Winery News

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is the perfect time of year to reflect and give thanks to all who make our lives better by just being in them!  To all of our supportive member wineries and their staff, all of our growers, our affiliate members and our entire family of partners – and to You – our treasured guests (without whom we wouldn’t exist!), please accept our humble thanks.

If there are any out there who would give thanks to NOT have to cook, you can thank both South Coast Winery and Thornton Winery for doing it for you.  Both are accepting reservations for turkey day dinner now.  Trust me, they’re better at this than most of us!  And if you need a good nights rest after all the over-indulging, Wilson Creek Manor is offering some fantastic rates for which you’ll be truly thankful.

The day after Thanksgiving, aka, Black Friday, bring your family and friends out for a day in wine country.  All of our wineries will be open for the entire weekend – and many are offering once a year discounts on some fabulous wine for the holidays.  Special Black Friday sales events are going on at Cougar, Danza del Sol, Europa Village, Leoness, Lorimar, Oak Mountain, Ponte and Robert Renzoni wineries.  I mean, really!  Where else can you taste before you buy, but at a winery?

Dream Big ~ John Thornton, Thornton Winery

Check in every month where we feature a new interview with a Temecula Valley winery owner. You’ll learn where they came from before settling in Temecula, CA – and what keeps them passionate about the sometimes not-so-glamorous life of a winery owner.

The Thornton Family
l-r: Steve, Sally and John

Our ongoing series this month features John Thornton, of Thornton Winery, one of the valley’s “first”, which opened for business way back in 1988.  Learn why, after almost 30 years, “Mr. T”, as he’s lovingly known to us, still lives and breathes wine.

Why – or how on earth! – did you get into the wine business? And why was Temecula your chosen region?
Well, Sally and I used to travel extensively on business and everywhere we’d visit, we’d try to eat and drink local.  We loved the social aspect of food and wine together.  We thought, “Hey, we can start our own place and offer food and wine and it’ll be easy.” Boy, were we WRONG!  At the time, Ely Callaway was marketing Temecula as the perfect place to make wine and although the area had a small wine industry, we did some research and it did appear to be a “natural” fit for a wine country and poised for growth.

Running a small family winery – even one that’s been around for awhile like Thornton has – must present a unique set of challenges. What keeps you up at night? And what gets you up in the morning?
I think some of the same things that keep most business owners up at night; but for us it’s how to sell our wine, what wines to make, how to keep our customers happy, cash flow….but Steve works this part of the business, so I sleep pretty darn good!  What gets me up in the morning?  I get excited about the challenges in the business actually.  Challenges can be opportunities and we can take a challenge and turn it into something positive.

What do you MOST love about the wine industry?
What I love most about the wine industry is the people.  There are some of the nicest and most genuine people in this industry.  Another thing about this industry that is so great is sharing food and wine with friends;  it’s a wonderful thing.  You add music to that, and you’ve got the perfect combination.

Speaking of music, Champagne Jazz has been a staple in the music industry – and at Thornton – for almost 30 (!) years. Are you proud with its effect on our little wine country?
When we started Champagne Jazz, we never expected it to be what it is today.  It’s had a long life and it’s taken years and a lot of hard work to formulate.  It’s a continuous challenge to combine a food, wine and musical experience that will appeal to a broad audience.  We’re really proud that we’re bringing in some of the best jazz performers in the world. cheapigfollowers.com

Cafe Champagne was THE first restaurant in wine country. That must present its own unique opportunities and challenges?
Our biggest challenge was learning the food business.  It’s a tough business.  You’ve got to do a lot of research and make sure that you’ve got what people want.  You’ve got to come up with menus that appeal to customers and you’ve got to make the prices competitive in order to bring the people in.  The restaurant was originally “high-end”, but it’s now more casual.  Steve’s been teaching me that it isn’t always about what I want!  The customer is always right.  We’ve got to listen to them, try to pair the food and wine well, and make them happy.  We’ve got a lot more competition with our neighbors now, and while this is inevitable, it just keeps us planning and adapting.  We’re watching the valley get better and better and it’s exciting to watch!

Thank a Winemaker Day!

Thank a Winemaker Day!

Gus Viszgirda, Wilson Creek winemaker

A recent photo shared by Wilson Creek Winery, “The Anatomy of a Winemaker”, created by winemaker, Gus Viszgirda, certainly gave us all a laugh. But it also made us think…

Clearly, making great wine is a hands-on profession. And the picture truly illustrates what our winemakers look like to us on any given work day. Gone is the clean clothed, shiny shoe’d, wine sipping winemakers most of our visitors are accustomed to seeing. Most of the time, they’re rubber boot wearing, wine stained cellar dwellars who are dragging hoses, cleaning tanks and topping barrels – all which are part of a days work. Truth be told, most days you couldn’t slap the smile off their faces.  Winemaking truly is a labor of love!

So, in their honor, we’ve decided to declare today, “Thank A Winemaker” day! Let your favorite winemaker know how much you appreciate all the effort that goes into each bottle. Without their dedication, what would we be drinking???

