One night about a hundred ears ago, this 144-acre nook—East of Escondido, south of cell coverage, behind the rocky hill in a shady, lovely mountain cradle you never knew existed—was host to 3,000 partiers. Ranchers, croppers, workers, folk, all of ‘em.
The inaugural “Feast on the Farm” at The Ranch at Bandy Canyon was an attempt to evoke that agrarian bacchanal. One single table was strung with carnival lights, candles, flowers, wine, water, and 176 diners. Thirty-plus farms donated food, cooked by two of San Diego’s top French chefs—Patrick Ponsaty (Ranch at Bandy Canyon, Bellamy’s) and Vincent Grumel (Vincent’s). The courses—including two full pigs, two veal, oodles of lamb, over 150 pounds of meat and 100 pounds of local cheese—just kept getting passed down the table.
Bandy Canyon is a pretty magical place. That one-story, cellar-like structure with the funky iron chandeliers and light fixtures? Reportedly the first structure by SD’s famous adobe architects, the Weir Brothers. Those bungalows? Newlywed consummation areas. There’s koi in ponds and hawks overhead, a tropical-rancher oasis in the middle of a huge swath of the county that’s mostly sagebrush and crop dust. And “Feast” was one of the best culinary events I’ve been to.
But the cause was even more compelling. “Feast” raised $25,000 for the San Diego Farm Bureau—the organization fighting for the rights of the county’s nearly 6,000 farms, and the farmers who run them. “These people do so much work for all of us farmers and rarely get credit for it,” said Mountain Meadow Mushroom owner, Gary Crouch.
So I called SDFB president Julie Walker about what kind of things keep local farmers up at night, and how you can help if helping is your kind of thing:
What is one of the biggest issues facing local farmers right now?
Water. We just don’t have enough at an affordable price. Availability of water is in jeopardy because of the situation of the delta. The delta system is in jeopardy, the levee system is fragile it needs to be shorn up and replaced. Then you have environmental concerns, which are valid, to protect the endangered species. Between that and the cutbacks in the water supply and the impact of the drought, we’re dealing with cutbacks.
Why should I care?
Agriculture is advocating not just for itself, but for everyone. Ag is serving the public—feeding us and giving us beauty with flowers and decorative plants. In the local economy, agriculture ranks No. 5 in commodity value at about $1.7 Billion. So if we’re in jeopardy, so is the public. You take that $1.7 Billion in general and how it fans over the economy—trucking, boxing, fertilizer, piping, irrigation—you’ve got about $5 Billion. Plus, we supply jobs.
So are we in crisis mode, pre-crisis mode, everyone-stay-calm mode?
It’s a slow, steady death. And as more of us fall out of the business, it’s not like we’ll come back when it starts to rain again.
How much are San Diego farmers paying?
We pay about the highest per unit of water consumption through the entire state. That varies according to commodity and need. And whether or not the commodity is water-thirsty product or water-wise.
How are farmers coping?
We’re more diligent in conserving our water. Within the last seven years, we’ve reduced our consumption about 50 percent. While that sounds good, part of that is because farmers are flat-out shutting off the water in this county. Especially avocado growers. Up along the 15 Freeway corridor, you see a lot of dead avocado groves. Avocados are a water-thirsty crop. About 10,000 acres of avocados have been shut off. About 1 million trees.
Should we stop growing avocados then and just focus on water-wise crops?
My answer is no. But we’re doing things like intensive plantings, where they’re doubling the standard distance avocado trees are grown for one another, and making better use of the water. There are lot of studies being done with trees that don’t use as much water. There’s also been a huge growth in the local wine region. That’s where our commodity grew last year—the total acreage of wine. Some avocado growers have switched to wine because wine grapes are water-wise.
What can I, Joe Blow, do to help?
The most important thing is awareness on the part of the public. The fact that our water is expensive, that we shouldn’t waste it by any means. For water use, agriculture uses only about 9 percent. The public, noncommercial use ranks between 30 and 40 percent. People can look at the 20 Gallon Challenge.
Where do we get our water?
About 20 percent is from the delta, we buy about 30 percent from the Colorado River and Imperial Valley. Only about 7 percent comes from ground water.
How about you give me something positive so it’s not all doom and gloom?
