Tag: tasting

Wine Tasting in Temecula, California

On By Isobar ExpeditionsIn California5 Comments

During our recent trip to Carlsbad, we took the opportunity to spend a day in Temecula touring four different vineyards and wineries. Making the trip from Carlsbad to Temecula provides evidence as to why this area has become an important region for growing successful wine varieties. As you leave the foggy coast, you pass through one of the only passes that allows the moisture to get from the ocean and takes it straight towards Temecula. There, the sun heats up and the temperatures rise about twenty degrees higher than on the coast allowing the air to remain low in humidity despite having received the moisture. The grapes are very happy there.

Although After Harvest, We Saw a Few Grapes Next to a Winery
Casks of Wine
Fountain at Robert Renzoni Vineyard and Winery
Grape Vines Across the Valley

The first of the wineries that we visited was that Robert Renzoni Vineyards. There we went on a walking tour of vineyard and learned more about the process of wine making while sipping on wine straight from the barrel. With a family that immigrated from Italy in 1914, the vineyard maintains strong ties to their Italian heritage. After the walking tour, we continued to a wine tasting with the option of tasting up to six wines per person and of course we tried as many as we could. We enjoyed the wine so much that we decided to join their wine club, picking one white and one red to be delivered the following week. Since we travel light, taking wine home on the plane was not an option since we just had carry-on bags.

Tuscan Style Architecture at the Renzoni Vineyard
Wine from the Barrel
High Tech Wine Making
Walking Through the Renzoni Vineyard

From there we continued on to the Cougar Vineyard and Winery where we enjoyed a light lunch that was of course accompanied with your choice of white or red wine. Lunch was served in the barrel room, which was comfortable, although slightly cool. Afterwards, we went to the tasting room where we again had the opportunity to enjoy several samples of wine that vineyard offered. It was a beautiful day and we stepped outside to enjoy the beautiful views of the area. In addition to selling wines, all of the vineyards also specialized in hosting weddings, so that should be taken into account if you decide to visit on a Saturday. It wasn’t an issue for us as we did our tour on a weekday.

Entrance to the Cougar Winery
Lunch in the Barrel Room
The Cougar Vineyards
Beautiful Scenery

Third on the list to visit was a Lorimar Vineyards and Winery, which was founded by a brother and brother-in-law and the vineyards name is a combination of their first names. It is another Tuscan style winery, which seems to be the theme in Temecula, and it has a gorgeous building that houses its tasting room. Once again we were able to taste up to six wines, all of which were delicious. At most of the wineries, in addition to the tasting room, there is most likely going to be a gift store offering everything wine related, much of it fun and whimsical.

Another Beautiful Property at Lorimar Vineyard and Winery
Walking the Grounds at Lorimar
Grape Vines at Lorimar
A Relaxing Time

Our final stop was at the Callaway Vineyard and Winery. If that name sounds familiar, it is because it was founded by the owner of the company of the same name that is famous for making golf equipment. From what our guide told us, we can probably thank Ely Callaway for bringing vineyards to the Temecula area in the late 1960’s. It was probably the largest and most industrial of the vineyards that we visited, but the views of the valley were amazing. As we continued to taste another half-dozen wines a piece, we decided to purchase a couple of bottles to take back to our resort to enjoy during the rest of our trip.

Fountain and Sign at Callaway’s
Industrial Feel
Vineyards are Beautiful Even in Autumn
Grape Vines at Lorimar

For anyone visiting the Carlsbad or San Diego area, we would highly recommend going on a wine tasting tour. We prefer to let someone else do the driving for us when going on such a tour as visiting several wineries will result in having a few glasses of wine. With so many wineries to choose from, you could probably go back several times and visit different vineyards and wineries on each visit. Also, if you want to stay in Temecula, the town has a growing tourism scene with plenty of places to stay, many restaurants, and even a casino if that suits your interests.

Plenty of Fountains

 

Experimenting with Wine

On By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Wine_Beer_Cocktails9 Comments

We are certainly guilty of having a favorite wine that we purchase whether for home or at a restaurant, but trying new wines is the only way to discover wines that may become your new favorite. It isn’t just the brand of wine that you buy, but also the varieties of grapes that you choose. Sure, you may love chardonnay for your white or merlot for your red and that might be what you like the most, however, if you are willing to experiment, you might just find alternative choices.

Flavorful Merlot

Let us be clear, we are not wine experts and are definitely not wine snobs.  We like what we like and are willing to pair wines with food based on our tastes and mood, not some contrived rule about what you’re supposed to have with certain foods.  Red wine with fish, why not?  If it tastes good to you then you should feel free to drink what you like with whatever you want.  The same is true with trying different wines with different foods than you have in the past, you may never know what combination turns out to trip your flavor trigger.

White Bordeaux

One of the things that we did to try and help us grow our wine experience was to join a wine club.  Obviously there are several out there, but most of them have reasonable prices and you can usually choose to get all red, all white, or a mix.  We chose to get a mix of wines and the white wines will often contain a blush of some sort, which has changed our opinions on blush wines to some extent.  We used to think that they were all too fruity, but that hasn’t turned out to be the case, we have found some of them to be more robust in flavor.

A Previous Shipment

Don’t worry, we won’t be trying to tell you what wine to buy or trying to come across like a sommelier.  Occasionally, we might let you know about a wine that we’ve found interesting, but mostly trying new wines is just something that we like to do for ourselves.  If you like wine, try experimenting with different grape varieties, different brands, different flavor profiles, etc.  Sometimes you’ll find some duds that you don’t like at all, but there will be other times where you’ll find that special wine that becomes your new favorite.

Cabernet Sauvignon