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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.

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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 NEWS FLASH:  Worried about 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

  • 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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Links to special blogs:​
  • The Italian Connection
  • Purchasing Wine
  • Tasting Wine
  • Tastes like Marsala
  • And the beat goes on
  • We are the future
  • To taste or not to taste
  • Three years
  • Doc Ed's Excellent Adventure
  • Wine, food, and music in Ramona 
  • The Guadalupe Valley -- First Visit
  • Halloween 2021 -- Revenge of the Spirits




Nebbiolo

4/12/2021

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The Nebbiolo grape has found its way to Southern California and Baja California’s Guadalupe Valley.  The wines made from this grape are very highly regarded.  Indeed, Italy’s premiere wine is Barolo, “the king of wines, the wine of kings”, made from the Nebbiolo grape.  This grape also makes the highly acclaimed wine Barbaresco.  Yet there are only around 15,000 acres world-wide planted with this grape.  In comparison, world planting of Cabernet Sauvignon exceeds 700,000 acres.  So why aren’t there more Nebbiolo grape vines, and why is the grape being successfully grown in our part of the world?  I set out to find the answers to these questions by going directly to the source.  That’s right – I sought to get the answers by hearing from the grapevines.
The biggest problem I encountered, as might be expected, was how to communicate with the grapevines, or at least get them to tell me something other than the latest gossip.  Fortunately, I had portrayed a California Raisin many years ago for Halloween, and, being essentially a method actor, in preparation for the role I spent a few nights among the vines.  While this was not of much help in my Halloween role, it gave me some insight in how to approach the vines.  Of greatest import, I discovered that the vines do not actually talk.  They spread their gossip by rustling leaves and stems in such a manner as to create music.  For example, if they have info on a younger man fooling around with an older, married woman they will offer up the appropriate tune, i.e., “Mrs. Robinson”.
I began my query by asking these Nebbiolo grapes why they wanted to be to Southern California.  After a bit I could pick out strains from the “West Side Story” song “American”, mixed in with Neil Diamond’s “America”.  OK, not what I was hoping for.  I had to change my approach.
So, I asked them to tell me by song what there is about our area that allows them to grow such very fine grapes, ones that could make a wine competitive with Cabernet Sauvignon.  Well, mentioning Cabernet was a bad mistake, as they then went into a rendering of “Bottle of Wine”.  If you don’t know the song it is about a wino having trouble coming up with the loose change to purchase a very bad bottle of wine.
Then it hit me how to proceed.  They would play a tune relating what makes them like this area.  If I guessed what they were trying to say, they would offer up Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine”.  If I was wrong, I would hear “Bottle of Wine”.
The first number they put out was “I Heard if from the Grapevine”.  This really puzzled me.  The song seemed to go on and on, so I began to think they were just mocking me.  Then it hit me -- they were presenting me with the CCR’s long version of the song.  Could they be saying that they like the long Southern California growing season?  “Red Red Wine” was the answer.
Next, I seemed to hear the music to the song “It Never Rains in Southern California”.  So, you like drought, I asked them.  “Bottle of Wine” was the answer – no, they don’t like drought.  I asked for a second clue, and they came back with CCR’s “Born on the Bayou” followed immediately with “Bottle of Wine”.  It took a bit, but if you assume that “Bottle of Wine” is a no, then one can assume that they do not like bayou-type terrain.  And what’s the opposite of swampy land?  Very dry land, of course.  Could it be that the vines don’t like sitting water?  Bingo – and an offering of “Red Red Wine”.
Without asking, they then offered up Johnny Mathis’ song “Misty”.  Nicely done, I might add.  Now San Diego is on the Pacific Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean is pretty cold, even in the summer.  As the climate is also very dry, the temperature on the land drops very rapidly, lowering pressures and pulling damp air in from the ocean.  This damp air results in a mist that settles on the vines.  Nailed it – and my reward was more “Red Red Wine”.
The next tune was pretty straight forward – John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High”.  The Nebbiolo grape is grown primarily in the mountainous Piedmont region of Italy, i.e., well above sea level.  The inland valleys in Southern California where one finds most of the vineyards are more than 2000 ft above sea level.  I nailed it again!  “Red Red Wine”.
I knew my interview with the vines was over when they went into the California Raisin’s version of “I Heard it through the Grapevine”.  But I came away with great insight into the Nebbiolo vines.  First, they like the long growing season that we have here in Southern California.  Second, they don’t like sitting water.  We have very little rainfall, and our very dry climate evaporates standing water rather quickly, especially when temperatures push up over 100 F, so there is little chance of standing water if the vines are grown on any kind of an incline.  Added to this is the clay-cobble nature of our soil which keeps water from soaking in (and leads to flooding even for relatively mild rains).  Third issue is mist – they like it, and we have it in the inland valleys and even in the mountains.  As for the fourth issue, well, our terrain goes from sea level to around 6,000 ft.
On my way out of the vineyard, the Nebbiolo grapevines suggested that I steer clear of the Tempranillo grape fines with two tunes – “Man of La Mancha” and the theme song from “The Godfather”.  Seems the Tempranillo grapevines are not too thrilled with my bashing them every chance I get.
Anyway, it appears that Nebbiolo grapes have a great future here in Southern California!  Now if I can just find a way to replace all of the Tempranillo vines with Nebbiolo vines….
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    Jim Treglio

    retired physicist and wine lover

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