I really love living in the Temecula Valley. I cherish the small town feel, its proximity to San Diego and Los Angeles, and of course its world class wineries. I have a handful of favorites and Thornton Winery is among them. A while ago I sat down with the winemaker and tasted their latest releases, which I consider to be among the winery’s finest.

We began with the 2009 Viognier, made with grapes from Hart Vineyards and Summit Vineyard on De Portolo Road. The first thing you notice is peach and honeysuckle on the nose. This is a wine filled with delicate flavors, good acidity and a satisfying finish. I think it’s Read more »

I recently got an email from Vernon Kindred, one of the two winemakers at Fallbrook Winery. They had just bottled some of their 2008 vintages and he was anxious to have me try them. I stopped by yesterday, visited with Vernon and owner Ira Gourvitz and tasted four new wines. There are some tasty treats heading your way.

As you’ll notice in the photo to the left, these wines haven’t been labeled yet. They’re not likely Read more »

Charlie Curry isn’t a big believer in small talk. He chooses his words carefully. His passion shines through clearly, however. He loves making wine. His journey began in the Bay Area, when he took an apprenticeship out of high school and became a chef at the Winery Restaurants in Foster City and Palo Alto. In the ’70s bulk wine from Napa was so cheap they served it free with your meal. You could choose Cabernet, Chardonnay or Rosé. Charlie went on to sell meat and seafood from the Napa Valley to the Peninsula for the next 15 years. During that time, he became more and more interested in winemaking. He and his wife and family began visiting friends in Temecula in the early 90s and Charlie saw the potential for not only making good wine there, but also saw it as an ideal place to live. In 2000 he purchased Read more »

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 »

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 »

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 »