Tour Through Temecula

Dave and I had to attend a wedding in Temecula, so like the true wine lovers we are, we decided to play hookie, take a day off work, and go wine tasting on Friday. Oh and what a great idea that was!



This being our second time through, we started with our favorites from our last trip. Stop one, Keyways. I focused on tasting the whites, while Dave leaned towards the reds. I think between the two of us, with 6 tastes each,we tasted the: Chardonnay, Chenin Blanca, Riesling, Roussanne, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat, Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon, Frolich, Zinfandel and Syrah. Whew! All in all, I would consider these wines mediocre. None of them really stood out to me as great wines. Don't get me wrong, none were horrible either, but I didn't feel the urge to buy a bottle of any one of these. Not to mention, we were completely put off by the employees there. They were not helpful, welcoming, pleasant or very friendly. The experience overall left a bad taste in our mouth. It was time to move on....



Next we were on to Cougar. This is the place to have a good time. Good wine, even better people. There is sure to be a party going on at this place! I loved each and every wine we tasted here. The list for this one is slightly shorter, we had the: Dolcetto, Sparkling Cougar, Pink Cougar, Full Monte, Sangiovese, Meritage and Merlot. We left with a bottle of sparkling Cougar for later that night too :) We will be back!!



The next stop, my favorite winery of all time...Foote Print Winery. Now let me tell you about Foote Print. It is an unassuming metal warehouse, off the beaten path of the Temecula wine tour trail. And for all those people who claim that Temecula cannot produce a red, they have not had a Foote Print wine. This was our second time at Foote Print, and I think we must have spent an hour and a half here tasting and chatting it up with the two other couples and the owner. Each wine (they only produce reds) was better than the last. It really was a joy for the taste buds. We tried the Estate Footeage (3 different years, shhhhh, don't tell, they were not on the menu, they were brought out of the back closet and they were some of the best wines i've had), Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Krazy Foote and the Late Harvest Zinfandel. I left with a bottle of the Estate Footeage for myself. Can't wait to crack that one open!



After three tastings it was time for lunch. We went over to Wilson Creek where we sat on their patio overlooking their beautiful grounds. We started with some meatballs with a tomato and olive sauce that was a perfect little amuse bouche. Then we had the artichoke and goat cheese dip as a starter. It was ok, the pita chips were a bit too hard, went much better with the fresh french bread they served. Our "main course" was the patty melt which we got on a fresh focaccia roll with curly fries. We inhaled that patty melt like it was our last meal. The focaccia roll was a winner and made the meal. The curly fries weren't too shabby themselves. We were not ready for our final tasting.

We were on to La Creza. I have to say, this was not the way to end a fantastic day. Each wine was more disappointing than the next. I don't know if it was a result of the meal we just ate, but we barely finished out tasting, its not even worth writing about. Suffice to say, we will not be back.

However, we will be back to Temecula, for the wineries which we couldn't stop by because we ran out of time, and to those which we can't wait to return to!!