Slow, sweet days among Temecula’s wineries

It's easy to overlook Temecula when planning a trip to Southern California.

For many travelers coming from the Las Vegas Valley, the city is little more than another milestone to pass along Interstate 15 on the way to San Diego, maybe stopping for gasoline or a quick bite to eat.

Those road-trippers should think about changing their routine.

The city of about 95,000 offers some of the finest wineries in California. Not simply the finest in Southern California, but in the entire state. Situated at about 1,500 feet, Temecula, with warm days and evenings cooled by the Pacific Ocean, which sits about 20 miles away, offers an excellent climate for growing premium wine grapes.

There are more than 35 wineries in Temecula, most of which opened in the past 20 years, totaling 3,000 acres of vineyards. Most of the wineries are located off of Rancho California Road, which can be accessed directly from I-15.

In spending four days in Temecula, my wife, Melissa, and I experienced much of what the area has to offer. Melissa, being a wine aficionado, was excited about sampling the local vino -- and we were not disappointed.

We tasted selections from eight of the local wineries, and each had its own distinguishing features. We sampled so many different wines, to list our favorites would take up too much room. One great way to get a sampling of the wineries is to book a guided wine-tasting tour. While there are a few different companies that offer tours, we went with Grapeline Wine Country Shuttle, which seems to be the most popular tour provider.

There were 12 other people on our tour, most of whom were from other parts of Southern California, and we quickly bonded during our six-hour tour. Our driver/tour guide, Wes, also seemed like an old friend by the end of the day. Of course, all the wine tasting helped foster our camaraderie.

We visited four wineries -- Callaway, Wilson Creek, Bella Vista and Leonesse -- on the tour, and tasted five or six wines at each stop, which definitely added up. We also were served a picnic-style lunch at Wilson Creek as part of the tour. Thankfully, with all the wine that was consumed, Grapeline picked us up and dropped us off at our hotel as part of the service.

Bella Vista, formerly the Cilurzo Winery, was the first vineyard established in Temecula, in 1968, and was purchased by Imre and Gizella Cziraki in 1998. We enjoyed hanging out in the tasting room with Imre, who learned about winemaking from his grandfather while growing up in Hungary.

Callaway, founded in 1969 by golf equipment pioneer Ely Callaway, became the first of the Temecula wineries open to the public 36 years ago. Its wines are available only here, where they are made, and its tasting room provided a splendid view of much of wine country.

We were offered a couple of tips for future visits to Temecula wine country. First, plan to visit during the week, as the region's 38 tasting rooms are usually packed on weekends. And if you want to see the vineyards at their most interesting, late August to late October is harvest time.

We visited two other wineries on our own the following day, and, again, each had its own individual charm. The first we toured was South Coast, an all-inclusive resort established in 2003, which only five years later won the 2008 Golden Bear Award as the state's best winery in a field of 640 contestants -- the first time in a 150-year history that the award had gone to a Southern California winery. Furthermore, South Coast repeated the victory this year. The award honors the operation that wins the greatest number of wine categories at the California State Fair.

After visiting South Coast, we proceeded to Briar Rose, maybe the most distinctive winery in Temecula. The tasting room is housed within a replica of Snow White's cottage, which was built in the 1970s by the previous owner, who was a contractor for Disney. Established as a winery in 2006 by owners Les and Dorian Linkogle, Briar Rose is open by reservation only. Les, a colorful fellow who is also Briar Rose's winemaker, made us feel right at home.

We began that day by waking up before sunrise and driving into wine country to get a unique overview of the region aboard a hot-air balloon. Neither of us had ever traveled by balloon, so we were somewhat tentative but mostly excited as we arrived for our trip with California Dreamin', the oldest of four hot-air balloon companies based in Temecula.

Any anxiety we had disappeared soon after launching, however, and we spent about 75 minutes floating over wine country, soaring as high as 2,000 feet. It was a clear day, so we had magnificent views of the perfectly aligned vineyards below as the sun's rays burned away the morning dew. After our journey, we were driven back to our original meeting point at owners David and Gail Bradley's house, where we drank mimosas, ate breakfast and discussed our adventure with our fellow passengers before departing.

After gaining a bird's-eye view of the vineyards that morning, we were able to get a different perspective the following day when we took a guided tour by horseback through wine country. Our guide, Diana LeFort, who owns and operates Wine Country Trails by Horseback, took us on a leisurely two-hour ride through the vineyards lining the northwest side of Rancho California Road, starting near Wilson Creek Winery. The ride allowed us to get a close look at the vineyards and the surrounding area, and LeFort was able to answer any questions we had about the region.

While most of the wineries in Temecula are fairly new, with only eight existing before 1985, the valley itself has plenty of history. Temecula has been home to the Pechanga tribe of Luiseno Indians for more than 10,000 years, with the Pechanga Indian Reservation established in 1882. And the second post office in California was built in Temecula in 1859, preceded only by one in San Francisco. The city was officially incorporated as Temecula in 1989.

As a way to preserve its heritage, the city offers Old Town Temecula, which is located in the heart of the city and features numerous antique stores, restaurants, wine-tasting rooms, specialty shops and art galleries. The quaint, rustic area also hosts a number of special events year-round, a bi-weekly farmer's market and is home to the 362-seat Old Town Temecula Community Theater. Among the many restaurants in Old Town is the Bank of Mexican Food, which originated as Temecula's first bank, opening in 1914, before being refurbished as a restaurant in 1978. Patrons can even sit inside the old bank vault as they dine.

Visitors to Temecula have a variety of lodging options, ranging from campgrounds to resorts such as the Temecula Creek Inn and South Coast Winery. Jefferson Avenue offers some of the best lodging options, such as the Hampton Inn, being walking distance from Old Town and just six miles from wine country.

For those who can't leave Las Vegas entirely behind, Temecula also is home to the Pechanga Resort & Casino, California's largest casino with 188,000 square feet of gaming area. Pechanga's colossal interior even eclipses Las Vegas' biggest casino, the MGM Grand, which has 171,500 square feet of gaming space. Pechanga also features one of Temecula Valley's seven championship golf courses.

When Melissa and I left Temecula, we no longer looked at the city as a pit stop between Las Vegas and San Diego, but as a destination unto itself. Any wine lover would be wise to do the same.