Cheri and I recently spent some time in San Diego on vacation, and part of that was a two day stop in the Temecula Valley. If you’re a wine lover and you find yourself in the San Diego area, you really should take the hour and twenty minute drive to a serious wine making region and fun destination. There are a lot of wineries in Temecula, and there are some very serious and world class wines being made there. Of course not everything is great, but a good number of them are.
I had visited the Temcula Valley about five years ago, and you can read about that here. Back then I was impressed
Mountains and Vineyards
with some of the wineries I visited on a single day. Others left a less positive impression. This time we stayed in the
valley for two nights at a winery inn. We went tasting at five wineries, which had been suggested by the Temecula Winegrower’s Association. One of these was a repeat from my first experience, and that was even better than the first time. We’ll get into reviews of the individual wineries and wines in later articles, but here we’ll give you an overview of the inn, the restaurants we tried and the general vibe of a few days in the valley. We should note that we went during the week, on a Wednesday and Thursday. This makes a world of difference, as on weekends the people flock in, the buses are rolling everywhere, and some of the wineries are almost impossible to get into. When you go on a weekend you will have a hectic, somewhat hurried and far less intimate experience. We really recommend visiting mid-week if possible.
The valley is about an hour and twenty minutes from San Diego airport, and we headed straight there after picking
up our rental car. Wasting no time, we pulled into the parking area at Leoness Cellars. There will be a separate article on our tasting here, but we’ll sumarize by saying the tasting room is comfortable and inviting. They have a restaurant on site and the wines were surprisingly good, especially the Vineyard and Signature Series wines, however their more entry level Cellar series also had some notable wines. This was well worth a visit.
Next on the agenda was a winery almost right next door on DePortola Road. Gershon Bachus is a smaller establishment, and focuses solely on their wines. You won’t find live bands, bus 
loads of rabid weekend drinkers, or a restaurant. What you will find is a quieter, more intimate experience that puts the winemaker’s efforts front and center. On the back veranda, surrounded by vineyards, you can take the time to appreciate the wine. We loved some of these, especially the Bordeaux blend. This will also warrant a dedicated review to come soon. We wished we had more time, and stayed longer than planned as it was.
The late afternoon view from the Gershon Bachus terrace.
With two wineries under our belt, after a very early east coast morning and flights, it was time to head to the Ponte Vineyard Inn to check in and get some dinner. We went directly to the Restaurant at Ponte Vineyard as it was getting late and we had a reservation. The dining here is al fresco, under a shaded canopy. They also have screens they can roll down on the sides, and some hedges around the edge. With the early evening sun low on the horizon, we still had to move around a bit to get mostly shaded, and even then we had about 20 minutes before the sun set behind the hedges. It was a cool and comfortable night, so we weren’t too worried about that.
I started with a glass of moscato, which was pretty forgetable to be honest. It must have been open a while as it came out with no bubbles whatsoever. They probably should not have served it, and I probably should have sent it back, but we were on vacation so let it go. Both of us ordered seafood and a salad. The salads arrived quickly, however Cheri’s was dressed rather than having the dressing on the side as requested. Again we let that go. Then about halfway through the salads the entrees showed up and were pushed onto the table. This was unacceptable, but we again made do and finished our salads while we were starting our main course. Those main courses both featured badly overcooked seafood. Cheri’s halibut was dry as a bone and burnt and crispy on the edges. My seafood pasta had brutally hammered shrimp and well overdone scallops. This was a major miss all around, on both service and food. It was also not cheap, and was one of the most expensive meals we had in Temecula. We cannot recommend the Restaurant at Ponte Vineyards based on this experience.
We will say the inn is beautiful and the location is great. We had a king junior suite in the newer annex, and awoke
to the sun rising over the vineyards which we could appreciate from our private balcony. One morning a hot air ballon was in the air just over a nearby hill, creating a picture postcard vista. The reception staff was excellent, as was the lobby. There is a bar we did not get to. There is also a second restaurant, called Bouquet, off the main lobby which served breakfast. This one got weird, as one morning we waited for a table for 15 minutes when the dining room inside was empty. The second day we had a schedule to keep so didn’t have a lot of extra time. We showed up to another almost empty dining room (there was one table seated inside). On the outside patio there were 4-5 tables seated. We were given a wait time of 35 minutes. When I asked why, they said something about incoming reservations and that their servers were all “full”. We left and made due with a protein bar for our ride to La Jolla that morning. It was strange as both times we went for breakfast there was nobody there, but for some reason they could not seat us. Considering the quiet and beautiful rooms in the annex, comfortable beds and peaceful setting we would stay here again. We would just plan to dine elsewhere.
Our balcony view at Ponte Vineyard Inn
Other wineries warrant a mention and a future review. These are Baily Vineyards, Lorimar and Lorenzi. Baily was actually one I had visited on my earlier trip, and experienced a six wine vertical of their Cabernet Sauvignon
Phil Baily
offered at their estate tasting room. This small,intimate tasting room is located at their production facility on Pauba Road, although they have another, large tasting facility on Rancho California Road as well. We did the Cabernet vertical again, with a mix of new vintages as well as repeats from the first trip. What really made it special was that Phil Baily came in and poured the wines for us. What a great hour and a half with the longest continuously operating, initial owner of a Temecula Winery. The wines were great as well, just as I remembered.
A vertical tasting of Baily Cabernet Sauvignon
Lorimar is more of the multi-faceted winery that dot the landscape here. They have a restaurant and are known for their live music, featured six days a week. It was quiet on a Thursday afternoon, and we had a chance to leisurely taste through their offerings. The reds really shine here.
Last was Lorenzi. This winery has received some high scores, and was actually talked about highly by people at several of the other wineries we visited. We tasted through a good part of their lineup with some mixed results, and will get into the details in their dedicated review.
The entrance to Lorimar
Another notable from our time in the valley was the Bolero Restaurant at Europa Village. This spanish, tapas style restaurant was exceptional. We sampled five different dishes, all of which were tasty and very well presented. If you dine here, there are three areas. A quiet, more refined inside dining room is sandwiched between outdoor areas. One of those had live music playing. Europa Village is a huge complex, and Bolero is to the left as you drive in.
Grilled octopus at Bolero
Also worth mentioning was the restaurant at Altesima Winery. We stopped here for a quick lunch in between tastings, and found an elegant dining room,
A great salad at Altesima
excellent menu and great salads. We had the impression that everything was probably good. Unfortunately we did not have a chance to try the wines here. Like most restaurants in Temecula, there are outdoor eating areas, both under a large shade canopy as well as individual tables with umbrellas. In late September the temperatures were still in the mid-80s during the day, so we always opted for inside dining.
The Temecula Valley is serious wine making area. It is also a great destination, with wineries, restaurants and plenty of choices of wine country inns and hotels. There is also a large Old Town area with bars, shops and more restaurants. We just scratched the surface of the winery options, and could see ourselves returning someday.
If you’re looking for a new wine region to visit, this might be a great option. Of course, San Deigo is just a short drive away, so you can combine them into one trip, which is what we did. More on that later as well.
A votre santé!
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