Mike Rennie and Gary Winder are first and foremost farmers. Gary was farming citrus and avocados in the 70s and then began farming grapes. Mike owned a farming company with more than 400 acres of grapes. There were always overages that didn’t get harvested so “it made sense to open a winery.” Like many winery owners, making wine started innocently enough. “Slowly it developed to where we bottled some and people started to buy it. It kind of took on a life of its own.” Mike and Gary decided they’d try their hand at opening a winery.

When they decided to locate the winery on De Portola Road, more than a few eyebrows were raised. There were only two other wineries on the road at the time: Keyways and Filsinger. Keyways was open only occasionally; Filsinger was open on weekends only. Several owners of wineries on Rancho California Road told them Read more »

Bryan Cass & Blake "The Pourfessional" Ball

Lounge Six

It was a busy week for wine aficionados  in Southern California. Last Monday I went to San Diego to the beautiful Lounge Six at the Solamar Hotel in downtown for R & R Wine Marketing‘s Spring Portfolio Tasting. The weather was picture perfect and the views were awesome… Petco Park, the downtown skyline and the Pacific Ocean.

I was also introduced to some Read more »

Bob Olson & Mike Tingley

“If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be in Southern California as a winery owner I would have told you you were crazy!” Filsinger Winery was one of the first wineries in the Temecula Valley. William Doc Filsinger produced wines on the De Portola Wine Trail for nearly 30 years. Recently, Doc sold the property to Bob Olson and Filsinger Winery is being transformed into Danza del Sol. I met with Bob and his winemaker Mike Tingley recently, got a tour of the property and Read more »

The weather was ideal. Escondido was the perfect venue for Rhythm and Vine, a fundraiser for the Greater San Diego Boys & Girls Club. Three different musical acts enlivened the evening and food and drink was plentiful. Silent auction items ranged from bottles of wine and spirits, wine tours, fine and casual dining to autographed memorabilia from Bruce Springsteen and Celine Dion.

John Torres

John Torres performed an acoustic set as attendees surveyed the silent auction items. When the event doors opened at 6:00, Read more »

“Oh, you’re Craig Larson, the winemaker. You’re the key.” Craig was having dinner at Meritage at Callaway with his wife one evening when someone came up and said that to him. Craig has been Callaway’s winemaker for the past two years now. He says there’s a lot of pressure when you come into a winery as a new winemaker because you really have to prove yourself. “That’s a lot of responsibility.”

Craig is Canadian born and began his love affair with wine at the age of 15 or 16. His brother began introducing him to French Bordeaux and Italian Chianti and it was love at first sip. Many people have to acquire a taste for dry red wines, but not Craig. When he makes wine, his Read more »

This is what it’s all about. People getting together to help one another. Saturday, April 17, the 2nd Annual Rhythm & Vine will feature wine tasting, gourmet food, live music and auctions to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego, an organization lending a hand to more than 23,000 youth annually at 17 San Diego locations. It promises to be an amazing evening and with any luck much needed funds will be raised for this worthy organization.

Food will be provided by Champagne French Bakery Café, Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill and Truluck’s Seafood, Steak and Crab House to name a few. Wineries from Temecula, Read more »

Marco Caporole warming up the '07 Estate Cab

It somehow seems each time we visit Paso Robles we enjoy ourselves more than the time before. This visit was no exception. Starting with dinner with friends Thursday night, we visited wineries Friday and Saturday and savored all that is Paso Robles. Sunday morning began with a visit to Hoover’s Beef Palace in Templeton. We first dined at Hoover’s last year and this was our third visit. The food is delicious, the portions are humongous and the atmosphere is, well, unique. Laura ordered the French Toast with fresh blackberries, Denny & Jodi shared a Chili Verde omelet and both had more than enough to eat and I ordered Mark’s Mean & Meaty omelet. I’m not exaggerating when I say I ate less than a quarter of it and couldn’t squeeze in one more bite. Candy, Mark’s wife threatened to make me wash dishes as penance until she saw we were taking the rest with us.

Mike Giubbini & Gail

We went straight to Rotta Winery where we were reunited with our new found friend Gail who poured for us while Read more »