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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WINERY REVIEW

Introduction

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.
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: At the end of each post is a small Facebook Like box.... Would really like a lot of likes....

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Link to Chateau 55 Website

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Link to Priority Wine Pass

So Cal Winery Review has joined the American Institute of Wine & Food, San Diego Chapter. AIWF was founded in 1981 by Julia Child, Robert Mondavi, and others. Read more about it in our About section.
I got another gadget for Father's Day. See it in the GADGETS section.

The Latest Blog
New winery: Bastian's Vineyards in Escondido, subject of my latest blog.

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Lum Eisensan/San Diego Wine Competition

6/23/2019

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The Lum Eisensan/San Diego Wine Competition is named for – ta da! – Lum Eisensan. Now it is known that Lum, a physicist, helped many of the Ramona winemakers, which is why the competition is named for him. Now I feel that he should also be worshipped, as should all physicists, but I guess I'm a bit prejudiced. Maybe I should have a whole section on how much physicists have contributed to the wine industry in Southern California. Probably not....
Getting back to reality, in keeping with Lum’s spirit, the goal of the competition is to improve the quality of wine produced in San Diego County. To this end, the judges provide feedback to the winemakers. In most competitions, you get a medal or don’t get a medal and that is the end of the story. For this competition, the winemakers learn why their wine was rated gold or whatever to help them improve their wines. The feature speaker at the awards banquet, Somm. Maurice De Marino (shown below) from the Cohn Restaurant Group, was right in tune with the concept as his speech hammered on the importance of wineries in a region working together.

The event was held at the Ramona Backstage. Owner Orin Day owns the restaurant next door, (Maincourse) and his chef prepared the food. I had the fish and it was incredible. Naturally, there was plenty of wine at the banquet (see picture below).
The gold and double gold winners are shown in a table on the Winery News page. The Best of Show amateur wine maker was John Mann, shown below. We had the pleasure of dining with Alfredo Gallone and his family, owners of Principe di Tricase. Of course, they won Best of Show, Commercial. OK, it was purely by chance that we wound up sitting at the same table. Picture of Alfredo and son Alessandro with award is shown below.

Let me add a shout out to Don Bartrick, Wine Competition Chairman. Don has been running this event for three years, upping the number of wines entered from 77 to 128. That is only the tip of the iceberg, of course. Pulling all the pieces together, including judges and people to bag and number the wines (double blind testing) is an enormous undertaking. He also emceed the event. I have a picture of Don below. By the way, many of these pictures (actually, all but one) were sent to me by Don. Someday I'm going to help him pronounce Montipulciano….
Oh, by the way, Principe di Tricase has been reviewed on this website as well as the big winner for the night, Vineyard Grant James. They captured a double gold as well as four golds among their medals. A picture of Susan Sapier, Vineyard Grant James owner and wine maker, and her son Grant (the Grant in the name) follows Don's picture.

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Hatfield Creek Vineyard & Winery

6/3/2019

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I’ve visited around 60 wineries in the last 18 months or so. I could say that they all are pretty much the same – I could say that, but it would be a lie. A very big lie. The reality is that they are very different, kind of a something-for-everyone thingy. A case in point is Hatfield Creek Vineyards & Winery. Located along the road to Julian just outside Ramona, it has a most unique tasting room. In fact, it is so interesting that I won’t waste pictures on the exterior. Some pictures follow this paragraph, and others I’ve tagged onto the end of this review. (I should add that Doc Ed and I visited Hatfield Creek at the recommendation of the wine maker/owner of Vineyard Grant James).

The other thing that distinguishes Hatfield Creek is their very limited production span. They grow two grape varieties – just two: Zinfandel and Petite Sirah – as seen in the tasting menu below. They make a varietal from each, a blend of the two, and a dessert wine with the Zinfandel grapes. (Not sure where they got the grapes for the Moscato, but it is not listed as an Estate wine or on their website). Now, here’s the thing: both of their varietals are really good. I like a peppery Zinfandel, and theirs is very peppery. As also shown below, their wines have won a few medals…

Now a little bit about blends. The common blending method in the US is to blend the wines after they have been fermented. The winemakers try a little of this and a little of that, ultimately coming up with something that they like and think will sell. The uncommon method is to ferment all of the grapes for the blend together. This can be taken to the extreme, or French, way, called field blending, where all of the grapes are grown in the same field. You can see why this is uncommon – no chance to recover if you get a final product that you don’t like. Well, Hatfield took both routes. As noted on the tasting menu, they offer a wine blended after fermentation, then a later year field blended. Not sure if it was the field blending that did the trick, but both Doc Ed and I greatly preferred the field blended version.
Hatfield Creek does have a wine club. Quantities to be purchased are two to three bottles selected by the wine maker every four months, with quarterly pick-up parties and complementary wine tasting for two on each visit to the winery. Wine club discount is pretty low, just 10% on bottles and 20% on cases

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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WINERY REVIEW

Lum Eisensan/San Diego Wine Competition

Hatfield Creek Vineyard & Winery

Jim Treglio

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