October Photoblog Challenge - Day 23: Temecula

I've totally failed at this photoblog challenge, but I fully intend to make up for it because I do have entries for each one. I've just been SUPER busy at work, at home and over the weekend to do any blogging. Excuses excuses, I know but here's one for now... 

Day 23: Go some where you’ve never been & take a picture

Temecula Wine Country

For my birthday, Paul took me wine tasting in Temecula. He made reservations for us with Sunrider Wine Tours  (I highly recommend them) and it was such a great experience! We did the Weekend Discovery Tour which includes wine tasting at 4 vineyards (they prefer to take you to the boutique, family-owned ones), lunch from Cosi, off-roading, grape tasting and a fun, yet informative, tour by one of their fabulous guides. Ours was Adam, one of the owners of Sunrider!

Sunrider picks you up from your hotel or at the Starbucks in Old Town Temecula. We got there early so we grabbed breakfast at the Farmer's Market and then some lattes to get us amped. It was a carb day for Paul and me so we shared a massive blueberry scone. Look at the size of that thing, it's the bigger than my face! In retrospect, we probably should have NOT shared considering we were going to be drinking A LOT of wine so early in the day haha.

We were the first to be rounded up so we chose to sit in the back on the Wrangler, better views and fresh air. Earlier in the week it was super cold and rainy so we were kinda scared the weather would be just as bad over the weekend. Thankfully the weather panned out nicely - sunny, clearer skies and fresh air!

 I will never have that "convertible" hair that just flows with the wind. Paul obviously will never have that problem haha.

We picked up the rest of our group and headed to our first vineyard, Wiens. We were able to taste 6 wines so we tried tried all of the pricier ones haha. In most cases, the pricier the better tasting. My favorites were the Reserve Tempranillo - Petite Sirah and their Amour De L'Orange (which I totally regret not buying). I think I'm just going to order it from their site because it would be perfect to toast with it for New Years!

Next on the itinerary was some off-roading to the lookout point where you can pretty much see all of Wine Country. I'll try to post a vid of the bumpy ride cause it was pretty dang fun. Oh and from the group picture, you'll notice that Paul and I were the token Asian couple haha.

As we made our way down we stopped from some grape tasting. Adam straight up picked these from the vines. He's got it good with the vineyards so he can just do that I guess. Cabernet Franc on the left and Viognier on the right. Both CRAZY sweet but a bit annoying to nibble on since each grape has a few seeds in 'em.

Adam could sense we were all starting to sober up so he took us into the Leonesse Barrel Room to fill us up before the production tour and the official wine tasting in the main room.

The Zinfandel was my FAVORITE and Paul enjoyed their Cab. Sauvignon. We bought a bottle of each. Our server said after those (and their vineyard) everything else would be downhill from there. We figured she said that because she worked there, but she was pretty much right.

We had lunch and then headed to Danza del Sol for some speed tasting. I wasn't too impressed by their wines, but it could have been because our server lacked personality. I mean by this point we had quite a bit of wine so he SHOULD have been able to talk us into joining their wine club or buying a bottle, but yeah he failed haha. They're known for their Charvinier which actually was tasty but not enough to take home.

Last stop was Stuart Cellars, another boutique vineyard. They even had one of their crew churning the grapes in the bins outside haha. Gotta appreciate things made with love. Adam had the hook up here. We each got glasses and tasting tickets, but we didn't even need the tickets. We easily had 8 or 9 tastings - our server just kept pouring! I like that kind of VIP treatment haha. Oh and from what I remember they had the best port I tried all day! It was a reserve special that our server whipped out for us. Sadly they don't have it on their website.

We ended our tour with Journey blasting through the speakers and a nice breezy drive. Oddly enough, Journey was the closing soundtrack when I went wine tasting in Los Olivos a few years back haha. Definitely feel good music!

Paul and I had such a wonderful time! We'd definitely do it again. Who's in for round 2?