The view from Szalay Winery
It’s a local tradition in Monterey County. Tourists read of our stunning coastline and make their way here dressed in nothing but swim trunks and bikinis. They touch down on our white-sand beaches and sprint headlong for the waves, where they make contact with the Pacific Ocean and … scream. The water here is just 50 degrees, which they don’t tell you in the travel brochures.
Fortunately, the same conditions that make Monterey Bay horrible for bodysurfing also make our coastal region ideal for grape growing.
In fact, we’ll let you in on a secret. If you look closely at the labels of many top California wines, you’ll discover their grapes are grown in Monterey County, even if the winemaker is located elsewhere. Our region is the perfect synthesis of location, soil and climate — the Triple Crown of winemaking conditions.
Our grapes are like divas that refuse to come out of their dressing rooms. Grown in nutrient-dense soil and basking in warm sunshine, Monterey County grapes bathe in a cool marine layer from night until mid-morning, allowing them to stay on the vine for up to 60 days longer than those in other wine regions.
These perfect conditions are attributable to something called the Blue Grand Canyon, which is just off our coast. It’s as big and deep as the more famous Grand Canyon in Arizona, only this one is beneath the sea. Especially cool, nutrient-rich water near the bottom of the canyon is driven to the surface by a combination of winds and the contour of the coastline, providing us with the longest growing season in California and the opportunity to produce grapes that reach their full potential.
The other great thing about Monterey County as a wine region is how eclectic it is. Traveling south you might experience a 30-degree increase in temperature by the time you reach Paso Robles. These microclimates make each vintage and vineyard here completely distinctive.
In 2003, the Kovacs family packed up and moved onto a rugged 13-acre parcel in Carmel Valley appellation of the Santa Lucia Mountains, located several miles inland from the Big Sur coast. While this land makes for tough sledding for we humans, it’s like a spa for grapes: perfect soils, perfect exposure, perfect elevation. Our Szalay Winery gets hot summer days, followed by nights bathed in sea breezes. In the formative days of our business, the four of us would crowd into our 200-square-foot trailer/house and say, “I hope the grapes are enjoying this.”
So why isn’t Monterey County, with its 40,000 acres of wine grapes, a wine destination like Napa, Sonoma or Santa Barbara? Unfortunately, we don’t have a main drag like you’d find in those areas. Monterey is the largest county in California, with our wine-growing region spanning the length of it. What we gain in total acreage, we lose in concentration. In short, people get here and say, “Where’s the wine?” when in fact it’s all around them.
One of the joys of writing this book is introducing you to Monterey County wines that are relatively undiscovered. We know you’ll enjoy them.
Plus, we invite you to visit us at our place in the sun. After giving you a tour of Szalay, we’ll take you to Carmel Beach, where, snug in our fleeces, we’ll drink great wine and laugh at the tourists writhing in the surf.
More information on Monterey County wines can be found at www.MontereyWines.com.