Being Water-Wise

With the drought situation that the state of California is facing, visitors often ask how the lack of rainfall affects our vineyards.

Well, other than the earliest harvest that anyone can remember, the effect on the wine grapevines in the Temecula Valley has been pretty minimal. Most of our wineries reported little to no change in crop size, primarily due to some perfectly-timed early season rain that helped with fruit set in the spring.

As a perennial crop, wine grapevines are a highly efficient, relatively low, water use crop.  And as long standing, good stewards of the land, Temecula Valley’s winegrape growers have focused on water conservation for decades.

We actively encourage the use of sustainable practices that notably conserve water; in particular is the use of drip irrigation systems in all of our vineyards. A valley-wide system of weather stations, complete with soil moisture probes which use sensor technology to determine the level of soil wetness, are located in various vineyards throughout wine country. Our winemakers and vineyard managers have daily access to this data, which allows them to make informed decisions for irrigation.  Temecula Valley vineyards are primarily watered at night and we practice deficit irrigation, which encourages deep rooting.  We also manage the cover crops that grow between the rows of grapevines to mitigate any competition with the grapevines for water.

It’s also important to note that drought cycles are typical in California and that agriculture somehow, continually adapts. Grapevines can withstand drought conditions for a number of years before they feel any ill effects.

Being water wise in our everyday lives – be it in our homes or in our communities – should be the ‘norm’ for each of us. Water is a truly precious commodity that we all need to protect.

Dream Big ~ Oak Mountain Winery

Check in every month where we feature a new interview with our Temecula Valley winemakers and winery owners. You’ll learn where they came from before settling in Temecula, CA – and what keeps them passionate about the sometimes not-so-glamorous art (and science) of making good wine in California.

Steve and Val hard hat-ting it!

Our ongoing series this month features Steve and Valerie Andrews of Oak Mountain Winery. Val’s dad and uncle were in the gourmet wine business back in the 60’s, way before it was popular. And all it took was a wine tasting trip with Val’s dad for Steve to get bit by the winemaking bug.

Why (on earth!) did you get into the wine business?
Well, we were already in love with the wine industry.  We lived on 10 acres, so we just  decided to plant it and try our hands at making some. Next thing we knew, we had three wine barrels of some pretty awesome wine and we just decided it was time to open a winery so we could actually sell all this liquid gold. That was the beginning of our home winery, Windy Ridge Cellars (now Temecula Hills Winery) in 2001.

And why Temecula?
Well, we lived here – and the climate is great for growing grapes. After several years of operating out of our home winery, we purchased the property where we now have Oak Mountain Winery.  We’ve been open since 2005.

So what’s it really like running a family owned and operated winery?
If you don’t love what you do you will never succeed in running a winery. We work seven days a week; 10-12 hours a day. But we DO love it!

What is it you MOST love?
We love the people we meet, the other winery owners and the lifestyle we live. We love the continuing education we receive at seminars – and what we learn from talking to other winemakers and owners. We love that there’s endless opportunities that the winery can offer to our guests. It allows us to be creative in our label designs, our tours and special deals, and our parties and events. We make each of them our own. For us it’s a shared interest we both love to explore. Injectable preparations are a special category of substances in pharmacology. They help athletes achieve the results they need. Thus, most athletes choose this particular category of steroids. It has also been proven that injectable steroids have minimal toxic effects on the human liver. You can buy in on roid supplements uk online shop . Because the components of the drug instantly enter the human circulatory system. Injectable steroids are manufactured in solution form. This is usually an oil solution.

So, on the opposite side of that, what keeps you awake at night?
There are challenges with running a small family business. The mix of all of our family’s personalities – working together every day – it’s a challenge for sure. But we like challenges! And, it makes us happy almost all of the time.

And the Caves! What does it mean to have (almost!) completed a project of this magnitude? I mean, really! How lucky are we???
The caves. A huge insightful undertaking! Two years in planning and nine months of digging. We’re still looking at about three more months to finish up all the little details. There is nothing like this in Southern California. When you get the chance to tour our caves, we promise you that you’ll feel like you’re on a mini vacation to Europe; like being sent back in time. We’re so excited and proud to have the first mined cave in Southern California. We just can’t wait for it to be finished!

Celebrating the end of the 2014 harvest season!

Sick of hot summer days? Well, you’re in luck. Astronomically speaking, anyway!

Okay, so we haven’t unpacked anything winter yet, we’re not closing our windows at night, and there’s really no crispness in the air, but autumn really is here! Autumnal Equinox, that key moment in the earth’s annual orbit, when day time and night time are equal in length, arrived on September 23rd. And “weather” we like it or not, it signals the beginning of fall.

And for us here in wine country, it signifies the end of our harvest season. Just about everything in the valley is picked, crushed, punched down and pumped over. The wines have settled down for their long winter’s nap, all snug in tank or barrel. The winemaker’s work is done. Ha! Not really, but at least now they can get a day or two off and enjoy some well-deserved rest.
But what do WE do? We get ready to celebrate! And make merry we will, at our upcoming Harvest Celebration on November 1 and 2, 2014. Not only commemorating the end of the harvest season, but re-tasting all those unfinished wines that were barrel sampled last year which are now bottled and ready for release. Rating online casinos: https://www.gamblers.casino Play and win!

