Temecula, CA-- Southern California Wine Country!

After reading that there are over 35 wineries in the Temecula area where we are staying, we decided to take a little trip down "winery row",  De Portola Rd., about a 15-20 min. drive from Jojoba Hills, to check out some of them. Beautiful, beautiful countryside....We visited the Keyways Winery, the Robert Renzoni Winery, Leonesse Cellars and the Wilson Creek Winery, our favorite. And no, we weren't soused by the time we got to the last one, Wilson Creek. We just wanted to see the grounds of the wineries, and didn't feel like spending too much money for sampling the wines until we got to Wilson Creek.  It just seemed a friendlier place than all the rest. Maybe the two golden labradors, who were in the lobby of the taste testing room, helped, but the gals at the wine bar were super friendly, too! For 12.00, we each sampled a few wines, and Eldy decided to taste their top wine for a few dollars more. (It sold for 100.00 a bottle). We didn't buy it this time...but it was too dry for me! Eldo loved it! I think we'll stick to the Consumer Reports on moderately priced wines. There are VERY good California wines to be had for under 20.00 a bottle, but we sure enjoyed tasting some finer wines!

grounds at Wilson Creek

From what we saw, most of the wineries charge for tastings--about $12.00 for five pours seemed to be the average. We tasted some interesting wines--"ice" wine at Keyways....that was a very sweet, delicious dessert wine that is harvested at a very specific point in the grape harvest...grapes that have been frozen while still on the  vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids don't freeze, but the water does. So a more concentrated grape gets pressed from the frozen grapes. The freezing happens before the fermentation, not after. Who cares, right? Well, it's delicious! And, it only costs $50.00 a bottle! (ONLY!!!!!!) Too expensive for me.....but WOWZA! It was wonderful!

It was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon. These are beautiful places, not just fields of grapevines..

There were the healthiest and most beautiful white and red roses on the grounds of Wilson Creek.


There were quite a few wine festivals and celebrations having already been held or going to be in the future...but we've missed them. Looks like a great time!

These girls were having a birthday celebration at Wilson Creek as well...my guess, someone's 21st birthday?


Here's the classy "tasting ticket" they gave us at Wilson Creek to keep track of what we tried:

And here's my honey enjoying his special wine......(the sample of the 100.00 one)....Eldo has great taste in all things! But I think he still prefers a good beer more than wine...Sparky is the wine drinker in the household...

We're getting ready to leave soon for more northern parts of California...we're stopping in Bakersfield, CA., for two nights on our way to Sierra Vista, our next main destination....we'll see you later! Time to get packed up and ready to go.......and remember....