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

August 01st, 2018

8/1/2018

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Poppaea Vineyard & Winery

8/1/2018

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One of the glaring differences between the Temecula wineries and the Ramona wineries is geographic:  the wineries in Temecula are very close together, within an area of around 15 square miles, whereas the wineries in Ramona are spread out over an area in excess of 150 square miles.  So naturally we had to visit one of the easternmost Ramona wineries, Poppaea Vineyard & Winery on Old Julian Highway.
Poppaea is an all-Italian red wine producer.  It’s hard to tell that it is a winery – more like visiting someone’s house (see Altipiano).  There is a nice outdoor facility, but it was extremely hot when we visited so we stayed inside the tasting room.  See pictures of the outside below.
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The tasting room, as you can see below, is quite comfortable.  While it has a bar, it also has two tables with nice chairs to sit in, following along the same lines as Chuparosa and La Finquita.  Like other Ramona wineries, the wine comes to you, you don’t go to the wine.  They provide some munchies and cold water to hydrate and cleanse your pallet.
And – get this – they actually chill their red wines!  Yes, we now have discovered two wineries out of ~30 that we’ve visited that make an effort to present their wines in the best light!  The wine tasting is $10 per person, with the fee waived if you purchase a bottle of wine.
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All of their wines are Estate, meaning they grow their own grapes.  As you can see in the picture below, they had five wines for tasting when we visited.  Unfortunately, their three best selling wines – Montipulciano, Sangiovese, and Barbera – were not available.  A lesson to be learned about Ramona wineries – summer is not a good time to visit.  Too hot, and the best wines might not be available.  The backside of the tasting menu is shown below as well.
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One very interesting aspect of their wines is that they try very hard to make them exactly as they are made in Italy.  This includes in the case of the Primitivo using Italian yeast.  Now Primitivo grapes are genetically identical to Zinfandel, but the wine made from the Italian yeast was starkly different from what we taste elsewhere.  Much dryer without the pepper.
The winemaker also introduced us to a new varietal, Sagrantino.  This wine has some of the highest tannin levels of any wine, which, I have now learned, means it should be aged for many years.
Visiting wineries in the summer has one advantage, namely you get to spend time discussing wine with the wine maker.  And, as sometimes happens, he suggests we try some of his wine directly out of the barrel.  So, we went into his barrel room and tasted a Montepulciano.  A picture of the barrel room follows.
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    Jim Treglio

    retired physicist and wine lover

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