It’s hard to believe, but the wine tasting rooms in Carmel have been growing at an extremely fast rate. In 2011, I visited Carmel By the Sea with my Boyfriend. We were living in Seattle at the time and getting ready to move to Toronto. My Boyfriend’s sister was getting married in Monterey, so it was a really great opportunity to explore the region. Considering that I now blog about the region, needless to say, I fell in love.
Five years and three cities later, I now live in San Francisco and partake in the wonderful wineries of the region including Napa and Sonoma. After living in San Francisco for a couple years and attending many wine events including the major bi-annual SF Vintners Market that takes place at The Metreon, I’ve learned that there are many other wine regions to explore around Northern California and the California Central Coast.
Not yet knowing of the changes to Carmel By the Sea, I decided to make the one hour trek down south from San Francisco to revisit this charming little art town for a romantic weekend with my Boyfriend that once took me there 5 years earlier. To my surprise, the weekend turned into a wine tasting weekend. Being within a 5 minute walk to our hotel room, we were able to jump from wine tasting rooms in Carmel. We enjoyed the tastings from Galante, Silvestri and Dawn’s Dream. With nearly 20 tasting rooms and wine bars pouring local vintages, we already know that we will have to return with more intentions on wine tasting.
Due to the pleasant Pinot Noirs of Dawn’s Dream and the robust reds from Silvestri, we actually became wine club members at both of those wineries. If you love California Red Wines but you don’t like the inflated prices that Napa Valley brings with their Cakebread, Duckhorn or Opus One wines, you really must try the wine tasting rooms in Carmel By the Sea. No need to rent a limo to manoeuvre from tasting room to tasting room and there are plenty of hotel and lodging options in downtown Carmel By the Sea.
If you’re concerned that you may be sacrificing scenery by not wine tasting in the valley between rolling hills, rest assured that the “By the Sea” part of the name in Carmel By the Sea will live up to the expectations. There are also fine dining and casual dining options as well, so there’s no reason to now give it a whirl!