We’re doing our drip irrigation systems, water capture and water recycling. The San Diego Farm Bureau is overseeing a program called EGAP (Escondido Growers for Agricultural Preservation). They’re working with the city of Escondido to develop a system that will hopefully begin in 2015. It uses water which usually just goes off into the ocean. It’s not safe to drink, but it’s perfectly fine for agriculture. That brings the cost down to about a third. There’s also the de-salinization plant that’s beginning its process in Carlsbad.
What would be the REAL game-changer?
I’m hoping for the water bond. It was supposed to go up for a vote the last two voting periods but we took it off the table. The state was in such a budget crisis that we were afraid the public would vote it down because the cost is about $11 Billion. There are two bills going through the assembly and state of California. The one that has the most intrigue is AB 1331 by Anthony Rendon. It takes a more practical approach, bringing the total cost to the public down to $6 Billion. And it addresses water storage. What we can do is pass this bond that includes specific money for water storage. Then we won’t see the water going into the oceans.
Ever taken a firsthand look at our water system?
I went on a tour not too long ago and I was shocked to see the condition of the delta area. This is where most of our water comes in initially. It would take one very well placed earthquake to destroy our entire water delivery system. That’s shocking to me. The emergency system they have in place now, they have a system of riprap (rock, debris and sand) that is sitting, piled, waiting. If the delta is jeopardized and the levee system is broken, that means our water will be contaminated with ocean water—will make it undrinkable. They can shut all water off, including agriculture, just supplying it on an emergency level to the general public for drinking. But in order to shore up that system and bring it on down here they have this sytem of riprap which would make a direct line through the state of California. It would take six months for it to become operational again…Six months.
If you search “crab rangoon roll” on any search engine or AI chatbot, you’re likely to get one result—Slurp in San Diego.
The ultra-rich, decadently crabby, cream cheese-stuffed, deep-fried burrito served sliced with a side of sweet chili sauce went mega-viral last June, when a few food influencers started posting videos of themselves crunching, dipping, and moaning over the indulgent Thai-California fusion dish at Slurp’s first location in Liberty Public Market and second in Escondido.
Views went from a few hundred… to a few thousand… up to a few million.
“Our business exploded,” explains Gene Kim, partner and CFO of Slurp. “We used to sell 100 in a week, if that, and now we’re selling 300 to 500 per day.”
Somebody should check on the global crab supply, because they’re probably about to sell quite a few more. The third Slurp space soft opens on Friday, January 9 at Westfield UTC, with a grand opening planned for later in the month.
Gene’s wife and Slurp CEO Bella Kim came up with the now-immortalized crab rangoon recipe and entire Slurp concept. She came to the United States from Thailand in 2018 with an F-1 student visa, and missed street food dishes like barbecue pork, wontons, chow mein, and spicy fried rice. “Every item on the menu, that’s all my favorite things from my hometown,” she explains.
Despite the massive influx of different Asian cuisines to Westfield UTC, from Sichuan hot pot at Haidilao to Taiwanese soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung, Slurp will be the first Thai restaurant at the mall. That’s part of their calculated (and ambitious) growth plans, says Carlo Perez, the group’s third partner brought on to open UTC and facilitate their expansion across San Diego, which they hope to seriously focus on in the coming year.
Courtesy of Slurp San Diego
The group is actively eyeing sites near colleges, universities, and in the second phase of the San Diego Airport terminal redevelopment. With a few more prime locations and some long-term social media strategy, Gene says Slurp could become an iconic local chain as ubiquitous to San Diego as Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, Phil’s BBQ, or Hodad’s.
But the Slurp phenomenon has already spread far beyond Southern California. Perez’s niece, a student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison sent them a screenshot of a friend asking where they could get a crab rangoon roll in Wisconsin. He laughs. “You have to come to San Diego to come and get it.”
Slurp soft opens on Friday, January 9 at Westfield UTC (4545 La Jolla Village Drive, Suite E-25). Hours are Monday through Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday through Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Beth Demmon is an award-winning writer and podcaster whose work regularly appears in national outlets and San Diego Magazine. Her first book, The Beer Lover's Guide to Cider, is now available. Find out more on bethdemmon.com.
At Mesa Agricola, a taqueria that recently opened in Escondido, the restaurant’s ethos isn’t merely farm-to-table. Chef Juan González and farmer Megan Strom are actually growing the crops, preparing the food, and occasionally posting about it on social media (although Strom says that last part is by far the hardest).
