Our resort apartment community in South Orange County offers weekly trips to various southland attractions (i.e. museums, botanical gardens, art galleries etc.).  I finally decide to take advantage of an event in my wheelhouse and choose the Temecula Wine Tasting Trip.

The shuttle arrives promptly at 9am.  Bus driver Judy decides that the winding Ortega Highway and alcohol don’t mix so she’ll opt for taking the 73 toll road to the 133 toll road to the 241 toll road finally leading us to the 15 freeway.  We make a final stop at a neighboring property for a final pick-up.  Our head count is fifteen.

Our first destination is Hart Family Winery (41300 Avenida Biona, Temecula, CA, 92591, 951-676-6300, www.thehartfamilywinery.com).  A beautiful newly constructed Tuscan Villa style dwelling rests on the hillside.  The tasting room has a cold, rustic, “wild, wild west” feel with a black Labrador roaming in and out.

The highlights of this tasting are a 2006 Viognier which has a beautiful nose and an above average finish in the mouth.  My favorite is the 2005 Syrah/Port blend.  This is a great dessert wine with nominal alcohol on the finish.  The majority of these wines are quite drinkable but the Syrah/Port is the only one I’ll remember tomorrow morning.

Down the road we venture to South Coast Winery Resort & Spa (38343 Rancho California Road, Temecula, CA, 92591, 951-587-9463, www.wineresort.com).  Picture the Macaroni Grill restaurant chain going into the winery business.  It looks like a winery, it smells like a winery, it simply doesn’t taste like a winery.  The tasting room is packed with far too few servers pouring vino.  Their tasting sheet features more than fifty different wines. Their mantra seems to be “jack of all trades, master of none.”  Anyone that understands winemaking knows that it is a very difficult process and you can’t possibly excel at more than a handful of wines.  As a result, I have no wines worth mentioning here.  The beautiful property is truly the only highlight here.

Maurice Carrie Winery (34225 Rancho California Road, Temecula, CA, 92591, 951-676-8397, www.mauricecarriewinery.com) is our next stop.  We begin with a provided box lunch from Campini’s Italian Deli (26860 Old Town Front Street, Temecula, CA, 92592, 951-676-9787).  I choose a roast beef sandwich with an apple, cookie, bottled water and potato salad.  Minus the lack of condiments it is a very good sandwich and the potato salad is excellent.  I dine with Toni, Mike and Tracy on the Victorian wrap-around porch of the winery.  Mike and Tracy are east coast transplants due to company transfer.  Toni has an annoying laugh; nails run down a chalkboard would be preferred ear music.  Although, you can tell she means no harm.

Inside the tasting room it remains true to its Victorian roots.  Unfortunately, this is another winery shy on substance in their wines.  I am fully engaged in my tastings when a stunning young brunette begins asking me wine related questions.  My only excuses for being oblivious — I LOVE wine and I haven’t had “metal” on my hand very long yet.  The server informs me that their sister property La Cereza (34567 Rancho California Road, Temecula, CA  92591, 951-699-6961) produces their premiere wines.  The only wine worth a slight nod at Maurice Carrie is their 2008 Riesling which is a polite sweet, non-dry pleasing table wine.  Outside I make my way over to some booths on the front lawn.  I pick up some glazed roasted pecans from Kadee’s Gourmet Nuts (31566 Railroad Canyon Road, #582, Canyon Lake, CA  92587, 951-775-9960, www.kadeesgourmetnuts.com).

Back on the shuttle bus we head to Callaway Winery (32720 Rancho California Road, Temecula, CA, 92589, 951-676-4001, www.callawaywinery.com).  The tasting room is a nice long rectangular shaped room with a view of the vineyards down below.  As luck would have it, a couple of huge buses of college students empty out shortly after we arrive.  The machismo factor is running high as frat boy all-stars muscle their way up to the bar regardless of whether there is room or not.  If I were single I’m sure I could easily overlook the brazen behavior of these Cro-Magnon males given the visual splendor that accompanies them.  The wines here are slightly better than I anticipated.  Callaway has a long-standing reputation for being a mass-produced “grape juice” producer shot-gunning out table wine to anyone willing to stock it.  The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend is a slightly above average wine with the 2005 Old Vine Zinfandel running a close second.  However, neither wine is worth their $38.00 per bottle price.

Our tour guide (also our server) takes us on a brief twenty minute tour of their tank room, barrel room and processing area.  A wedding reception is being set-up in the barrel room as our tour is conducted.  According to our guide Callaway was bought out by a new owner fairly recently and is transitioning to focusing on producing higher grade wines.

Outside I walk with Tracy and Mike over near the Meritage Restaurant at the back of the property.  I take some photos of the vineyard when I hear a lot of laughter and notice two pretty college-aged girls approaching.  They are dressed in sexy, short dresses as if they were going out clubbing.  I smirk.  They ask me to take their photo and they begin doing sexy girl poses with each other.  I chuckle before saying “you two aren’t going to hold hands are you?”  This behavior is so not typical of what you would see wine tasting in Napa or Sonoma.  The girls laugh and one skinny girl semi-seriously asks if I want to join them at the restaurant.  I don’t bother referencing the “metal” on my hand but politely decline the kind offer.  Tracy, Mike and I have a nice laugh on the way back to the shuttle.

Bus driver Judy points us back towards South Orange County and many of us doze off while one couple pounds sparkling wine in plastic cups.  Our final stop of the trip is Tom’s Farms (23900 Temescal Canyon Road, Corona, CA, 91719, 909-277-9992, www.shop.tomsfarms.com).  Their property consists of restaurants, a furniture store, a fruit stand, candy shop and a wine/meat/cheese store.  I only have an hour so I quickly peruse the furniture store before picking up a roasted buttered corn on the cob.  Afterwards, I buy some baked goods, cara cara oranges, bagged almonds and candy.  The hot, fresh whole wheat bread smells great.  I’ll save it for dipping in olive oil at home.

Our hour is up and we are headed back to South Orange County.  Most of us conk out due to excessive juice consumption for the one hour journey home.  In typical California fashion we gather our wine glasses and possessions and head back to our apartments without a departing word to our fellow day trippers.  Oh well, back to reality.  Given the modest $50.00 fee (included lunch, transportation, tastings and tour) I call this trip a bargain.  For the convenience of not having to find a designated driver this is already worth the money.