Carter Estate Winery & Resort

We arrived at Carter Estate Winery & Resort late on a Thursday afternoon, around 5 PM, and after a few minutes were the only customers (they close at 6 PM).  The visit was somewhat unplanned, as we were on our way back to San Diego after a visit to another Temecula winery (Fazeli).  In truth, I did not expect much from Carter, so little in fact that I did not take pictures on the way in, hence the photos below.

Located just diagonally across from their sister winery (South Coast) on Rancho California in Temecula, Carter has the full monte, so to speak – winery, restaurant, hotel, and pool.  It was designed this way from the start, so I did not expect that they would put much effort into the “Estate Winery” part of the name.  I expected something more on the line of a tourist trap.  It was not.
The tasting room sits alone near the front of the property.  The first thing that I noticed on entering is that it is close in style to the Charles Krug facility we visited in Napa, i.e., a large room with small bar and lots of tables, both high and low, rather than the more common tasting room with no place to sit, the room filled with merchandise and wine bottle racks, and extensive bar space.  See pictures below.

We indicated that we were there for wine tasting, so they led us to a table (high one, but we corrected that rather quickly).  Almost as soon as we sat down, they provided us with glasses of water and bread sticks.  Things got better from there on…
They bring the wines to you, and, first off, they offered a Pinot Noir not shown on the tasting menu (see below).  This was very surprising.  Carter is an Estate Winery, meaning all of their wines are made from grapes grown on their property.  So, they make a Pinot Noir from grapes grown in Temecula.  It should have been awful, but it was actually pretty good.  Most of the other wines were also pretty good, but then there was the Sangiovese.  Absolutely incredible!  Worth a visit just for the Sangiovese.  We did not leave empty-handed – I’m not making that mistake again!!  By the way, their wines have won some awards -- see below menu!

Tasting costs $20 weekdays and $25 weekends, but we got a $5 senior discount.  The tasting room, as noted above, is near the front of the property.  The hotel and restaurant are not very close, so one down side of the winery is that you can’t eat and taste at the same time (they do offer food pairings for $45 per person, though). 
I’m not very enthusiastic about their wine club.  You get six bottles every six months, a mix of red, white, sparkling and dessert – not sure if they allow substitutions.  I am a red wine enthusiast, so this right alone is a deal killer.  Their discount is only 15% on wine – vs 20% to 30% for most other wineries.  They limit you to four free tastings every six months, though you get half price for up to four people with every visit.  Other discounts apply to both Carter and South Coast purchases (see below), and include 15% on the Carter hotel, but overall not a particularly generous club offering.  And they don’t have a wine club area...