As 2012 draws to a close, we continue the overlooked-due-to-hangover tradition of wrapping up the most popular 1WD articles of the year.

This list serves two purposes: a chance to highlight a “best of” from the 1WD content over the past year, and a nod to the engagement of folks like YOU, which makes a site like this worth revisiting. Also, it allows me to take a sort break from creating new content here (ok, three purposes!), which you might not like but I’d argue is required (well-deserved is debatable).

We’re sticking with ten once again this year, which sadly is more victories than my Steelers were able to conjure up this season.

Also, the shift away from comments and towards social sharing continued this year, and so I’ve decided to highlight the 1WD posts that you deemed most worth sharing with others throughout the past year. I’ve a done a (very) rough calculation of that across Twitter, the Book of Face, and the unwanted step child of social networks, Google+. The result below (after the jump) is, I think, pretty much in order of ascending social sharedness, but is not necessarily indicative of the most-commented posts (the focus of previous year-end 1WD wrap-ups) nor the most viewed (those numbers would pale in comparison to my Playboy.com gig anyway, which is much, much, much more a reflection of the insane amount of people visiting the PB site than it is a statement on my writing abilities).

Anyway… on with the show!…

10) Hand Picked, Horse Drawn (Illahe Vineyards And Pinot For Pinot’s Sake)
Apparently, wine made with the help of horse-drawn equipment – and frequent 1WD commenters – is a popular topic. Who knew?

9) Winners Of The DLW 2012 Colorado Wine Taste-Off (And Why CO Wine Might Already Have World-Class Potential)
Colorado is making serious – and seriously good – wines. And we all like to talk about the marketing underdog, it seems!

8) This Is Me Totally NOT Lightening Up On Wine And Social Media
I’m good for one mildly-explosive rant per year. This was 2012’s.

7) Why Rating Wine Is Bad Science
Well… it is! Yet another argument against wine ratings (as if we needed any more), and we put it through the ringer earlier this year.

6) Dude, Where’s My “Wine?” (Marijuana And Wine Remain Popular Pairing For California Winemakers)
In which I point out the fairly obvious fact that a lot of Californians smoke weed, and a lot of winemakers are in CA, and so statistically speaking… you get the idea.

5) The Most-Viewed Photo Of All Time? It’s From Wine Country…
Recognize the photo featured in this post? If you’ve been around a computer in the last dozen years, the chances are good… and it happens to be from CA wine country. Sharing ensues.

4) Meet Playboy.com’s New Dot Com Wine Dude
A lot of discussion – and encouragement – at the announcement of my Playboy.com gig. Thanks again!

3) Out From Napa’s Shadow (High End Wines Shine At Taste Of Sonoma 2012)
Looks like there are a lot of people in the Sonoma wine scene (and those who drink the results of the work of those people) who like to share!

2) The Ten Most Interesting Wines Of 2012
A perennial sharer, because we can’t help ourselves with top ten lists, right?

1) A Millennial’s Open Letter To The Wine Industry: I Would Love Your Wine, If I Could Afford It (Guest Post)
The 1WD intern, Young Unpaid Shelby, hit it out of the park with this guest post, which resonated with other Millennial wine drinkers, quite a few older ones as well, and probably a not-insignificant portion of the U.S. wine industry, too.

Cheers – and Happy Friggin’ New Year!