Today marks the 4th Anniversary of Decanting Monterey, A Central Coast Wine Blog! I am still pursuing my passion to expose others to the depth and quality of our Monterey/Central Coast wines, often under-appreciated by wine snobs. I like to champion our vintners and their wines out purely as a hobby, not for profit. And I appreciate each and every one of you who are reading my stories!
A BRIEF RECAP OF THE LAST 4 YEARS:
Year 1: Deep in the unvaccinated period of the pandemic in July 2020, Decanting Monterey initially was focused on wines from our own collection sampled at home, with or without our neighboring friends and our daughters, who quickly became known as the COVID Wine Pod. It was 2 posts per week and, mostly, one wine at a time. Back then, some wineries had just reopened with their COVID procedures and we still weren’t venturing out much. I also established the @decantingmonterey Facebook page.
During Year 2, as we became fully vaccinated and boosted – and double boosted, we were able to get out to more local wineries at a more deliberate pace. And the COVID Wine Pod was renamed the Decanting Monterey Wine Pod! I also moved to a single post per week and presented a single wine class to my old DC wine group. Most of the posts were based on event-driven or winery tastings and fewer individual, cellar-driven posts. And I started the @decanting_monterey Instagram feed.
During Year 3, I was able to get recognition as an entity with some stature behind it. Our local Monterey Chapter of the American Wine Society invited me to join them as a Board Advisor. As a result, I arranged 8 of their monthly events. I presented our Monterey wines to 3 classes: in Washington DC, in Northern Virginia, and to the Carmel Rotary! I covered 2 local wine events: the Santa Lucia Highlands Sun, Wind & Wine Festival and the Monterey Winemakers Celebration.
During Year 4, my exposure and stature grew significantly:
- Decanting Monterey was nominated for Best Local Blog in the Monterey County Weekly’s 2023 “Best of” competition and for Best Monterey Wine Blog for the LUXLife Hospitality Award 2024.
- Covered 8 (!!!) local, multi-winery wine events, including the 30th Monterey Winemakers Celebration, two Monterey Wine Trade events, the Arroyo Seco Winegrowers 40th Anniversary, the 50th Anniversary of the Monterey County Vintners & Growers Association, the Grand Opening of LadySomm in the Barnyard, the East End Passport, and the Santa Lucia Highlands Sun, Wind & Wine Festival. Whew! I am grateful to the Santa Lucia Highlands Wine Artisans, the Arroyo Seco Winegrowers, and the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association for their generosity.
- Arranged 7 winery visits and supported 2 tasting events for the Monterey Chapter of the American Wine Society, and hosted 1 wine dinner.
- Presented 5 Monterey wines to an East Coast wine appreciation group.
I have some high-level stats to share with you about Year Four of Decanting Monterey!
- www.decantingmonterey.com surpassed the 15,000 “views” mark! This statistic is very important to me. If you are seeing my blog on social media or via email, please be sure to click the link and open it!
- 376 wines were presented on Decanting Monterey for the first time.
- 292 red wines were presented, as well as 111 whites, 31 rosés, and a few oranges – including 12 sparkling wines. Yes, this is the real math – it includes some wines presented before.
- Wines from 9 California counties are represented, with 284 from Monterey, 38 from San Luis Obispo (Paso Robles wine country!), 20 from San Benito, 12 from Santa Cruz, and 4 from Santa Clara, and a few from Napa and Sonoma.
- In addition, 16 wines carried the Central Coast designation, plus 4 labeled as California wines.
- Finally, there were 36 wines from Croatia, 6from Spain, and 5 from Oregon!
- Wines from 8 of the 10 Monterey American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) were covered, with the most from the Santa Lucia Highlands and Carmel Valley.
- I Brand & Family was the most represented family of wines, followed by Bernardus, Parsonage, Corral Wine Co.and Chesebro.
- Thanks to the larger tasting events, I presented many, many wineries for the first time and also visited the Austin Harlow and Comanche Cellars tasting rooms for the first time.
If you are an avid reader, then you know I love to read the crop reports. According to the recently-released 2023 Monterey County Crop Report:
- Grapes went up in ranking from 7th place from 2022 to 5th place in 2023, behind strawberries, broccoli, and leaf and head lettuces.
- Acreage of planted grapes declined from 41,480 in 2022 to 40,200 in 2023.
- Grape crop value increased from $173,789,000 in 2022 to $194,642,000 in 2023. Woohoo!!
While I have some posts already queued up for Year 5, let me ask my mighty readers: Where should I visit next? Please leave me a comment on this post and let me know what some of your favorite, local places are to wine taste that I should not miss in Year 3! I have a list of not-yet-covered wine tasting rooms and other wine venues to check out – happy to add to it. I don’t know what I don’t know.
And, if you have not signed up for my free, weekly blog email, I encourage you to do so – the subscription button is on the right-hand side of each page of the Decanting Monterey website. I judge how well I am doing by how many views, subscribers, and comments I receive. Please help me spread the word and please feel free to comment on my posts! And follow my Facebook (@DecantingMonterey) and Instagram (@decanting_monterey) sites.
I don’t want to leave today’s post without expressing my gratitude to those vintners who have comped me wine tastings, given me discounts, and especially those who have donated bottles of wine! I am grateful to Bernardus, Corral Wine Co., McIntyre Vineyards, Parsonage, Rombi and Scheid for their generosity this year in donated wines or steep discounts. Also grateful to Kim Stemler and the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association for their support – what a great resource! And to Erin O’Reilly of tèr·ra·ve·nos for her partnership and advice as we navigate this world of wine. And, of course, the Decanting Monterey Wine Pod who make this all tons of fun!
So, here we go – Year 5! I’m not sure I can top Year 4, but I am excited for the upcoming 31st Annual Monterey Winemakers Celebration! Hope to see you there!
And, to all my readers, thanks for your support to me on this crazy journey.
© Decanting Monterey 2024
*FOLLOW ME ON CELLAR TRACKER: Central Coast Sharon
Love it, and cheers to year 5! Congratulations!