This past summer when we visited Mel's dad in Riverside, CA, we decided to spend a day checking out a couple of the wineries in Temecula. We crammed myself, Mel, Jake, her step-mom and dad into a four-door sedan for a hour-and-half drive to the valley. Before we hit the wineries though, we made a quick pit-stop at Rosati's Pizza Pub, a Chicago pizzeria in Temecula. We ordered two pies, one cheese and one with veggies. It's always hard to tell from reviews on Yelp whether or not the food will be good, but we gotta say, the reviews are correct and this place is awesome! We can't wait to eat there again next time we are in the area.
First stop on our little tour of wineries was the Lorenzi Estate. This place is an awesome place to start to a wine crawl with incredible views of the valley and vineyards. Lorenzi wasn't overcrowded like the second winery we visited and had ample seating which was relatively private and capitalized on the winery's amazing views of the distant mountains.
There is a small trail where you can walk along the vineyards to check out the grapes, take in the views and snap a couple of photos.
Selfie action! We snapped this one while taking in the views and shooting some of the photos you see on this page. Every photo you see in this article was shot with our amazingly handy Fujifilm X100T. We love the feel, look and pictures that unique camera takes.
Jake hanging out at the table next to us. After an hour he was starting to get a bit antsy.
A viewing platform which gives lifted boost to look out of the over vineyards.
Lots and lots of wine as you pull into the winery.
Like we said, the views at Lorenzi are really incredible. This is a great winery to sit and enjoy the view with a glass of red in your hand, enjoying the sunset. Lorenzi Estate tasting hours are 11am-5pm, for more info visit www.LorenziEstateWines.com.
Our awesome family photo at Lorenzi. Jake is obviously an expert at looking super happy in all his photos. We had been in the car for a good long time that day. By this time in the afternoon, he was in serious need of a nap. When we finally decided it was time to move on, we hopped back in the car and headed over to Wiens Cellars just down the road. Wins has totally different feel from Lorenzi's quiet and relaxing atmosphere. When we went to Wiens, it was packed. We had to fight our way to the bar, from the look of it, several wedding parties also decided to visit this winery, the same day we were. The wine however is excellent, the outside tables are very nice and the extra items for sale like unique cookbooks, make Wiens worth a visit. $20 gets you six tastes, ours were pretty much full glasses of wine, so its a pretty decent deal. For more info visit www.WiensCellars.com.
