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 about two years ago 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
Montepulciano is another Italian wine, but rather than being rare it is Italy's second most commonly grown grape, trailing only Sangiovese.
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

Tastes like Marsala

5/2/2020

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​If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  So what do you do if life gives you spoiled wine?
Well, that is a problem that Alfredo Gallone, owner of Principe di Tricase, faced.  Before making wine he obtained some Cabernet Sauvignon to experiment with.  During the 2007 Witch Creek fire here in San Diego County some of the wine overheated, turning brown due to oxidation.  He kept the wine, not knowing what to do with it.
Fast forward five years.  In 2012 Afredo began researching sweet wines, including fortified wines such as Sherry, Port, and Marsala.  Fortifying involves added a distilled wine (i.e., brandy) to the wine increasing alcohol content and adding sweetness.  What he found is that Marsala is created by boiling the wine – deliberately overheating it in a controlled manner.  Turns out, wine that is unintentionally overheated has a Marsala-like taste, so much so that in Italy it is said to be Marsalato – tastes like Marsala – and can be made into a wine suitable for cooking.  And off went the light bulb!
He went back to his spoiled wine and tasted it.  Sure enough, it had a Marsala-like taste but was very dry.  Now if he could just make it sweeter by adding a bit of grape juice.  Nope, not sweet enough.  He needed a more concentrated grape juice. 
There is another way to make a sweet wine that does not involve adding anything to the wine.  In Italy, Alfredo’s homeland (he’s from Naples), the method is called “passito”.  The grapes are picked when ripe and then put into a screened in area and allowed to dry out in the sun, greatly concentrating the sugars in the grapes.  So, if he were to squeeze some of these grapes and add the very sweet juice to his dry Marsala-like wine….
Eureka!  He added the very sweet juice from the dryed grapes to the spoiled Cabernet Sauvignon wine and turned it into a Marsala-like sweet wine.  Below is a picture of the wine and you can see the brown color.  Also note that the bottle is not full – my wife used it to make a rather fantastic Veal Marsala -- which led me to writing this blog.  By the way, he can’t label the wine “Marsala”.  Marsala is a registered trade name.
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​You might ask what became of Afredo’s attempt at making sweet wine? I can attest that it was a great success.  Now I am not an afficionado of sweet wine, but I really have to say that his are really, really good.  My favorite is his first, Romantico, made using Aleatico grapes.  All made the Italian passito way.
Try it.  You’ll like it.
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    Jim Treglio

    retired physicist and wine lover

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