Weekend in Wine Country

We spent this weekend touring California’s other wine country: The Temecula Valley. At first glance, you wouldn’t think anywhere in Southern California would be a likely location for wineries. But Temecula — an Indian word meaning “land where the sun shines through the mist — enjoys a unique microclimate. The combination of ocean breezes and desert makes it the perfect place to grow grapes, as evidenced by the nearly two dozen wineries that have sprouted up in the last 30 years.


Temecula Valley wine vineyards. (04/09/05)

Tim and I hooked up with Everett, his friends Shane and Rob, and Tim’s friends Mona and Christy for a tour of seven of the area’s best wineries (Callaway, Churon, Miramonte, Ponte, Leonesse, Wilson Creek and South Coast for those of you who know the area). And of course, every place where we tasted wine gave us a souvenir wine glass (we got like 25 of them between all of us).


Christy, Mona and Tim sample the 2002 Red Rhapsody at Miramonte. (04/09/05)

That night we stayed at the Pechanga Indian resort and casino about 15 minutes away, which was gorgeous. I hadn’t expected it to be as nice as it was. In fact, we’re going back next month (we bought tickets to see the legendary Tom Jones). I lost about $60 gambling (damn Indians). :-)


The aftermath. (04/10/05)