So. Cal. Winery Review
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WINERY REVIEW

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Introduction
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Welcome to Southern California Winery Review!  I started this website in late 2017 because I kept finding really bad wineries getting rave reviews, while some very, very good wineries were totally ignored.  So, I've spent quite a bit of time visiting wineries in Southern California (over 60).  Of these I've found about 40 pretty good wineries, certainly worth my taking the time to write them up.  I know what you are thinking -- it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it....  These are summarized in the Wineries section of this website. 
Now wineries in Southern California  are rapidly becoming the centers of social activities.  Not just for special events (weddings and the like), but as a place to go on weekends with friends, to enjoy good wine (ok, that's pretty obvious), good food, and even good entertainment.  While most wineries have some sort of wine club, no two are run the same.  Some wineries have restaurants.  Some have entertainment on weekends.  Some even have hotels.   So I have included information on all of this, both in the Wineries section and in the Winery News section.
If you are looking for specific varietals, you can find long lists at the beginning of the About section.  Not just what varietals are available in Southern California, but which wineries are offering them.  The About section also includes info on wine storage, corks, the Sommelier test, how to cool your wine to proper serving temperature, and other little tidbits.

I am not really qualified to review the wines themselves, though I will tell you what I like and maybe even what I don't like.  However, I have a wine collector (now a Level 1 Sommelier) who will provide us some insights into particular wines.  One word of warning:  both he and I are red wine enthusiasts....   Wine quality determines which wineries I review, though I also pay attention to the wine tasting room, personnel, location, view, et al.   I should add that I am very much a red wine enthusiast....
And speaking of red wine, I shall now expound on my pet peeve -- namely, drinking red wine at "room temperature"!  Red wine should be stored and drunk at a temperature below 65 F.  If you don't believe me, I suggest you run a little experiment -- I like experiments, in fact I'm a retired experimental physicist.  Pour red wine into two glasses in a warm room.  Chill one to below 65 F (put it in the fridge for about 20 minutes) and let the other glass warm up.  Then taste them both.... 
See picture below for recommended drinking temperatures.  By the way, what you see in the picture is the back of a wine temperature gauge, one of many wine-related paraphenalia in the Gadgets section.
IMPORTANT NOTE:  I HAVE ADDED LINKS FROM THE WINERIES​ PAGE TO THE SPECIFIC WINERY REVIEW.  Oh, at the end of each post is a small Facebook Like box....  Would really like a lot of likes....

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Red wine should be aerated, i.e., allowed to breath.  You can buy a simple aerator that will do the job, twirl the wine in the glass, or just let the wine sit for  awhile before drinking.  Of course, if the room is warm, see above....
One question you may be asking yourself:  why should I buy wine from a winery rather than Cosco, a supermarket, or a wine shop?  Well, for one thing, if you visit the winery you taste the wine before you buy it.  Then there is the fact that Cosco and the supermarkets don't store the wine properly, so even if you get a good wine the first time the next bottle you buy might not be as good.  That assumes they still carry it and you can remember what it was you bought in the first place.
But there is another reason -- wineries in Southern California make varietals that you are unlikely to find at Costco or a supermarket.  I list  a whole batch of white and red varietals I've tasted at the wineries I've reviewed.  Costco only carries around 15 red varietals.  You won't find three of my favorite wines:  LaGrein, Negroamaro and Montipulciano.  To make it easier to find a winery offering your favorite varietal, the wine varietal wine lists are now in the Wineries section .
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 NEWS FLASH:  Worried about the brown-outs ruining your wine?  Well, Chateau 55 has added a generator so your wine will always stay coo.  Mention our name and get the first month of storage free and a 5% discount for the next 11 months storage.  To check them out  click the link below. 
Link to Chateau 55 Website
33% Discount!  Save $20 on a $59.99 Priority Wine Pass by using the link below and entering the code scwr.
Link to Priority Wine Pass

