Couple of weeks exploring Temecula's back roads.
We spent a few afternoons wine tasting. Unlike Napa most of the wineries in Temecula are boutique wineries, wines are only available at the winery and they only produce a small quanity of each varietal and when its gone it GONE!! I did get a few surprises of what I thought I didn't like, I loved!!! Because these are boutique wineries wine tasting can be rather expensive $8-10 per person. The Temecula Visitors Center online had some great information and we were able to download 2 for 1 tasting coupons along with a map of all the wineries and tasted some wonderful wines, champagnes, ports, and sherrys. One afternoon we found ourselves in Old Town Temecula and did what was a first for us was Olive Oil/Balsamic vinegar tasting- our favorite was an olive oil infused with blood oranges and for balsamic vinegars a vanilla fig infused balsamic. All locally made here in California. Then one afternoon a drive in the country and we found the Gouda Cheese factory that was made famous by Wolfgang Puck. We did some Gouda Cheese tasting and a tour. The cheese was very gouda!! :)
For more pictures of our visit to Temecula http://picasaweb.google.com/jcrobnik/Temecula
Wilson Creek Winery Great almond champagne & ports actually we had Portini there- equal parts of their signature champagne (almond) and port. Very good!!!
The hamburger stand below is in Old Town and obviously a favorite of bikers. We stopped there for lunch and I could understand why. This restaurant boasts the honor of being number 1 in the great California hamburger hunt!!! It would get my vote!!!
