Gray skies, temperatures on the chilly side and a few drops of rain couldn’t deter hundreds of wine lovers from enjoying the World of Wine barrel tasting event presented this past weekend by the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association. 27 wineries offered tastes of their wines, though not all offered barrel samples. If you check out my ticket on the right side of the page, you’ll note I paid a visit to every single participating winery. Ah, the sacrifices I make in being a wine writer.

I tip my cap to the Temecula Valley Wine Society who did a stellar job checking people in, pouring wine, serving food and so much more. It was great to see Marshall Stuart, Jim & Christine Hart, Dorian & Les Linkogle, Ray Falkner, Nick Palumbo, Marcello & Damian Doffo, Robert Renzoni, Bob Olson (owner of Danza del Sol, formerly Filsinger), Jennifer & Rick Buffington, Phil Baily, Steve & Valerie Andrews and to meet South Coast’s head Chef Dean Thomas, Van Roekel winemaker Gus Vizgirda and Dave & Gail Bradley, owners of Read more »

“All we wanted to do was make good wine and get people coming here.” I first met Audrey Cilurzo at Wilson Creek Winery during last year’s Harvest Celebration. Audrey was signing copies of Temecula Wine Country, the book she and her husband Vince wrote with Rebecca Farnbach,  part of the Images of America series. Vince had spent years as a television lighting director in Los Angeles and in 1967 they were on the waiting list to open a McDonald’s franchise in Escondido. On the way, they passed through the sleepy town of Rancho California (later to become Temecula), population: 350. They did some exploring and met Brack Hale, grandson of the inventor of the Hale Telescope on Mt. Palomar, who was one of the valley’s two real estate agents. Audrey says “We just fell in love with this whole valley and Read more »

This past Thursday at The Wine Company in Temecula, twenty fortunate souls had the opportunity to visit with John Ogden from Sonoma County’s Olson Ogden Wines.  John brought five of his wines along, two Pinot Noirs and three Syrahs all from the 2007 vintage, and shared the Olson Ogden philosophy of winemaking with us while we sampled his fares. John started the winery with good friend Tim Olson in 2002. Tim is the winemaker and John handles publicity. They source all their fruit and have no tasting room, but if you call ahead, you may be invited for a barrel tasting. He told us that their focus is on food friendly wines with good acidity. The first was Read more »

It was a picture perfect day in Temecula Wine Country for Valentine’s Day. I’ll let the photos do the talking.

Fountain At Thornton Winery

Gift Shop at Thornton Winery

Table at Thornton Winery

Wilson Creek Winery

Wilson Creek

Masia de Yabar

Tasting Room at masia de Yabar

Mocha The Wine Dog at Cougar Winery

Jamie Schmutzer at Cougar

Table at Cougar

Robert Renzoni Tasting Room

Italian Lesson at Renzoni

Dan Atwood

Dan Atwood launched the Counter Club at the Wine Company in Temecula several months ago. His idea was to have his distributors bring in a selection of wines and let his customers, for a nominal fee, taste the wines with him, waived if you purchase any of the wines presented. It’s been a runaway success. I’ve only missed a few of these events and yesterday’s raised the bar to a new level. Les and Dorian Linkogle, the owners of Briar Rose Winery stopped by with a generous sampling of their wines. They brought former Major League baseball player and Read more »

Future site of Lorimar Winery's visitor center & tasting room

“I’ve got a song in my heart, and I want our visitors to have a song in their hearts when they spend time here.” Temecula’s newest winery, Lorimar, has a music note on several of its bottles. When I asked co-owner Mark Manfield why, that was the answer I received. Mark grew up in the bar and restaurant business, working in his dad’s restaurant in Kansas City, MO since he was nine years old. When he left college he took over the bar and remained in charge until they lost the family business they had owned since 1948 to eminent domain. Mark moved to California and got into real estate and Read more »

The IFWTWA “Conference At Sea” was an opportunity for a group of writers to not only enjoy a cruise on the Caribbean, but also to see the inner workings of a cruise ship. As a wine writer, I was curious to see the challenges faced by a Cellar Master whose job includes making sure that more than a thousand different wine drinkers each week are happy with what they are offered. Fernando Bacsa has a passion for what he does and he clearly loves his work. He has been with Holland America for thirteen years now and says “it’s not just a company, this is my family.” He does have a family at home in the Philippines, though; a wife and three children. His two sons want to follow in his footsteps and are already in training to work for Holland America.

Fernando got a degree in hotel operations in the Philippines and then began work as a catering supervisor in Libya, working for Moammar Kadafi in the Presidential Palace for five years. He was also employed by Nelson Mandela, so you can safely call him Read more »