My trip to Temecula

WINE TALK
1

So, I just got back from Southern CA. I visited 7 wineries during my day in Temecula. Overall, the wines were not exciting (I know, surprise, surprise). I have a lot of boring tasting notes, so here’s a summary:

The most consistent was Doffo. It’s a really small operation and the pours were tiny, but none of the wines I tried sucked. When the woman (one of the owners, I assume) saw me spitting and taking notes she let me try a couple of things that weren’t on the regular list. I thought that was nice. Nothing great here, but after a lot of crappy wines it was nice to not be revolted by anything.

The worst was the biggest and most crowded that I went to: Leonesse. The glass smelled like cloth mixed with a hint of cleaning supplies, probably from sitting upside down on the counter. After they poured me a corked wine (one of 5 at only 7 wineries, yikes) they started me with another foul smelling glass. It didn’t matter too much because the wines were mostly just acceptable.

Most of the other places had some decent wines and some plonk. More were decent than bad, but all were overpriced, in my opinion. I noticed way too much oak for my liking in many (most) of the reds, and it didn’t even seem like they use the high quality oak. A lot of my notes refer to “raw” oak, not meaning untoasted, but rather giving coarse, unpleasant woodsy flavors. This was probably the first time I’ve actually gotten bored with tasting wine, just because the wines themselves were mostly boring. (I have tasted many more wines in a day without becoming bored)

Most of the tasting room staff had no idea about wine. The one person who could answer some questions worked at Stuart. She was nice to me but condescending toward some people there who didn’t know anything about wine. They were making stupid comments (“how are they making a Malbec in California? I thought those were only in Argentina”) and annoying me a little, but I think she could have been nicer to them. She did let me try a '95 Zin “port” (I hate the widespread use of semigeneric wine terms that wouldn’t fly in the EU) that was drinking pretty well. She also let me taste as many wines as I wanted, because I was spitting, even though I was only supposed to get 6. Most places didn’t do that.

The next day I went to Orfila in Escondido and it was better than anywhere in Temecula. I had also found a coupon for a free tasting for 2 people, so they let me taste 12 wines without paying. Nice. They did serve me another corked wine, though. Then I went to a really old winery in Escondido where the woman told me I couldn’t spit and was quite rude about it. I tried joking with her a little to lighten the air, but then I ended up leaving after only trying the “white Chianti” because she still wouldn’t let me spit. At least they didn’t do that in Temecula.

After all this I ate ate a restaurant in La Jolla where the Maitre D’ argued with me when I said the corked wine he had served us was bad. He didn’t know what cork taint is and rudely told me that the next bottle he brought (not corked) had come from the same case as the last as if that meant the last hadn’t been bad, either. Yes, I had really bad luck with faulty wines on this trip. I don’t think I’m overly sensitive to TCA and usually only find about 1-2 percent cork taint in wines I open at home. Go figure.

I appreciate the advice I got before going out there. I wouldn’t have gone to Orfila or the Armenian Cafe (very good food) without it. I can now confidently tell others not to go to Temecula. With what they charged for tastings (usually $10 for 6 pours)I could have bought a few bottles of GOOD wine and tasted them out of a plastic cup in the hotel, which would have been more satisfying. At least I can say that the next wine region I visit will probably seem great after this experience.

2

Thanks for posting Doug. Good or bad, it’s good to know. Also happy that you enjoyed the Orfilla visit. Agree that it’s better than anything in Temecula. I like the Merlot Ambassador’s reserve and the Muscat. But in general they are rather consistent. Also with a free coupon, makes for an even nicer visit. In Temecula, my worst experience was at Callaway, god awful wines, rude people, very small glasses, even smaller pours. Across the street Thorton makes some decent sparklers.

And one more thing…you must be the king of cork!!! neener

3

Wouldn’t let you spit? [swoon.gif]
Maybe her husband is a cop and they get a take of the DUI revenue? pileon

4

Yeah … I think I had more corked wines on this trip than I had all of last year. Of course, usually when I go to tastings I am not served corked wine.

When I told the woman I’d already been tasting quite a bit of wine and didn’t want to take a chance with my stained mouth and wine breath she told me she wouldn’t fill the small plastic cup all the way on the next tastes. Somehow that wasn’t doing it for me.

5

Interesting. A few years back, Leonesse was the only bright spot for me during a visit to Temecula. They wines were pretty good, and they alone were using decent stemware. I’m surprised they may have squandered their [apparent] edge.

Agree on Orfila. Another bright spot. Not sure what’s been happening since Leon Santoro passed away, but the wines were always solid.

As to the “really old winery in Escondido,” was this perhaps the Ferrara Winery? All NV stuff, and at the time, they were pouring tastes in little plastic cup…kind of hard to swirl.

6

I think at Ferrara Winery they give you two cups to pour back n forth to open up the wine and get what you can on the nose.

7

Wow! Sounds like they’ve really ramped up the customer service! [shock.gif] [wink.gif]

8

It was Ferrara. I only got one cup and it was tiny and plastic. Filled to the brim it might have held one ounce. There was no swirling going on.