Wine down Wednesday - Wine tasting review: Temecula.

It was a wine tasting weekend for me! My friend Liz and I took our first night away from our little ones. Our husbands watched our little ones and we were on our way!

We went to the following wineries:

Leonesse Cellars
I talk about this winery quite often. This is one of the first wineries I've joined. The wine there is the BEST in the valley. Period. There are 3 types of membership at Leonesse. 1. CS (Cellar Select), 2. VS (Vineyard Select), and 3. SS (Signature Select). I belong to the SS membership. The bottles are generally $90.00 a bottle (if your not a member), and $70.00 if you are. They are the best of what Leonesse has to ofter. The wine shipment is quarterly. :)

Some of the wines we tasted and really enjoyed were (just going to name a few):

Limited Collection Series SEVEN - Tasty! I bought this wine because I missed out on SIX since I was pregnant last year! ;)

Melange De Reves (which my next SS shipment is the SS Melange). - EXCITED PEOPLE!! Very good middle of the road blend red.
$28.00 for non members.

Melange de Rêves is a very special blend of Syrah, Cinsaut, Mourvedre and Grenache. Medium bodied with lively aromas and flavors of cherry and raspberry with hints of smoky tobacco and black pepper, this wine was aged for 19 months in small French oak barrels.

Barrel Tasting Room at Leonesse.

2007 SS Cabernet Sauvignon
$90.00 for non members
When you go to Leonesse this bottle is usually waiting in the decanter for you to taste. If your there you must taste anything that is an SS. I HIGHLY recommend the wine at Leonesse. I have to say I've never met anyone at Leonesse that doesn't like to work there. They are proud of their wines and are very knowledgeable.

Wiens
I used to belong to Wiens. They have pretty good red wines. When I went down my list of memberships this one didn't make the cut. There is so many wineries in CA and I need to keep my options and other memberships open! I belong to too many to name. ;)

GROW BABY GROW! ;)

I did purchase one for Grant so that we could have that on a date night.

2007 Reserve Petite Sirah
$59.00 for non members
Spicy dark fruit, and toasted oak notes.

Mount Palomar
With all the years I've been going to Temecula, I have never been there. I've seen the winery, but never actually gone.

The wine was ok. I didn't buy anything. Nothing really stood out. Perhaps because it was busy and really crowded I lost interest? There was a couple that wouldn't stop talking to Liz and I so I was very distracted the entire time. YIKES. The winery itself might be the prettiest winery in Temecula. It's gorgeous (wish I would have taken more pictures of the winery). I also found out it was owned by Greeks... perhaps because of that reason alone I should go back?

They have a restaurant on site. The food smelt good. I will definitely come back to the restaurant and try it. Maybe re-taste as well.

Churon
The only reason why we went there is because we were staying there. The winery has a bed and breakfast. They had a free tasting for people staying at the hotel from 5:30-6:30pm. Liz and I got down to the tasting around 6:15pm (after we were all checked in) and we didn't get great service. I'M ALL ABOUT SERVICE. If I don't get proper attention I will not only not buy the wine, but I wont go back. And then winegirl15 will blog about it! ha ha. JK. I didn't think the wine was all that good in general. I don't recommend the winery. The rooms were ok. For $295.00 a night I would have rather stayed at the villas at South Coast Winery. I was able to negotiate the room for $250.00, but still...

You live and you learn. I was proud I went out of my box to try new things, but I'll continue to go to my favorite places.

I will list those for you:
LEONESSE
MONTE DE ORO
WIENS
SOUTH COAST WINERY.

To end Churon on a good note is that the people were friendly (despite the girl at the tasting room... she may have just been stressed with the amount of people tasting), and they had a Tempranillo that was decent.

View from our room. Pretty.

On Sunday, we Toms Farms in Corona, CA. I highly recommend this open market. They have fresh produce, nuts, candy, wine, etc. They have live music on the weekends as well. Growing up my parents would take my brother and I there. We would buy lunch meats, bread, cheese, and drinks and sit out on the tables and listen to the music. Then on the way home my mom would buy produce. It wasn't very close to our home but it was a place we went every so often. If your close, or going to be in the area... GO!

Cheers,
winegirl15