TN: 2017 Wilson Creek White Cabernet Sauvignon Temecula Valley

Posted from CellarTracker

Awesome that you tried it, my friend. . .

Thanks for taking one for the team.

Favorite quote from the label “unexpected duel nature of Cabernet Sauvignon”

Larry, with the jersey girls tonight. They send their love to you and the kids.

Awesome. I think I tried that some years ago. I remember laughing about the idea of it but not about how it tasted.

The regulars who drink this are the same ones that come into the store and ask if we have any “red” Zinfandel.

Front label says 2016 but back says 2017…

…Rudy?

Is there anything good from Temecula? My inlaws live 30 minutes from there and I could only find a decant Syrah but it was $45 so of course a pass.

No. There’s potential west of Temecula in an area called DeLuz which is towards oceanside. Mark from Crawford Family has planted a large vineyard there. Ken Zinn did a nice writeup.

My buddy in DeLuz has a very small vineyard and makes a very good Pinot Noir.

Temecula is a desert literally and figuratively speaking.

Please say hello to them for me!

Not so…Temecula has the potential to produce great wines. They did it once under EliCallaway and they can do it again. If they would only choose to do so.
Tom

Tom, before my time…

Which wine under Eli? The cab? He sold the winery in 1984 so I never tasted them and many of the wines were California or Paso designated like the popular chardonnay.

Curious about your buddy’s Pinot vineyard. I thought it would still be too warm. I went up and tested some Merlot and Cab back in Sept in De Luz and it was a hot mess. The pH’s were all in the 4-4.1 range at 25-26 brix. I did get some Petit Verdot in Fallbrook that was better than expected. We’re here in Oceanside, but I planted Cinsaut and Tannat.

I’ve never seen sandwiches and salads listed as the food pairing choices for a wine before.

here’s Ken’s write up Southern California Wine Tour – June 2018, Part 4A – Temecula: Sol De Luz / Sweet Oaks - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

Chris, who is “we”? You have a winery in Oceanside?

He made some good drivers, shitty irons though.

Have little doubt about that, Brig. Ely had a German winemaker (Karl Werner) who chose to age in German oak. The wines were kinda different.
The reds were pretty big & extracted. Zin, Cabernet, PetiteSirah. They aged quite well. Spoke of varietal character.
But his best wines were his Ports (PetiteSirah) and then he made a botrytis (in the desert?) CheninBlanc named Sweet Nancy (after his wife)
that was exceptional.
They sold to HiramWalker about 1981. They brought in TerryLeighton as winemaker. He ventured much further afield (SantaBarbara/EdnaVlly) to source
grapes, not much from Temecula. The wines were pleasant enough, but just that. Viognier & Chardonay were decent/ well-priced. Since then, the
Almond flavored Sparkling Wine and cougar juice and it was all downhill after that.
Looking at the WebSite, they might have some interesting stuff worth trying. Privately owned by the Lin family of SanDiego.
As for his golf clubs, haven’t a clue.
But I think Temecula is an area that could, once again, make great wines. I think Italian varieties should do well there.
Tom

Thanks for the link. The comments about Cinsaut match my experience so far. We have a hobby vineyard here in Oceanside near 76 and Santa Fe. Just ordered some more Cinsaut and trying Graciano. I also drive up and pick Pinot from Santa Rita Hills and RRV. Right now it’s just for us and our friends.

John Glas wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 23, 2018 11:58 am
Is there anything good from Temecula? My inlaws live 30 minutes from there and I could only find a decant Syrah but it was $45 so of course a pass.
No. There’s potential west of Temecula in an area called DeLuz which is towards oceanside. Mark from Crawford Family has planted a large vineyard there. Ken Zinn did a nice writeup.

My buddy in DeLuz has a very small vineyard and makes a very good Pinot Noir.

Temecula is a desert literally and figuratively speaking.

I bet they have some gold medal winners with all the wine awards out there.

What they have their own awards show: Wine Awards | Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association

Thanks to Brig for posting that link to the earlier write-up on the new vineyard development in the De Luz area west of Temecula Valley. Time will tell how that works out, but the area seems to have more promise than Temecula Valley itself.

I visited three Temecula Valley wineries the day before touring the new Sol De Luz vineyards with Mark Horvath, with varying results. I had never tasted a Temecula wine before that and had low expectations based on what I’d heard. South Coast had a few good wines but they were somewhat hit and miss. Some of their wines were in a style that’s not what I prefer, but if their customers like them and buy them, I can’t fault them for continuing to make those wines. Best of the three places I visited was Thornton. The winemaker there is David Vergari, who used to make some very good wines in Sonoma County and took over at Thornton in 2010. I thought the wines were good across the board there - if you do check out wineries in Temecula, I’d recommend starting at Thornton.

That said, I think Temecula does have a number of issues as a wine region. It’s a hotter area with many grape varieties planted there that are not well-suited to that climate. Most wineries sell 100% of their wines direct to consumers, mostly visitors from the Los Angeles / Orange County / San Diego regions - few Temecula wines get out into the marketplace where they would have to compete directly with wines from other regions. So in many ways it’s the most insular California wine region I’ve run across, and I think it gives most of the producers there little incentive to look for changes or improvements when they can sell out of their production every year directly to consumers.

I thought that wineries I visited in San Diego County were much more interesting than those in Temecula, and that San Diego County has more promise as a wine region overall.