Salerno Winery

Salerno is, well, an absolutely amazing winery to visit. Special thanks go out to Eleanor from Scripps Ranch /Fairbanks Estate for recommending that we visit this incredible winery.
It isn’t the good wine, or the excellent cuisine, or the live entertainment, or the great view that make it an amazing winery.  No, none of those things.  It is the art.  Not just any art, but sculptures, lots and lots of fantastic sculptures, including one of 112 replicas of Michelangelo’s Pieta sanctioned by the Vatican (see below).  The sculptures include a chess set.  I’ve attached many pictures of the chess set and other sculptures at the end of this blog.  Like most of the Ramona wineries, Salerno is open only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Located on highway 67 in Ramona, Salerno doesn’t have a tasting room per se.  Rather, one sits outside among the sculptures in comfort (see picture below) and they bring the wine to you.  They have food as well, though limited to really good pizza and a couple of other items.

Now, if you want to taste their wines, you can buy a flight of four wines (see picture below) for $15.  They serve the wine chilled, by the way, meaning they pretty much know what they are doing.  The tasting menu is limited, not surprising for this time of year.

Their wine club is run a bit differently than others.  You buy two bottles a month or a quarter at a discount price.  As you can see on the menu below, the wine club discounts are serious.  You get a tasting when you stop by to pick up your wine.
Then there are the sculptures, more than 30 pieces from the Jaime Chaljon (winery proprietor) private art collection.  Some pictures below.  Enjoy.