Ponte Winery

Ponte Winery is one of the least known wineries in Temecula.  Why, I doubt there are no more than five million people who know about them!  You can even find a parking spot on weekends if you are patient!
Located just past the Anza Rd. circle on Ranch California Blvd., Ponte is a full-service operation – by full service, I mean winery, restaurant, hotel, and lounge (only one in the Temecula wine country).  Actually, they have two restaurants – one in the winery, and one in the hotel – and both are exceptional.  Their restaurants may draw as many people as their wines -- at least it seems that way when you are waiting for a table.  The restaurant in the winery is an outdoor affair, as seen in the picture below.

​Their main wine tasting room is a separate building, as seen in two pictures below.  One has to be a little more careful tasting their red wines, as the tasting room is kept at a much higher temperature than Orfila’s.  On weekends, they open up the “Reserve Room” for wine club members and their guests.  Unlike the main tasting room, it has tables inside the tasting room, as well as tables on a covered veranda with fans outside the room, tables in a patio behind the veranda and a great view of the vineyards and hills beyond.

​Ponte wine club members must agree to purchase 16 bottles of wine a year, four bottles more than most other wineries.  The discount on wine for club members is 20%, with a 10% discount on everything else.  Well, not hotel rooms.  No, no 10% discount on the hotel rooms – no, the hotel room discount is 20%!  More about the hotel later.
The Ponte wine club is not a monthly affair.  Rather, two or three wines are selected as “wine club specials” eight times a year, i.e., they skip four months.  If you don’t want one or both bottles, you can substitute another wine off of their wine substitution list.  If you opt for red wines only, you get two bottles of the red wine special for that month.  As you can tell in the wine tasting list below, their prices are a bit higher than Orfila’s.  They have many of the same varietal wines, but more blends.  Note that they do not provide as much information about the wines on the tasting menu as Orfila, such as alcohol content, origin of the grapes, and composition.
Wine club members are limited to two free tasting sets, 6 tastes per set, per visit, but can bring up to eight friends who get a 50% discount on the $20 tasting price.  The restaurant caters to wine club members – you get priority seating and a special appetizer (and the 10% discount).  The regular wine club purchases come with a little write up on winery activities and a couple of recipes.  They usually include a little gift in the December offering.  The only live music at the winery comes on the first Sunday when they release the wine specials for the month.

​Now, back to the hotel.  We have stayed there, and I can say that it was really quite nice.  The hotel sits between the Ponte Winery and the South Coast Winery, and the Weir winery is just on the other side of Ponte, so you are walking distance to three wineries.  The hotel restaurant has both inside and outside seating, and is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Because they draw mostly a weekend crowd they require two nights stay if one night is a Saturday night.  They are adding a pool and expanding the hotel.  Probably the best thing about the hotel is check-in.  Instead of checking in standing up at a registration desk you check in seated on a lounge chair with a complementary glass of wine.  Nice.