Longshadow Ranch Winery and Vineyards

Longshadow Ranch Winery and Vineyards is located in Temecula, one of the wineries on a side road off of Rancho California.  Now it is my understanding that ranches have horses.  Well, as seen in the picture below, they have horses – and a very nice winery and some very nice wine.  A very pleasant place to visit.

The wine tasting room is quite large, with plenty of open space.  I would have liked some tables, but there is good seating outside so for most of the year it is not a big issue.  As expected, the interior décor is quite ranch-like, and not cluttered with items for sale.  The picture of the horse above is taken from the outside tasting area.  There is a second area across from the main building – see below.  They have music on weekends, and some very nice special events, including bonfires on Saturdays starting in April, carriage rides through the vineyards, and on Sundays they make Sangria from their Gunslinger Red Wine

As you can see from their tasting menu, they have an interesting array of red wines.  You get five tastes for $15, and they take the Priority Wine Pass.  All but their Tempranillo were quite good, but don’t take my word on the Tempranillo – I’m not a great fan of that particular varietal.  Tasting was done in the more conventional Temecula manner – you went to the bar for the pours.  No rinsing of the glasses before pouring, and the red wines were not particularly chilled (but it was cool inside, so that made a difference).  They do have water available.

One of the things I like about Southern California wineries is their willingness to try new things, and Longshadow is in that class.  In their case, it is not about finding some rare grape, such as Refosco, but rather making varietal wines from grapes that are common but grown primarily as a blend.  Longshadow offers two such, Cinsault and Petit Verdot.  Note that they were not on the tasting menu, usually an indication of a popular wine.
They innovate with their wine club as well. Their standard wine club is a two bottle every other month affair, with a minimum of three shipments – unless you want white wine only, in which case you have to buy three bottles every other month.  Discount is 15%, and you get free premium wine tasting as well as other bennies.  They are now offering a unique deal where you pay $19.99 per month without any wine purchase requirements in return for unlimited wine tasting for one person.