So join us for two, fun-filled days of wine and food sampling at our 30+ member wineries. Tickets are on sale now. Don’t miss out!

Temecula Valley Eateries Strut Their Stuff at CRUSH 2014

We know you’ve got a crush on Temecula Valley wines, but how about all the good eats that are available in and around our wine country?

Guests to the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association’s 5th Annual CRUSH – A Wine and Culinary Extravaganza – held at Wiens Family Cellars this coming Saturday, September 13, 2014, will be able to partake in some fabulous foods to accompany a tasting of almost 100 award-winning Temecula Valley wines.

Do classic Chicken Caprese sandwiches sound yummy? Sangio’s Deli at Cougar Winery will be serving them! How about Tuscan Braised Chicken Osso Bucco from Vineyard Rose at South Coast Winery? Bruschetta Murrieta from The Mill in Murrieta? Or how about some Shrimp and Grits from the folks at Cork Fire Kitchen at Temecula Creek Inn?

Heart of House Catering is serving up Prime Rib, La Bella Vita is offering a trio of goodies and Temecula Olive Oil Company will be offering a lovely array of oils and vinegars. Baily’s Old Town is serving open-face Sloppy Joe’s, Meritage at Callaway has a duo of Chicken Pate and Veal Truffle Sausage. The Pinnacle at Falkner is serving their famous Mediterranean Orzo Pasta with Grilled Octopus, MDO Bistro’s offering is Pulled Pork Tacos and Temecula Catering has prepared a Smoked Salmon Mousse in Squid Ink.

Bushfire Grill and Crow’s Pass Farms will be firing up their grills – and for dessert, there’s a “hole” lotta yum from Nothing Bundt Cakes, fabulous sorbets from Nice, Ice, Baby! and a sweet surprise that includes Cinsault Port from the Restaurant at Leoness.

Our host winery, Wiens Family Cellars is pairing their wines with Vineyard Gourmet Catering, who is serving up a couple of winery favorites: a Smoked Salmon Roulade and Prime Flank Steak with Potato and Peppers.

Come join in on the fun! Limited tickets are still available.

It’s Squeezin’ Season!

Harvesting Temecula Valley Pinot Grigio

Yep, it’s that time again!

Harvest hit a bit early this year as we continue to experience drought conditions throughout the State.  The little bit of rain we saw earlier in the year gave our vines a good start and a warm, toasty spring helped push things along to the earliest harvest we’ve ever seen in Temecula.

Our winemakers are excited to report that the quality and consistency they’re seeing in the harvested grapes so far has been fabulous.  Most all of our white varietals are picked and in and while a few of the red varietals have come in, most of them are still hanging around enjoying a long, slow ripening.

It’s a beautiful time to visit us in wine country.  Not only is it fun to see all the ripening fruit hanging on the vines, but there’s lots of action in both the vineyards and the winery cellars.  And it’s kinda fun watching them work so hard!  They can’t wait for harvest time to get here – and they can’t wait for it to be over!

But while it is a mad, mad ride, it’s what our vineyard guys, our winemakers and all of our cellar crews truly live for.  And prepare for.  And lose sleep over.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

California Wine Month

Knowing that California is celebrated for its scenic beauty and lifestyle – and in celebration of the upcoming California Wine Month in September – the Wine Institute recently shared “10 Reasons To Love California Wine”.

California Wine Month 2014

Actually, we can think of hundreds of reasons to love our wines, but see what Wine Institute has to say here!

You can celebrate California Wine Month, Temecula style all month long with SIP passports, which allow ticketholders to choose any four wineries to taste, any day, for just $40!  Or, join us for CRUSH, our annual wine and culinary showcase on September 13, 2014, at Wiens Family Cellars.  Either – or both – are great ways to celebrate Septembers’ California Wine Month and offer two additional reasons to love California wines.

Temecula Valley Wines on the Road

On Tuesday, August 19, 2014, you’ll find Temecula Valley wines at the 25th Annual Taste of Mainstreet in downtown Encinitas. Representing the Temecula Valley at various storefront “Sip Stops”, Baily, Callaway, Danza del Sol, Europa Village, Falkner, Hart, Leoness, Monte De Oro, Vindemia and Wiens wineries will be pouring their award winning wines. Advance tickets are just $35, including food, wine and beer (for those 21+). Same day tickets (if available), will be $45. Click here for ticket information.

And on Saturday, August 23, 2014, from 4-7pm, you’ll find us at the Uncorked Wine Walk at Westfield UTC. Here you’ll savor wines from 12 Temecula Valley wineries including Bel Vino, Callaway, Falkner, Hart, Leoness, Lorimar, Maurice Car’rie, Oak Mountain, Palumbo, South Coast, Vindemia and Wilson Creek while tasting bites from UTC’s newest restaurants. Tickets are still available; purchase them here. One of the best ways to go viral on tiktok is to buy tiktok followers , it is fast and secure and will help you boost your tiktok

We hope to see you there!