Tasting the wines of California

Anyone can take grapes and ferment them into something resembling wine, but it takes a true artisan to make some that is truly great. The only way to really experience what California wine is all about is to experience the wineries themselves.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Frangipani - Temecula

Frangipani was a real surprise. These guys are on the "other" main road, the one that has a lot less traffic, but some excellent wineries. We have never been there before, and decided to pop in for a taste. They charge $10 to taste all of their reds, which while expensive is still a much better deal than many of the wineries in Temecula.

What was a treat was that they have some big wines that clearly will benefit from aging. The Cabernet Sauvignon in particular was exceptional. The Petite Sirah was also well worth drinking. The facility is nice, the people were delightful, and the wines were high quality and meant to be aged. I wasn't impressed by the Grenache or the Sangiovese, but the rest was worth a taste.

Highly recommended. We'll be back.

Joel

Foote Print - Temecula

This is a small family owned winery that makes very good wines, although they are quite different. They have a Cabernet Franc that is unique to any Cab Franc I've ever had. It's almost like a jammy Petite Sirah. They only make about 1000 cases a year total of all of their wines.

They have a good cab, an ok zin, a very unique and tasty cab franc, a late harvest zin, and a few other odds and ends. They are generally only open on the weekends, and they are wonderful people to visit with. You can also pet the horses, although watch out for the brown one, he snaps.

They also sell a selection of organic fruit from their gardens.

This is one of those don't miss wineries. We love the place.

Joel