Temecula Wine Country

In 1973, Burlington Mills passed over Ely Callaway for the Chief Executive Officer position. Unlike most people who harbor such fantasies when their employer deals them what feels like a bad card from the bottom of the deck, this Company President had enough money saved to live comfortably the rest of his life, so he abruptly quit. After sulking for a week, he headed to California, where he had previously purchased 150 acres of land, and built a winery in the gently rolling hills.

In 1976, his 1974 vintage White Riesling won a competition to be served to the Queen of England during a gala Bi-Centennial reception honoring her at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Queen Elizabeth was not known as a wine drinker, but not only did she find the wine palatable, she ordered a second glass. This event triggered the national success of Callaway Wine. By the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan ordered a supply of Callaway Wine to be served to his guests in the White House, and reportedly Callaway sent the White House a bill rather than simply settling for the prestige as payment.

In 1981, Ely Callaway sold the winery for $9 million and started his golf company that became famous for the Big Bertha, turning another of his personal interests into gold, but that's another story. I just remember reading about Callaway in a magazine in the mid-1980s, prompting Julie and I to take a drive out there to see what Rancho California's Wine Country looked like. We took the tour at Callaway Winery, learning the legend of a “V” in the hills that allowed for a natural air conditioning of ocean breeze to ventilate the vineyards, creating the perfect condition for growing grapes. The wine was, it turned out, quite good, so we bought the logic.

The hills and valleys not planted in vineyards were rather ugly, just dirt and scrub brush in their natural condition. We've returned several times over the years and watched the scrub brush gradually disappear.

Houses, golf courses and strip malls cover much of Temecula, and the hills just outside of town now feature lots of vineyards along Rancho California Road and its asphalt tributaries. There's just enough scrub brush left to remind us of the alchemy of human sweat and selected grape seeds that turn the land into gold.

This weekend, we met our good friends Mike and Linda at the Temecula Creek Inn, a casual golf resort, where we were allowed to check in early. We bought three wine tasting admissions for $20 at the front desk, charted out our course on a map, and off we went. Our first visit was Hart Winery, which I remembered I liked from a visit with wine connoisseur Rich Love and some other folks who worked with Julie in the 1990s. It looked like a shed, leading to mild ridicule from the others, but when we saw the price board, I remembered why I liked it: the tasting was only $5 for six wines with a free logo wine glass to take home or $10 for eight wines, including a couple of special vintages and a larger glass.

Julie and I went with the $5 tasting, but Linda wanted the larger glass to take home. Julie and I always split tastings, because she likes white wine better while I prefer red, and Mike and Linda decided to follow suit. Splitting the tastings allows us to visit more wineries without getting totally smashed. For me, the best wine at Hart was the whimsically named Drive Way Red, which was made from grapes grown along the driveway. While the extra carbon fumes from car exhaust obviously seasoned the grapes to perfection, all of the Hart wines I tasted were pretty good, probably because they seem to specialize in reds.

For our next stop, we went next door to Callaway, still the most prestigious brand in the area. It has a beautiful tasting room with a long window-lined bar overlooking rolling vineyards, reminiscent of the Domaine Chandon Winery in the Napa Valley. Callaway has remained famous for their white wines, but their red wine isn't bad. It's a $10 tasting, and even though our pre-paid tasting wouldn't apply there, no visit to the Temecula Wine Country would be complete without stopping at Callaway. I couldn't convince the others to take the free tour, which leaves every hour on the hour and is on par with the best, as I recall from our visit long ago. Instead, we dove into the tasting at Callaway, finishing up with a delicious sweet dessert wine.

Linda heard we needed to go to the Palomar Winery, and it turned out to have a beautiful patio area that would be great for a casual party. Like Callaway, Palomar wouldn't accept our vouchers, but I would put this on the can't-miss list too. The wine was good, but it was the lunch that was especially great. Small pizzas (we had one Sicilian and one Tuscano), cheese and salami cubes with bread, and sour dough with asparagus dip were each about $8, and they were all delicious. Mike added a bottle of wine, which came with two more free wine glasses to join the free ones from the $10 tasting. Halloween weekend was a great time to visit Temecula Wine Country, as we never found any crowds. Just before we left Mount Palomar, Mark Huston and the Workin' Men started playing country music, something that seems more suited to Temecula than Napa, where wine would more likely be the order of the day. We wanted to hear more, but there were wineries to visit, so we decided to try to return before they stopped playing at 5.

We drove across the street to the Stuart Winery, where we took my favorite picture from the trip, but be forewarned that the wine didn't live up to the setting, in our opinions. The server was nice, and the price was right (they took one of our vouchers in exchange for two tastings), but the wines consistently included a vinegary taste, leading us to pour a lot out.

We ventured off Rancho California Road on a side trip up Calle Contento to the Falkner Winery. For our voucher, they gave us tasting glasses and $5 off coupons for wine purchases. After the affable pourer Darlene gave us our first sample, Julie and I meandered over to a picnic table to enjoy the scenic location while Mike and Linda stayed at the bar. When we returned for a refill, we found Darlene had convinced them to join the wine club with what must have been the deal of the century, because Julie and I, not known for our extravagance for such things, joined too. The winning pitch was that our tasting that day would be free, and we could return whenever we wanted for free tastings. The $10 tasting fee would be applied to our first wine club order, on which we would also receive a 10% discount. Any way I calculated it, my normal wine buying at home is still cheaper, but it was somehow fun joining. No longer restricted to the normal half dozen tastings, we saw no reason to seek out another winery. Falkner's wines were all very good. I particularly liked the Merlots, but their break-through product was their Hot Lips. This mulled wine served warm would be an excellent holiday treat for adults, and Falkner sell the kits consisting of two bottles of their Luscious Lips red wine and the mulling mix for about $35. Lots of people walked out carrying the boxed kits, including us.

We headed back to Mount Palomar Winery to hear some more of the great music , snacking on bottled water and cheese cubes. We probably should have called it a day, but we headed to Robert Renzoni Winery, which was open until 6. Located out in horse country off DePortola Road, Renzoni would have taken our vouchers, but instead we went with a two for one coupon with the $11 price tag. Probably because of the sweet Hot Lips spoiling our palates, none of us were too impressed with their servings, which will save me retelling their rather interesting wine history.

We moseyed into western themed Old Temecula for dinner, where we had a so-so meal served by beautiful waitresses at Texas Lil's. Each couple split one of the $22 three-item barbecue combos, and they certainly gave us lots of food. The baby back ribs, chicken and pulled pork were all good though not great, but the side dishes left something to be desired. The mashed potatoes had an earthy taste, which based on the hash browns I had the next morning seems to be due to the kind of red potatoes used by restaurants in that area.

Our rooms at Temecula Creek Inn were large and comfortable, and we enjoyed a great night's sleep. The next morning, Julie and I headed over to the lobby where they have complimentary, delicious coffee and tea as well as crisp apples. We read magazines and the free Sunday paper delivered to our room before heading to meet Mike and Linda for breakfast at the golf course view restaurant on the property. For about $14 per person including coffee, we enjoyed the terrific food and lovely setting. Breakfast was cooked to perfection, including the chicken apple sausage which shouldn't be missed.

The pool area includes a hot tub at an ideal temperature, and Julie and I enjoyed our morning lounging around there reading while Mike and Linda drove home to watch the Seahawks game. Temecula is a great place for Southern Californians to take a quick trip, but it also shouldn't be underestimated by out of town visitors who come to California to catch a Mexican Riviera or Hawaii cruise.