Detail of the wall o’ wine at Scott Harvey’s Sutter Creek tasting room

Ah, you can almost hear the siren song of the bloggers as they wrap up their year’s blogging exploits, successes and failures.  ‘Tis the time of year when we are all wont to reflect on our year just past and begin to plan for the year not yet arrived.

And I’m no different.

2011 was quite the year for me.  It started with having a rug of sorts pulled out from under me setting me off on an unplanned adventure which is continuing outside the comfortable confines of this blog.  But that single event also spurred me on to write Pour Me Another: An Opinionated Guide to Gold Country Wines, now one of the top rated guides to California wines.  Writing Pour Me Another prompted me to start this blog so that I could update the content of the book here at the blog.  As I said when the book was published, “books are static, but wine is not”.

As if to emphasize that point, one of my favorite small wineries, Bantam Cellars was sold and the new owner Charles B. Mitchell has rebranded the winery as J. Foster Mitchell.  I haven’t yet had a chance to drop in to J. Foster Mitchell, but will as soon as I can.  Helwig Vineyards and Winery opened up with a fabulous new facility.  Skinner Vineyards also opened up their facilities.  Getting to the top of their small mountain is a little confusing, but so worth the effort.

2011 has brought some exceptional wines to my lips.  I really loved Andis Wines 2009 Cabernet Franc and their Rose.  I also fell in love with Deaver Vineyards’ 10 Zin blend of Zinfandels and a Primitivo.  I had some wonderful wines from Gold Hill, Jodar and Holly’s Hill as well.  Many other Gold Country wineries impressed me with their ability to make seriously good wines, some of the best the state has to offer.  Of course, I also had some seriously over hyped swill.  But that’s all part of the, er, fun.

In the 7-1/2 months I’ve been blogging, I’ve only managed to post 47 times…er 48 times counting this one.  It’s not a bad blogging effort, but I would like to be posting more often.  But plans for the future are for my next post.  I’ve managed to post:

• tasting notes,
• about my frustrations with tasting notes,
• the first in a series of recommended wine tasting drives through Gold Country, which will be continued in 2012,
• about news from the wine world,
• about my book,
• and a few other wine related distractions.

All in all, not a bad start for a newbie.  I hope you’ve enjoyed what I’ve written.  As I work on my writing and blogging plans for 2012, I hope you will take the time to let me know what Northern California wine related subjects you’d like to read about in the new year.  Really.  I want to know!

And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/WineDavid.