“We’re just trying to keep the concept super simple, so that we can do what we’re best at, which is farming and cooking,” Strom explains. She and González, who are married, originally launched Mesa Agricola in 2022, hosting farm dinners up and down the coast before settling into a residency at Vino Carta in Solana Beach a year later. They always had their eyes open for a space of their own, all while catering, raising a young daughter, and working a small plot of land on Mike Reeske’s farm in Valley Center. (Yes, those are all full-time jobs.)
Last fall, when Reeske (AKA the Bean Man) decided to retire, he approached the couple and offered them all five acres, plus his heirloom bean collection of 20-plus years. They were staggered by the generosity, Strom says, and it pushed them to plant more and plant sustainably. But with so much already on their plate, what made them decide to do all that and open their own restaurant?
Courtesy of Mesa Agricola
“That had been Juan’s goal all the time,” Strom explains. “He’s a restaurant chef—he thrives off of that adrenaline.”
When they saw a turnkey space in an area not yet overdeveloped, they jumped on it. Mesa Agricola opened a few weeks ago, offering guisados, or stewed dishes. “It’s got that comfort-food feel,” Strom says. González taught himself to cook in his hometown of Rosarito, Baja California and has worked in kitchens and done restaurant consulting for years. Still, without the social media cache of celebrity chefs in an industry where fame is often tied to an existing fortune, Strom says it’s hard to get people’s attention. But slowly and surely, they have.
Chef Travis Swikard of Callie and the forthcoming Fleurette is a friend and the only chef in town with whom Strom shares her produce (besides González, of course). “If I have extras after Juan uses it, Travis just says, ‘I’ll take whatever you’ve got,’” she notes. When Swikard posted on Instagram about Mesa Agricola’s grand opening this month, it drew crowds from all over the county to come try their unique take on Mexican comfort food, she adds.
Photo Credit: Lauren di Matteo
Mesa Agricola’s concept is simple: Step up to the counter and choose either a burrito or a taco, each wrapped in a housemade tortilla—flour for the former and corn for the latter. (Know that these burrito norteños are smaller than the typical super-sized American versions, so you might want one or two of each.) Options vary, depending on seasonality and the chef’s whim, but they range from veggie-stuffed vegan choices to seafood and meat (like the slow-cooked cochinita pibil or turkey mole). The menu may expand to include items like tortas and features agua frescas and some coffee beverages, as well.
The restaurant’s prices reflect the neighborhood and the couple’s ability to eliminate most of the middlemen producers by just growing what they cook themselves. “Tacos are $4 and burritos are $7. I want to make it accessible … We don’t just want to bring people from the coast out there,” Strom says. “[Opening the restaurant] has been a grind, and it’s been humbling. [But] the people who get it, get it.”
Mesa Agricola is now open at 707 South Escondido Boulevard from Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Courtesy of La Jolla By the Sea
San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events
A Free Event… In La Jolla?
For art lovers feeling the pinch of inflation, tariffs, and the generally ridiculous price tag of life in Southern California, I’ve got good news for you. The 17th annual La Jolla Art & Wine Festival is coming back to Girard Avenue on October 11 and 12 for two full days of arts and crafts (including a juried exhibition of over 160 artists), food (from vendors like Mariposa Ice Cream and Isola Pizza), furry friends (find a new family member with the onsite pet adoptions), live music, STEAM activities for kids, and more. Yes, you have to pony up for booze and bites, but it’s for a good cause (fundraising for local public schools).
Courtesy of Tierra Mia Coffee
Beth’s Bites
Valley Farm Market is on the cusp of opening its third location, this time in Del Mar. The market and surf-and-turf restaurant has been in the works for quite a while, so I’m sure the Del Martians are as ready as the rest of us to get our meat on.
When it comes to coffee, there are days when I need caffeine fast (drive-through) and others when I prefer to luxuriate over my cup (dine-in). Tierra Mia Coffee in Oceanside will offer both when it opens at 1420 Mission Avenue with its menu of traditional and signature coffees, pastries, and other early morning goodies. If it’s good enough for Jonathan Gold, it’s definitely good enough for me.
I’m not an accomplished enough cook (yet) to be a Le Creuset devotee, but I’m familiar enough with the brand to know the cookware line has a rabid following. For the brand’s 100th anniversary, it’s relaunching its partnership with Secret Supper for a three-city series culminating in San Diego on October 16. Want to know more details? Sorry, can’t tell you any—the location and chef aren’t announced until 24 hours before the event.
