Wine Tasting in Temecula
Whenever we take our annual trip to Southern California to see Jason’s family, I always like to plan either a day trip or an overnight stay somewhere so we can visit new places. Last summer, my sisters-in-law, my nephew’s girlfriend, Emalee, and I decided to take a day trip to wine country out in Temecula.
Temecula is only about an hour drive south of Orange County, right in between LA and San Diego, but inland of the mountains (or “hills” if you’re from there). It’s pretty deserty out there, so it’s pretty dusty and brown and hot, but the wineries were absolutely stunning! We went to a couple and hopefully one day we’ll go back and explore more.
The nice thing about Temecula is that since it’s in SoCal and a desert, the vibes are much more relaxed and casual than Napa - not that I don’t like bougie vibes from time to time, but being casual is nice sometimes.
Temecula has over 40 wineries, so Emalee had her parents give us some suggestions. We ended up going to Europa Village and Robert Renzoni Winery.
Europa Village
We made our first stop at Europa Village. They have a few restaurants on site and even a venue for weddings and events. We had lunch at the Bolero Restaurant. I had ceviche and a sangria because I can never resist a good sangria.
We were on a covered patio with misters to help with the heat. It was a great experience and we had a great time! We even walked around Europa Village a bit afterwards. I would highly recommend it!
Robert Renzoni Winery
Our second (and last lol) stop was at Robert Renzoni Winery. The pathway up was lined with cypress trees and imitated the Italian countryside (as far as it looks in my imagination). In other words, it was stunningly romantic.
Robert Renzoni Winery has a restaurant and a tasting room. We were in the tasting room, and my sisters-in-law and Emalee did a full tasting. I was driving - and breastfeeding - so I passed on the tasting, but I sipped a couple of their wines.
It was a fun experience and the employee doing the tasting was genial and knowledgeable.
They also had a gift shop in the tasting room, which is probably great for sales, but also great for me since I wasn’t doing the tasting. They had a lot of cute gifts and trinkets, but also wine and candies.
This winery seemed geared toward a more mature crowd, so I probably would pick a different one next time, but I didn’t regret that we went.
We had a great time wine tasting in Temecula, and hope to make another trip there one day!
As always - may your weekend be full of creativity and style.
