Showing posts with label temecula. Show all posts
Showing posts with label temecula. Show all posts

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Giveaway! Temecula Valley's World of Wine 2015 (March 7-8, 2015)

Love wine? You can spend a whole weekend touring and tasting the wineries in Temecula Valley during next weekend's World of Wine weekend!

With this 2-day event you get a passport that you can use for barrel tasting and food pairing at more than 30 participating wineries along Rancho California and DePortola Roads. It's taking place next weekend on March 7-March 8, 2015 and the participating wineries will be open from 10am-4:30pm.
It's a self-drive tour and you get the wineries to stamp your passport along the way! This winter barrel tasting gives people a sneak peek of the upcoming spring releases.

The 2-day passport is $99 or you can also purchase a Sunday-only passport for $79. You can purchase tickets or find out more information here. Or go here for more information on lodging or wine tour packages.

Now, on to the good stuff, though. A giveaway! Maybe all this sounds great to you - wandering around Temecula Valley while drinking wine, but you need a little push to go there ... well, from now until midnight on Wednesday you can enter to win two Sunday-only passports ($158 value)! Just follow the instructions below and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Lunch at Wilson Creek Winery (and their Pig Mascot!), Temecula, CA

I'll just admit it straight up. I'm biased. I loved visiting Wilson Creek Winery in Temecula because ... they have Molly Merlot, their pig mascot!

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Isn't she adorable with her tutu, though? I don't care as much about taking photos with celebrities or chefs, but I made sure I got one with Molly.

Wilson Creek Winery is one of the larger ones in Temecula Valley.
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It's beautiful and well equipped for weddings, with a stage already built for special occasions and perhaps live music concerts.
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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Giveaway! World of Wine Passports to 35 Temecula Wineries

World of Wine is Temecula Valley's annual barrel tasting event, where attendees can go to the cellars of 35 different wineries to get barrel samples, along with partaking in food and wine pairings that each winery has set up. It's a self guided tour: each winery will stamp your passport as you go through them, and you can hit as many of the 35 as you want (or can)! This year, WoW is taking place on Saturday-Sunday, March 1-2, 2014.
You can get a 2-day ticket for $99, allowing you more time to visit the wineries (some will have live music so you may want to linger and enjoy), or a Sunday-only ticket for $79. You can purchase the tickets here (and might want to consider their shuttle service as well)

The food and wine pairings look pretty enticing, check out some of them:
    •    Baily Vineyard is serving 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon with Beef Bourguignon; plus Parisian Apple Cake with warm caramel sauce and late harvest Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon whipped cream.
    •    Bel Vino is serving 2005 Prima Port - a limited-production Zinfandel dessert wine - paired with chocolate mousse tart topped with raspberries
    •    Callaway is serving 2012 Winemaker's Reserve Roussanne (pre-release) with Sage Mountain Farms organic beef meatloaf topped with bacon & apple chutney; plus rock shrimp and leek-mousse stuffed mushrooms.
    •    Danza Del Sol is serving 2011 Tempranillo with roasted chicken, topped with a seared lemon glaze over sun-dried tomato orzo.
    •    Falkner Winery is serving 2009 Meritage with a surf & turf burger slider (Black Angus beef, sauteed lobster, Boursin cheese) and a grilled octopus greek salad
    •    Miramonte is serving 2012 Bin 380 signature red blend with Moroccan-spiced braised chicken over saffron rice pilaf 

I did say this was a giveaway post ...

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Wine and Cheese Pairing at Miramonte Winery in Temecula Valley

Miramonte was one of the beautiful wineries I visited in Temecula, with an outdoor seating area overlooking the valley and vineyards.

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Miramonte opened in 2001, but they hired a new winemaker in 2008. The new winemaker is a UC Davis alum who used to work at Argyle in Oregon (great sparkling wines). His experience has brought gentler nuance to the wines. Miramonte has 9 acres which are all planted with Rhone varietals (Temecula Valley is said to be very similar to Rhone) and they have started planting some varietals from Argentina and Portugal.
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We had a nice little pairing outside, with the fine breeze and beautiful view. The pairing showcases some items from their food boards, from cheese to tapenades.
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The 2012 Grenache rose was paired with Spanish manchego and strawberries. The cheese made the wine less astringent.

Their 2012 Rousanne was paired with Apricot Stilton, poached peach, habanero infused olive oil. The wine had notes of apple and under-ripe pineapple. I didn't like the Rousanne at first because it was buttery, but it became much better with the pairing.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Touring Artisanal Shops in Old Town Temecula

During a recent press trip to Temecula Valley Wine Country (thanks to Temecula CVB and the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association), we also got a little tour of Old Town Temecula's artisanal shops from an olive oil store, a lavender store, a sweets shop, and a spice and tea shop.

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Our first stop was Temecula Olive Oil Company. The building used to be a saloon and brothel but before the olive oil tasting we headed upstairs for breakfast first, catered by E. A. T ("Extraordinary Artisan Table"), located 5-10 minutes outside of Old Town.
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IMG_9198EAT sources ingredients from local producers and even make their own almond milk for morning coffee. We had tomatoes that were picked just the day before.

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