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Have breaking news, exciting scoops, or great stories about new San Diego restaurants or the city’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].
Beth Demmon is an award-winning writer and podcaster whose work regularly appears in national outlets and San Diego Magazine. Her first book, The Beer Lover's Guide to Cider, is now available. Find out more on bethdemmon.com.
James Thorp has done the bar and restaurant song-and-dance in downtown San Diego. He’s done it in Pacific Beach. He’s been all over San Diego, working in hospitality for decades. And this May he’s headed to Escondido with his latest project, Upper East (155 E. Grand Ave).
Thorp says Upper East will be a spot where both families and pets are welcome as well as late-night drinkers and diners, all in the middle of a neighborhood with huge potential. For being at the foothills of San Diego’s farmland, Escondido has never been a thriving restaurant scene. But with the county growing and people leaving the city center for the less impacted edges of the county, a rise seems inevitable.
Thorp says Escondido feels like North Park did when he was just getting started. “It kind of has this really nice, local feel to it,” he explains. Restaurants, breweries, and coffee shops keep popping up, so he wanted to make sure he got in while the gettin’ was good.
Courtesy of Upper East
Throp and his business partner John Haskett also own and operate Knotty Barrel Gastropub in Rancho Peñasquitos, which split from Knotty Barrel in East Village in 2020. They’d been looking for their next project, and Escondido’s reinvestment in the downtown area (called the Grand Avenue Vision Project) made it prime for a full-service restaurant with classic American cuisine, a full bar, and kid’s options.
The food draws inspiration from, well, everywhere—ahi poke stack appetizer, carnitas sandwich, fish and chips, and classics like burgers, wings, salads, and flatbreads. The 20-tap bar will feature mostly local beers as well as wine and cocktails that range from classic to more signature, with housemade syrups and fruit purees (like the Upper East Old Fashioned with Four Roses bourbon and an Italian orange liqueur).
After years in the biz, he says the area is ready for what he’s building. “We’re just really excited to come to Escondido,” he says. “We can’t wait to start being able to serve the community.”
After 12 years of distilling local rum, whiskey, and other small-batch spirits, Malahat Spirits officially closed its doors in Miramar. The tasting room has been marked “temporarily closed” for a few months, but the Malahat team made the official announcement last week in a short (but sweet) email to loyal patrons. Best of luck to Tom, Tony, and Ken on their next ventures.
Happily, Cutwater Spirits is still going strong, and recently partnered with Tajín—yes, that delicious chili and lime seasoning found in every self-respecting San Diegan’s cupboard. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in May, guests can sign up for a Tequila Season Pairing Tour using Tajín with Cutwater’s different spirits in drinks like margaritas, palomas and more. Sounds spicy. Sounds right up my alley.
Next week, Rancho Bernardo Inn will host a lineup of James Beard winners for their first James Beard Winners Food & Wine Festival, including Jimmy Schmidt (Best Chef: Greater Midwest), Alex Seidel (Best Chef: Southwest), Matt Vawter (Best Chef: Mountain States), plus mixologists and wine experts. The three-day festival kicks off May 2 with a six-course Chef Tour dinner. The masters will teach things (whether sharpening your knife skills or take a cocktail masterclass with mixologist Manny Hinojosa).
Sonny’s, the Brooklyn, New York-inspired pizza parlor brought to life by the team behind Madison on Park, is finally opening its doors on Wednesday, May 7. I got a chance to check out the menu, and let’s just say I’m fully ready to devour a large Smoke on the Water pizza (with mozzarella, rapini, Italian sausage, garlic, pecorino, basil, smoked provolone, and Calabrian chili) and a glass of natty wine like, yesterday.
Have breaking news, exciting scoops, or great stories about new San Diego restaurants or the city’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].
Beth Demmon is an award-winning writer and podcaster whose work regularly appears in national outlets and San Diego Magazine. Her first book, The Beer Lover's Guide to Cider, is now available. Find out more on bethdemmon.com.
Stake Chophouse & Bar isn’t your average steakhouse. Blue Bridge Hospitality’s Coronado outpost is a modern interpretation of a big-city steakhouse nestled in the heart of the small coastal community. The team at Stake has reimagined the whole steakhouse experience. By prioritizing a seasonal farm-to-table sourcing philosophy, a personalized guest experience, and unique service touches, like a formal steak presentation and a bespoke knife selection process, Stake distinguishes itself in a sea of steakhouses.
