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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WINERY REVIEW

Southern California has become a great place to go wine tasting! Great wines, great wineries -- and great people! This website is dedicated to bringing you the best info on wineries in San Diego and Riverside counties -- and a few other places as well. Enjoy!

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Another new winery, this time in Temecula: Altisima Winery.

Fallbrook Winery

7/29/2019

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We finally decided to hit wineries in the Fallbrook area, so naturally we started with the Fallbrook Winery. This is sort of “good news/bad news” review. The “good news” is that the Fallbrook Winery makes some very nice wine and has a very nice facility. The “bad news” is that it is not easy to get to and can only be visited by making reservations in advance.
The winery is located in a residential area of Fallbrook, up a very winding road. This is not a boutique winery – in fact, it is a large winery by San Diego County standards. In other words, they do not depend on direct sales to the public. That is not to say that they don’t like visitors, just that where they are located is not conducive to a lot of wine tasters coming and going.
As you can see in the following pictures, you can sit inside or outside for your tasting. When we sat outside they came to us with the wine, a service that I really like.

Wine tasting is Temecula cost level, $20 per person for six tastes. As shown in the menu below, they offer some whites and a nice selection of red wines. It is my understanding that they have over twenty acres planted on their own property and control vines planted on another twenty or so, with total sales over 20,000 cases a year. A quick glance at the wine tasting menu shown below gives you a good idea of what they are about – all of the wines listed as “Estate” are red, and many are Italian varietals. I particularly liked their Barbera – maybe the best I’ve tasted in Southern California. Their Bordeaux blend (BDX) is a pretty smooth affair, and I think will be really good after a bit of aging. I apologize for not getting to the Aglianico – too many wines to choose from.

They have three wine club levels. The lowest is the Founders Club – three bottles quarterly, one 33֯ N Estate and two Fallbrook Winery. The next level is the Estate Club – three bottles quarterly, all 33֯ N Estate wines. You can also opt for a “Keep Me Stocked”, calling for 6 bottles per quarter of the Fallbrook Winery wines. All wines at a 20% discount with free tasting for two per visit. They do have some special events at the winery, and wine club members get invitations plus first crack at new releases. Some wines available to wine club members are not released to the public.

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Chapin Family Vineyards

7/4/2019

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If you head east on Rancho California Blvd. in Temecula through the wine country, past the de Portola turnoff, you’ll come to Chapin Family Vineyards on your right. It is worth going that extra few miles. A truly pleasant winery where they do things the right way. Pictures of the front are shown below.

Now back to the “right way”. First, you sit at a nice table on their very nice patio and they bring the wine to you. You can stand at the bar if you like, but it is so much nicer to not have to stand while you taste their wines. Some pictures of the patio and the view from the patio follow.

Water is available if you ask for it, and they will offer you oyster crackers as well, two more keys to the “right” way to run a wine tasting facility. Now if you’ve followed this website you know that I am a bit, shall we say, obsessive when it comes to serving red wine at the right temperature, so you can bet that this is a key part of my “right” way. Not surprising then that they keep their bottles in individual coolers behind the bar. I’ve included a picture of a side room in their tasting room, and of a plaque. Check it out.

Tasting ran $18 for six tastes from a very extensive tasting menu (see pictures). It is particularly interesting to note that their estate wines, both white and red, consist of two French varietals and two Italian varietals. Well, maybe not particularly interesting. In fact, not interesting at all, but I have to write something…. Anyway, while I was not enthused about the rose wine that they made from their Montepulciano grapes, their red Montepulciano is quite nice as is their Aglianico. The star to my taste is their 2015 Syrah. It has a very unique, complex spicy structure that I’ve never encountered before.

Their wine club is a three-bottle (at least two red) per quarter affair at a 20% discount, with one substitution allowed per quarter. Includes free wine tasting for two (limit 8 per month), and half off for additional guests, or 20% off wine or a glass of wine. Unlike other wine clubs, you have to commit to a year’s membership, with a $75 opt out fee.

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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WINERY REVIEW

Fallbrook Winery

Chapin Family Vineyards

Jim Treglio

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