We are going to have a little fun today. We recently had a family reunion for 25 people at our small, 2-bedroom home. It’s how we roll. We decided to open “Grandpa’s” wines, including a magnum of non-vintage Monterey Peninsula Winery’s Monterey Nights, which my father-in-law won in some raffle many, many moons ago. The label is an indicator: a “pure California grape wine blended with natural flavors. Serve chilled.” Hm…
About Monterey Peninsula Winery: OK, readers, I need your help. About all I can find is they were established perhaps in 1968 in Sand City and disbanded by about 1996. I see something about foreign ownership (NFI) and also heard a Carmel dentist was a co-owner and that one of the vineyards where they sourced their grapes was later owned by Talbot and now by Gallo. I hear it was popular with my generation back in the day. I see they also made a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and an Alicante Bouschet. Some of these older wines are still available!
Monterey Peninsula Winery “Monterey Nights,” Monterey, 12.5% ABV (Wine #653*)
I want to say up front that this wine was not bad – meaning turned or off in any way. It was just old – and still a mystery. I mean “grape wine….serve chilled…” We guess it was a white, sweet wine, back in its day.
My Review: Amber in color, like a well-aged tawny port. Nose of caramel, sweet like Muscatel. In flavor, like a weak tawny port (only 12.5% ABV) or a muscatel. April 2022
You can still search for and find some old bottles of Monterey Peninsula Winery – like this one here: https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/peninsula+doctor+rsrv+merlot+monterey+county+central+coast+california+usa/1/usa-ca-y
*Refers to wines tasted while Sheltering in Place on Sharon’s personal Facebook group “Sharon’s Central Coast (Monterey) Wine Blog” – including non-Central Coast wines.
© Decanting Monterey 2023
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