Two years ago this November, Wilmer Yabar opened Masía de Yabar on De Portola Road in Temecula. He and his partners Waleed Jouzy and Carlos Riva have now opened a tasting room in Old Town and last night they offered a sneak peek to members of the press and trade. Located on 5th Street between Delaney’s 100 Mile Market and Palumbo’s Ristoranté, the new tasting room is colorful, comfortable and a welcome addition to Old Town.
Wilmer and Carlos are both natives of Perú, while Waleed was born in Lebanon. Wilmer and Carlos both practice dentistry, but in 2003, Wilmer planted roughly 75 acres of Malbec in Argentina. They met Waleed at the DePortola location and came up with the idea of opening a tasting room in Old Town. Like the De Portola location, the Old Town location will offer not only wine, but live music and food, too.
During last night’s sneak preview, Francesco Cusimano of Rustico Ristoranté & Pizzeria was serving pizza and salad. Diego de Jesus Mondragon provided the evening’s entertainment with his trio, playing both violin and percussion.
I tasted the Viognier, Monastrell, Tempranillo, Garnacha, Zinfandel and Cabernet and capped it off with a glass of Masía de Yabar’s excellent Sangria. The focus is on Spanish varietals and Steve Andrews from Oak Mountain Winery and Benny Rodriguez from The Inn at Churon are handling the wine making. The wines are all quite good, my favorites being the Monastrell and Garnacha.
Wilmer Yabar, Carlos Rivas and Waleed Jouzy
Francesco Cusimano
Diego Mondragon
Pete
The tasting room is tentatively scheduled to open by this coming weekend. As soon as there’s official word, I’ll post it on out Facebook and twitter pages. Masía de Yabar – Urban Winery in old Town Temecula, 41955 5th Street. (951) 506-5963
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- 2005 Masía De Yabar Garnacha (winecommonsewer.com)