40 wine appellations in one year? You drunks!

We prefer the term “Wine fans” to “drunks,” thankyouverymuch!

What’s The Appellation Trail?

“The Appellation Trail” is the theme of our vacations for 2011.

No, we didn’t misspell Appalachian. We can’t take 3 months off work right now to hike up the East Coast Besides, Bill Bryson already definitively and hilariously covered the Appalachian Trail hike.

The Appellation Trail is a journey through America’s wine appellations. Over the course of the year, we will experience 40 wine appellations.

40 wine appellations? Isn’t that a lot?

Initially, we were going to aim for 20. Then we remembered that our county alone (Monterey County) has nine wine appellations and California has over 100. Frankly, 20 wine appellations felt like wimping out.

Plus, it’s Nikki’s 40th birthday, so it seemed like a good number.

So, you’ve got nine down…

Nope! Monterey County doesn’t count. It felt like cheating. We’ve left ourselves an out, though. If it’s December and we’re desperate, we can use Monterey County to fill in a last couple to make our total.

We have several other rules, just to make sure everything is on the level.

Why this project?

In 2010, we realized that our daily lives were getting in the way of the three things we love most in the world: drinking wine, traveling, and spending time together. For 2011, we’ve made a commitment to focus on these things with the Appellation Trail project.