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

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WINERY REVIEW

Southern California has become a great place to go wine tasting!  Great wines, great wineries -- and great people!  This website is dedicated to bringing you the best info on wineries in San Diego and Riverside counties -- and a few other places as well.  Enjoy!
WE ARE NOW ON BLUESKY!  Follow our adventures in real time....

Link to Chateau 55 Website
​Chateau 55 Wine Storage Facility
Get first month free and 5% discount per month for first 11 months by mentioning our name when signing up.
Latest Blog
Despite the downturn in the wine industry as a whole, new wineries are still opening up in our area.  One of these is a boutique winery in Ramona, Alpenglow Winery.
​

Site News:  I've replaced the tasting menus with a listing of blogs on our wine adventures and other bs.  Just click on one to bring you back here and scroll down.  The blog you seek will be there....

Vineyard Grant James

5/19/2019

2 Comments

 
​I have discovered a great winery!  Well, I really didn’t discover them – ok, truth is I should have visited them a long time ago, but you see they didn’t get on my list because every time I tried to pull up their website my computer crashed, and then I had a phone call from a telemarketer, and then the dog ate my homework….
The winery is Vineyard Grant James, located on Old Julian Highway in Ramona.  As seen in the poster pictured below, Vineyard Grant James has been selected as the second-best winery in the country!!!  So, yeah, I really should have visited them a long time ago.  To think of all that great wine that I did not get to drink.  Woe is me!
Picture
Vineyard Grant James, like most of the wineries in Ramona, is classified as “boutique”.  They do not have an indoor tasting room – tasting is done outside on a very nice patio (see pictures that follow).  Note the coolers behind the bar – yes, they do their best to serve the wines at the correct temperature!  Munchies and water available, and on occasion they have a cheese tasting.  Oh, and various special events – more on this at the end.  Like most boutique wineries in Ramona, they are open only Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Unlike most boutique wineries in Ramona, they have live entertainment.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Doc Ed and I were the only ones there, so we had the great fortune of spending time with the owner and winemaker, Susanne.  Their tasting “menu” is shown below, but Susanne really didn’t work off of it.  She pulled wines out of the cooler for us to taste, starting with two white wines, a Viognier and a Chardonnay.  Egad, I actually liked them both.  Then we hit the reds, including Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, and Zinfandel.  Wow.  One little warning – they have very little Nebbiolo left.  One bottle, actually.  I should point out that they do not list their Sangiovese on their website, but it is really good….  Nice pepper in the Zinfandel.  Oh, normal tasting fee is $10 for six tastes.
Picture
I could go on and on about their wine, but I need to move on.  They have a wine club, minimum three bottles/quarter with a 20% discount on all wine and 50% off wine tasting, and, of course, wine pickup parties.  Ho, hum…
But then there are the special events.  First off is a river cruise in Portugal, visiting the Portuguese wineries – see picture of the flyer below.  They have a series of lectures from Sommeliers, including a Master.  You can also get a private tour with Susanne.  Perhaps the most exciting is a series of wine pairing dinners with chefs from all over the place.  As these are scheduled, I’ll try to post them on this site.
Picture
Picture
2 Comments
Barbara link
5/28/2019 04:14:39 pm

Jim we so enjoy our time spent with you and Doc Ed! Thank you for the glorious review and photos of Vineyard Grant James. We look forward to seeing you and your friends in the near feature. If any of your followers visit us after reading this article, mention it to us, and we will have a special treat for them!

Best regards,
Susanne Sapier, Winemaker and Owner
Barbara Blankenbaker, Tastingroom Mananger

Reply
Jim Treglio
5/28/2019 06:04:34 pm

Thank you for making such great wine!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Jim Treglio

    retired physicist and wine lover

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    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

Proudly powered by Weebly