Exceptional steaks, including Wagyu from Japan, Australia, and the U.S., and fresh seafood flown in daily form the core of Stake’s culinary identity. The menu features a five-course omakase-style steak experience highlighting house favorites, plus an array of cuts, and classic steakhouse staples—think a wedge salad, baked potato, or pasta carbonara—refined for a contemporary palate without losing their traditional appeal. Stake focuses on seasonal sourcing from the region’s best family farms and specialty purveyors, and incorporates intentionally unexpected touches to create something truly unique.
“I challenge our chefs and myself to take it a step further in sourcing,” says Chef Ronnie Schwandt. “It’s important to us to highlight different farms, unique one-off farms—whether it’s cattle, strawberries, a local fisherman or from anywhere in the United States, we’re always trying to find that niche.”
Beyond the menu, Stake emphasizes outstanding service, says Vinny Spatafore, Director of Hospitality Operations. Staff maintains detailed notes, allowing them to remember guests by name, recall previous orders such as a favorite martini (also memorable for the customer since it’s served in an extra tall, distinctly-shaped glass), and celebrate special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.
“When you have those points of topic that you remember about a guest, they appreciate that,” he says. “Our servers are really good with that—we have a couple servers who have been here since the beginning and they’ll remember somebody from years ago, their name, their kids’ names, where they live. I’m really thankful to have a great front of house staff.”
Award-winning wines, rare whiskeys, special events, and a complementary black car service that provides transportation for guests throughout Coronado add to Stake’s appeal.
Schwandt stresses that Stake offers more than a meal; they aim to give patrons something unforgettable.
“It starts when you walk up the stairs and are greeted by the hostess—that sets the tone for the night. Then you’re greeted by a server, who may know you by name, and can guide you through the menu and curate as they get to know you,” says Schwandt. “Most people leave kind of blown away; they leave feeling like they just had an experience. That’s the goal, right? Whether you’re serving smash burgers or high-end steak, you want somebody to leave thinking, Wow, that was awesome.”
Nerdy drinks people and Euro-philes, alike, rejoice. Bay Park’s Oddish Wines has just released a special edition white vermouth with Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded restaurant Mabel’s Gone Fishing. Called “Mabel’s Gone Foraging or: How I Learned to Stop Hurrying and Love the Biome,” it’s a hyperlocal fortified wine—perhaps the first of its kind on the market in San Diego.
The base wine is chardonnay. Botanicals like sagebrush, mugwort, sagewort, Torrey pine, Pinyon pine, Cleveland sage, fig leaf, coriander, elderflower, Oro Bianco grapefruit zests, and Sorrento lemon zest, all of which were foraged in San Diego County, were used to bitter and aromatize. Sweetening was accomplished with local wild buckwheat honey.
Courtesy of Billy Beltz, Oddish Wine
I am so relieved that vermouth culture is finally catching on here in the United States. I know, I sound like one of 800 people you follow who just got back from their August Italian vacations, waxing poetic on the way Europeans just know how to live.
The thing is, your annoying friends are kind of right. At least when it comes to drinking. Vermouth culture on the Iberian peninsula and in Italy is a social event, made to be shared with friends, especially during happy hours or weekends. Northern Italy is particularly known for its aperitivo culture, which boasts vermouth-spiked cocktails with salty bites as a pre-meal indulgence.
In Spain, “la hora del vermut” is typically the time where people gather at a cafe in a square to drink dark red vermouth on the rocks with an orange slice and maybe a spritz of soda water, also with salty snacks. It’s an excuse to chill out, shoot the shit.
What do these gorgeous locales have in common with our fair city? Sunshine, a temperate climate, arid hills ripe for growing grapes, and salt water. There’s a reason San Diego’s climate is referred to as Mediterranean. So, it makes sense that the Oddish x Mabel’s vermouth fits right in here.
“This vermouth IS San Diego,” reads the Instagram post about Gone Foraging. “It smells and tastes like walking through a trail along the bluffs in La Jolla or in Switzer Canyon or Lake Hodges or Mt. Laguna. Not sure there is anything that expresses the terroir and native flora of this beautiful region like this here bottle.”
