignon, $1,195 for syrah and $1,227 for merlot in 2002. Those were the most prolific varieties, respectively, and accounted for 12,152 tons, or 74 percent of the foothill harvest.

"We don't like to toot our own horn, but we feel our fruit is comparable to what's being grown on the North Coast, and our prices are considerably lower than Napa and Sonoma," said Chuck Hovey, the winemaker for Stevenot Winery in Murphys. "There's not a huge supply of wine grapes in the foothills, but the demand continues to grow."

The demand is being driven by new wineries in the foothills, as well as calls for fruit from valley and coastal wineries that want to expand their product menu.

"If you've got a winery in the foothills, you ideally would like to use grapes from this region to make your wine," said Hovey, whose winery recently completed an expansion project that increased its vineyard to 92 acres.

Bee staff writer Richard T. Estrada can be reached at 578-2316 or restrada@modbee.com.