KING CITY, Calif. — I’m slogging away today in the wine cellar at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds, getting ready for this weekend’s 14th annual Monterey International Wine Competition.
One of the quaint aspects of California’s wine competition landscape is that many of them are staged at regional fairgrounds. The Monterey competition, which I’ve run since its inception in 1994, is held here in the heart of the Salinas Valley.
I’ve spent many a Spring afternoon tending my cellar chores while listening to the squeal of pigs being walked past our wine storage building by local members of the 4H Club.
Today the fairgrounds are awash with school children from the area. This is “Farm Day” and the local kids are getting an up-close look at farm equipment and livestock and all of the other tappings of farm life in an agricultural community.
Of course, wine grapes are part of the culture, along with garlic, onions, broccoli, aspargus and all manner of lettuce greens. I’m proud of the fact that proceeds from the Monterey competition help support the Salinas Valley Fair’s efforts to provide a valuable resource for this community.
I’m reminded of that every time I see the local kids come to the fairgrounds to ready their animals for the fair (in mid-May) and learn about their agricultural heritage here in this bountiful valley.
Yep, they still shoe horses the old fashioned way, the best looking swine always wins a blue ribbon, and you can pig out on cotton candy and corn dogs until you’re about to explode at the Fair, right here in Americana . . . King City, California.
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