Our next winery stop on the recent trip to the Temecula Valley in Southern California was Lorimar Vineyards and Winery, a beautiful property on Anza Road, just off Rancho California Road. It’s in the heart of the winery area. When you walk up to the winery entrance you find a Tuscan style building with manicured grounds and gardens. Inside is a comfortable tasting room to your right, and a restaurant to your left. Music is also a major part of the experience here, and they have live music on premises most days and nights. You’ll get reinforcement of that when you see the bottle labels, which feature a musical note. This
place was made to be a fusion of wine, art, music and food.
That dream belonged to brothers-in-law Mark Manfield and the late Lawrie Lipton. They started in an initial tasting room in the Old Town district of the city before opening the current winery in 2012. The estate vineyards are home to many varietals. You’ll see wines 
made from Tuscan staples like Sangiovese, but the major international varietals are represented as well as a few others such as Tempranillo and Barbera. They do make quite a few wines, but it is the reds that really shine. That tends to be the case throughout the valley.
PJ was our host for the journey through Lorimar’s wines. He was extremely knowledgable and a great guide. At the end of the day we tried ten different wines, and we’ll review the highlights below.
2020 Tempranillo Riserva – this is dark, purple red in color, with a nose of berries, orange and wood. It is medium bodied and fruit driven. Tannins are brisk and it finished quite long. Overall this is a very nice wine. $64
2019 MPV – a blend of Mouvedere and Petite Sirah, this has a rich nose of berries, some earth, vanilla, tobacco,
orange peel and more. It is really complex. A great fruit core continues throughout. Some chocolate comes in late on the palate. It has excellent length and is an excellent wine, smooth and rich. $58 and good value.
2020 Cabernet Sauvignon – dark ruby in color, this shows cherry, berry, wood and a hint of caramel on the nose. Tannins are brisk here, and it needs some time to level out. Cheri loved it just the way it is. I would decant an hour before serving. $62
2019 Meritage – a classic Bordeaux style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Merlot and
Malbec, the wine is a medium dark ruby in color. It has lots of berries, some floral notes and oak. On the palate, the juice is smooth with medium+ tannins, good acid and balance. This is top shelf stuff, drinking well now but with good aging potential. $62 and a good value. One of the best of the tasting.
2019 Malbec – this wine is extremely herbal. Sage hits you first, then rosemary, then dill. The fruit rides underneath and emerges more as the wine expands. It has good length and none of the dirt some Malbecs can exhibit. Different. $62
2019 Montepulciano – there is a little Petite Sirah and Zinfandel in here, and it works. Blackberry, blueberry and
vanilla frame a rich, full bodied wine with a fruit driven core. It is well integrated, smooth and still edgy. This is an excellent wine. Another favorite of the tasting. $66 and good value.
2020 Petite Sirah – this is a very dark wine with purple edges, as you would expect. Dark fruit dominates with plum accentuated with a little blackberry. There are also some 
herbal and wood notes. It is a classic Californian Petite Sirah with medium+ tannins that build at the end. There is a nice edge to this and it should age well. It’s a beautiful wine and the equal of top examples from Sonoma and Napa. This was also one of our favorites. $62 and a good value.
The red wines at Lorimar are quite impressive, and we enjoyed them. The Mertitage, Montepulciano and Petite Sirah really shine, and it is hard to pick a favorite from the three. Given the restaurant and number of live music events during the week, this is a place you can really spend some time at. Unfortunately for us we didn’t have that luxury as we had a schedule to keep, but if you do have some free time while visiting the valley this is a good place to spend it. You can learn more about Lorimar on their website: https://www.lorimarwinery.com/.
A votre santé!
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