The Latest Blog
Dudes!  Read all about Jim and Ed's Excellent Adventure -- and South Coast Winery!
Site News​​
  •  I've deleted the About Red Wines and About White Wines from the About section, with the listing now in the Wineries section.
  • With reviews now coming in from Doc Ed on Oregon wineries, I've added a listing of reviewed Oregon wineries in the Wineries section, after the extensive So Cal winery listing.​
About Section Contents
The About section is getting a bit crowded, so I thought it might be worthwhile to list the contents, as follows:
  1. About Sommeliers
  2. About Chilling Wine
  3. About Southern California Wineries
  4. About the Lum Eisensan/San Diego Wine Competition
  5. About Corks
  6. About Wine Clubs
  7. About Wine Storage
  8. About Balsamic Vinegar

Mahogany Mountain

6/17/2018

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Mahogany Mountain is a small winery located in Ramona.  While there is a sign for the winery on route 67, the winery is not close to the highway.  Oh, and it is on a mountain, about 1500 feet above sea level.  As seen in the photos below, they have a very nice facility with a great view and outside seating.  This is pretty much a visit-and-drink wine place, i.e., they don’t have a restaurant or entertainment.  But it is not a bad place to visit-and-drink wine.
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The tasting room is quite nice as well, with a very interesting décor and plenty of seating.  It was a chilly day when I visited, so I don’t know how the tasting room fares in the summer heat.  The winery has been around since the mid-90’s, but like most of the wineries in Ramona is open only on Saturday and Sunday for wine tasting.  All of the wines are estate grown.  Fortunately, they do not pump gas in the tasting room....
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As you can see in the wine tasting menu below, their wines have won awards, so this is a quality winery.  Among the wines listed are their 2009 and 2010 Zinfandels.  This afforded me the chance to see what difference a year makes.  I had seen this before with Pinot Noir’s up in the Solvang area, where the 2007 vintage was way better than the 2008.  In this case, the server and I agreed that the 2010 wine tasted better than the 2009.  They have another varietal that I had not tasted before – Petit Verdot.  Can’t say I liked it, which may explain why it is not all that common as a stand-alone.
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They have a wine club which requires members to purchase just six bottles per year in three two-bottle offerings.  Price for these six is 20% off retail or a special wine club price, since not all of the wines that go to the wine club are offered to the general public.  Wine club members get free tasting for two every time they visit the winery.
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A crazy idea....

6/11/2018

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I have a crazy idea – ok, maybe not that crazy – that I would like to present to you.  First, a bit of background.  Now most red wines improve with age, some more than others.  I understand that the wines that improve the most with age are the most acidic and have the highest tannin levels.  Cabernet Sauvignon falls into this category.  Pinot Noir, on the other hand, has low acidity and low tannin levels, so reaches peak with much less aging.
The problem is that you need to have a place to store the wine at low temperature.  If you have a wine chiller you may be ok, unless, of course, you have no room to store bottles of wine for four years or more.  What to do, what to do?  So here’s my idea:  store the wine at the winery.  Now you have to get the winery to go along with this idea.  They might, if you buy enough wine (maybe a full case?).  Win-win situation, yes?  I mean, the winery sells more wine and their customers have a place to store the wine….
The problem here, and what makes my idea rather crazy, is that if the winery has extra space to store customers’ wine it’s likely because they sell most of the wine that they make.  If they sell most of the wine that they make they don’t need to store wine for their customers to sell more wine.  Conversely, if they need the sales they probably need the storage space for their unsold wines.
Most wineries offer a discount if you buy a whole case, so maybe in lieu of the discount they can offer five years free storage.  It would be nice if the customer did not have to purchase a case of a specific wine.  Of course, any program like this would have to allow the customer to pick up some of the wine whenever he wants (within reason).  A program like this would be a nice perk for wine club members like yours truly…
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    Jim Treglio

    retired physicist and wine lover

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