“We were very stoked that we could find the bittering botanicals right here in San Diego,” says Oddish Wine owner Billy Beltz. “When we first started the project, we assumed we’d have to use gentian root or rhubarb root or something more common in vermouth that wouldn’t be native [to San Diego].”
Courtesy of Billy Beltz, Oddish Wine
He added that foraging was a “team effort” over several months with both the Mabel’s and Oddish crews, as well as some hospitality industry friends.
“I love that vermouth is so broad and regional in its experience,” says Chelsea Coleman, co-owner of Mabel’s, to that point. “My palate leans agrodulce, so it’s kind of my dream aperitif. When I drink vermouth I can believe, if only for a moment, I’m at a cafe table in a lively European square. Maybe with a cigarette. Definitely with olives and some kids playing futbol.”
It’s a nice dream, to be sure. Good thing I know a place in town where this can be a reality. Pick up the bottles in Oddish’s El Cajon Boulevard tasting room or at Mabel’s on 30th street.
Jackie is a long-time freelance journalist covering cannabis, food/restaurants, travel, labor, wine, spirits, arts & culture, design, and other topics. Her work has been selected twice for Best American Travel Writing, and she has won a variety of national and local awards for her writing and reporting.
The sun is just starting to set, and it seems like every table is popping bottles at Bluewater Grill in downtown Temecula. The sustainable seafood restaurant lets diners bring two bottles of local wine with no corkage fee, making it a favorite among winemakers and visitors alike.
With 17 Temecula wines available by the glass or as part of a flight, this is also a great place to begin a visit to Temecula Valley and get a taste for which wineries you prefer. Raul Ramirez’s tempranillo pairs remarkably well with chipotle blackened swordfish, while Carter Estate’s Blanc de Blanc cuts through the rich beurre blanc sauce dousing the restaurant’s sautéed sand dabs.
Like many wineries in the area, newcomer Altísima focuses on the Italian and Spanish varietals that thrive in Temecula’s Mediterranean climate
Within a two-hour drive from 21 million people in surrounding cities (including San Diego, Los Angeles, and Palm Springs), Temecula has become an unlikely wine destination in Southern California. In recent years, Temecula wines have achieved impressive scores from national critics, with Wine Enthusiast naming Temecula one of the top wine travel destinations in the world in 2019.
John Kelliher, founder of Grapeline Wine Tours, has seen the region explode since he began operations in 2002.
“When we started, there were between 14 and 17 wineries that you could go to in Temecula for a wine tasting,” he recalls. “Now, there are more than 50 wineries.”
The vast majority (more than 90 percent) of Temecula wines are sold direct-to-consumer, making it rare to find bottles on store shelves or restaurant wine lists. If you haven’t visited, you probably haven’t tasted them before. Some people may have the misconception that it’s too hot here to grow great grapes, but the large diurnal swing and mountain gaps allow cool air to funnel through the decidedly Mediterranean climate.
“Twenty years ago, it was pretty easy to find a bad wine and it was pretty hard to find a good one in Temecula,” Kelliher says. “Nowadays, the level of winemaking has really gone up, and I think that all of the new competition coming in just keeps raising the bar.”
Winemaker Olivia Bue of Robert Renzoni Vineyards strolls amid barrels of aging wine and grapes awaiting processing
Italian and Spanish Varietals Thrive
For a tiny wine region with just 1,300 acres planted to vine, Temecula is impressively diverse, growing more than 30 different grape varietals. Many of the most successful wineries embrace the Spanish and Italian grapes that thrive here rather than sticking to the same Bordeaux blends that are common throughout California.
Olivia Bue, winemaker at Robert Renzoni Vineyards, recently ripped out 28-year-old estate cabernet sauvignon vines and planted Montepulciano, a medium-bodied red wine grape cultivated widely in central Italy. Bue is also growing sangiovese and barbera. All three of Renzoni’s wines made with these Italian varietals have achieved scores of 92 points or higher from Wine Enthusiast.
“Barbera thrives in Temecula Valley,” Bue says. “The vines love heat and produce high-yielding clusters, and the roots integrate deep into our soil, producing complex, layered flavor profiles year after year no matter what climate challenges come our way.” The ruby-red wine is naturally acidic, but low in tannins, making it easy to pair with food.
