So. Cal. Winery Review
  • Home
  • About
  • Wineries
  • Gadgets
  • Tasting Menus
  • WINERY NEWS
  • Home
  • About
  • Wineries
  • Gadgets
  • Tasting Menus
  • WINERY NEWS
• WINE wine Wine wINE•

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WINERY REVIEW

Picture
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.

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....

Picture
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 .
Picture
 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

South Coast Winery Resort & Spa

4/2/2021

0 Comments

 
​Jim and Ed’s Excellent Adventure
We went up to this place up north that rhymes with Dracula which we thought was really cool, and they had this circle we could drive around and after we got bored we found this restaurant (Vineyard Rose) in a winery just near the circle and, like, Ed says that this is an awesome place and that we had both been there and had this great tri-tip sandwich.  No, it wasn’t like you know made from the tips of that thingy the fish guy carries but pieces of steak and caramel onions.  They gave us a wine list so we had some wine with fancy names, you know, Ed going for the Zorro wine cause I guess he likes Zorro, and like I went with one with a really fancy name Toursomething National, only they spelled National with a c not a t.
Now after we ate and as we were in a place called South Coast Winery Resort & Spa but, like, they didn’t have that name on the bottles.  Instead, they had this really excellent name – Wild Horse Peak.  So naturally we looked around for the spa and the wild horses but got lost and hey, wouldn’t you know, finally wound up at the door right next to the door to the restaurant where they do the wine tasting and they took us out on their porch which is really big and we thought we would drink some more wine. Tthey had both the Z wine and the Toursomething wine on a list so we got that and, like, they brought the wine out in this really cool spirally thingy.
Picture
Picture
​So we tried the wine and I got to try the Z wine and it had this cherry-like taste and then they really liked us and maybe it was because they thought Ed looked like Mr. Carter, some big muckity-muck for the winery so they brought us more wine, like Petite Sirah and Syrah and Cabernet Souvenir.  I think Petite means small in French but the Petite Sirah was the same size as the Syrah.  I liked it better than the Syrah and Ed liked the Syrah better than the small Sirah and Ed is bigger than me so maybe it’s not the size of the wine but the size of the wine drinker???
Picture
​I took some cool pictures of the place with all of these awesome medals and lots of neat other stuff.  They had this other room that we couldn’t go in because of the virus but I got an awesome picture.
Picture
Picture
Picture
​They have this really awesome club any dude or dudette can join (if you are over 21) where they pick 3 bottles of wine for you per quarter and you get an awesome 25% off.  And, like the best, most excellent, part is that you can drop by there four time a month and get free wine!!!  They also will let you stay at their hotel for a 15% discount and you can eat at their great restaurant for 10% off.  That guy Carter must be something because they have this other place called “Carter Estate” that they own and club members get to drink there for 50% off.  He even has his name on some of the wines…
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Jim Treglio

    retired physicist and wine lover

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.