Hart - Temecula

Hart comes highly recommended by others in the Temecula Valley. One of the oldest wineries in Temecula, Hart is a wonderful little stop. The tasting room is very small, but a recent rearrangement has opened it up quite a bit. We had a great time at Hart, enjoying the company of other guests.

Unfortunately, Hart's wines are hit or miss. The volcano ridge wines are very good, but fairly expensive. We have purchased the 2002 Cab from them in the past, but the current vintage (2003) isn't nearly as good. They also sell a Zinfandel from the Lopez Ranch in Cucamonga, and it isn't worth purchasing. They had a very limited bottling of Barbera which was good and reasonably priced, so we took a bottle home.

If you are a red wine fiend, Hart is worth a stop because there are some gems here, but there are better choices in the Temecula Valley.

Joel

Baily - Temecula

Baily is usually a quick stop for us, as we love their Sangiovese. It is very good, and very reasonably priced, especially for Temecula. This is the perfect burger or pizza wine (ok, Fenestra's True Red holds the title for the very best pizza wine) and we usually pop in and pickup a few bottles. Today we did a full tasting, and it merited a writeup.

The "TV Red" Sangiovese continues to be excellent, and we purchased several bottles as per our custom. The other standouts on their menu were an excellent Cabernet Sauvignon, and their Meritage. Baily's Meritage is the most expensive wine I've ever purchased in Temecula, at around $40 per bottle. That's Steven Kent territory, and a wine has to really be exceptional to get me to spend in this price range. We bought another bottle today, in addition to the Cabernet and our usual Sangiovese.

Baily has a very attractive facility, with a nice tasting room and a restaurant that we have never been in. Baily should be part of any Temecula wine tour.

Joel

Calloway - Temecula

Across the street from Thornton is Calloway, a winery we had never been to before. Calloway looks fairly industrial from the street, but don't be deceived. There is treasure hidden inside. The tasting room has a fantastic view, and they've taken full advantage of it with large windows looking out over the Temecula valley.

They have two flights of wines you can taste, a regular and a reserve. The reserve is worth the extra $5, but I would skip the first two red wines and have them pour the first two red wines out of the "regular" flight. The Merlot and Syrah, both part of the "regular" flight were quite good. In fact, the one wine we took home with us was the Syrah. On the other hand, the final three reds are well worth tasting in the reserve flight.

Calloway was a pleasant surprise. We didn't expect much, but really enjoyed our visit.

Joel

Thornton - Temecula

Wow, where to start. Well, first of all, that's part of the problem. Unlike every other winery I've ever been to, Thornton does not have a wine tasting bar. Instead you have to sit down in the "Champagne Cafe" at a table, get a menu, talk to a waitress etc. Rather than a traditional flight for tasting they have preset "groups" that you can pay to taste. The whole experience is very odd, and very expensive. $15 to taste four wines and no glass? Yikes!

But are the wines worth it? In a word: No. We tried two Champagnes and two reds. The Champagnes weren't bad, but were terribly overpriced. As for the reds? Well, the Cabernet had a nose of pickles. Pickles! Unfortunately, it didn't taste any better than it smelled. I still can't figure out how they managed to make red wine smell like pickles.

So in summary: No wine bar, expensive, bad wines, and snooty as well. What's not to like? Everything.

Joel