Similarly, Nick Palumbo, owner and winemaker at Palumbo Family Vineyards, replaced his original merlot vines with sangiovese. One of Temecula’s newest wineries, Altísima Winery shines with garnacha and Super Tuscan Italian red blends, paired with Spanish charcuterie and grilled octopus.
“Temecula is similar to the warmer regions where vitis vinifera [or grape vines] originally evolved,” says Greg Pennyroyal, vineyard manager at Wilson Creek Winery and professor of viticulture at Mount San Jacinto College. “We can produce rich expressions of wines that are considered less noteworthy table wines in their traditional regions.”
Looser land-use ordinances allow Temecula vineyards to host family-friendly activities like Peltzer Winery’s annual fall pumpkin patch
Fun, Casual, and Immersive
Compared to some of California’s more established wine regions, the Temecula Valley Wine Country Community Plan is a lot more permissive, with land-use ordinances allowing wineries to operate restaurants, events, and lodging. For example, Europa Village offers multiple wineries, hotel rooms, restaurants, and event spaces (plus a wine cave where guests can book a private sound-bath meditation) under one roof. South Coast Winery Resort has a full-service spa and heated, outdoor saltwater pool.
You can blend your own bottle of wine at Bottaia Winery, experimenting with estate-grown Italian varietals like aglianico, sangiovese, sagrantino, and barbera in a wine lab complete with beakers. There’s no right or wrong answer here—just whatever suits your personal taste.
When it comes to dining, Leoness Cellars and Avensole Winery have some of the best bites and views in the region, and Peltzer Winery features food trucks and live music. The fifth-generation family farm hosts an annual autumn pumpkin farm and petting zoo and builds an 8,400-square-foot ice-skating rink each winter. At times, it might feel a little like the Disney World of wine—but you’re allowed to have fun when your wines are this damn good.
And, after all, fun is what keeps people coming back. “We have a lot of loyal customers that we call ‘repeat offenders,’” Kelliher says. “Temecula becomes their regular getaway and mini vacation. They like that we’re not pretentious like some other wine regions.”
Temecula Wines to Try
Start your Temecula wine-tasting journey with one of these 10 winners.
An ideal bottle on hot summer days, flavors of pineapple and pink grapefruit in this crisp white wine whisk you away to a tropical paradise. Pair it with mild cheeses or oysters.
It’s rare to find a traditional Champagne-method wine in Temecula, but this racy sparkling wine with notes of apple, lemon zest, and toasted brioche is an improbable Champs dupe.
Easy to drink on its own, and a nice complement to charcuterie or spicy Chinese stir-fry, this is a fun, crushable zinfandel rosé reminiscent of strawberry and orange Starbursts.
Winemaker Olivia Bue’s favorite, this high-acid, low-tannin barbera is rich with ripe strawberry and pomegranate flavor. Sip the lighter-bodied red with red-sauce pasta, pizza, and grilled vegetables.
Syrah is one of Temecula’s signature grapes, and this vibrant rosé is a delicate expression of syrah’s intense flavor, displaying the subtle sweetness of plump red cherries and aromatic rose petals.
This velvety Super Tuscan is predominantly sangiovese, rounded out with touches of merlot, cabernet, and syrah. Drink it now with grilled meat, but it’s sure to age gracefully, too.
Rhône grape varietals do well in Temecula, and this powerful syrah is a prime example by winemaker Justin Knight. Bold black cherry on the palate leads to a savory, peppery finish.
This plummy, Bordeaux-style field blend is the first wine that Marcelo Doffo made in his garage two decades ago. It received a gold medal at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.
An elegant blend of sangiovese, syrah, malbec, mourvedre, petite sirah, and merlot, this red wine displays a soft, well- rounded complexity punctuated by a bright, elderberry finish.
Named for the ancient Greek goddess of justice, this grenache, syrah, and mourvedre blend has been aged for 30 months in Hungarian oak, creating a creamy palate and hints of smoked raspberry.
Perfect pairings make this fundraiser one of our favorites
The San Diego Young Professionals Committee (YPC) and the University Club Charity Classic will host the 10th Annual Chocolate & Vino on Friday, September 5th at the University Club. Deemed an “Around the World Tasting,” guests get to sip and sample their way through different cuisines and wines of the world. Take in the city views from the 34th floor where the sunset alone is worth the ticket price. Proceeds from the event go to three different local organizations: Big Brothers Big Sisters, ALS Therapy Development Institute and Employee Partners Care Foundation.
