Hidden Temecula Wine Treasures

Last weekend, Dr Desert Flower and I drove out to Temecula to hang out with DDF's friends and former co-workers Matt & Justin who have memberships to several Temecula wineries and who live in near-by Rainbow.  Now, having grown up and gone to school in Indiana and driven past places like Oliver Winery North of Bloomington for years, as well as having tasted Western North Carolina wines, some Washington and Oregon wines, and some experimental Arizona wines, I was understandably skeptical that a small region like Temecula might be "less than delicious" ... but I with-held my judgement until after I had a chance to taste the actual fruit of the vine.



We began at Peltzer Winery in Temecula, where Matt and Justin met us, wine glasses in hand.  I'd tasted a double magnum of what I Thought was Peltzer several years ago at a work function, and I did not recall finding it to be very memorable nor delicious.  My first glass of Sauvignon Blanc at Peltzer last weekend was delicious, flavorful, refreshing, and delightful.  Being the designated driver, I kept it to one glass while DDF bought 4 bottles of the vintages she enjoyed.

The 2nd winery we visited was Masia de la Vinya, which Justin and Matt (of course) had a membership to as well, so we enjoyed the member's only entrance, glasses, and prices.  Another remarkable white wine, over-looking 10 to 15 miles of picturesque valley as we sat on the hill top at Masia de la Vinya.  Truly pleasant, delightful.  "This does not suck" was mentioned several times.

Matt & Justin have 2 other memberships to other wineries, but after a good 3 hours of tasting Temecula wines, our five-some was already pretty well saturated and in need of more substantial food than just tasty wines... so we'll have to go back another time, to visit the remaining two preferred wineries.  It's not even an hour's drive up I-15 to get there!