Temecula Valley is located about 90 miles from Los Angeles, CA and is part of Southern California’s wine country and features over 40 wineries. We visited Temecula Valley for wine tasting and here are three things I wish I had know before I got there.
1. You Can’t Walk Between Wineries
In most of Temecula Valley, you will be wine tasting as the wineries themselves, not in smaller urban tasting rooms. This may not be a surprise for most people, but we usually go wine tasting in Carmel-by-the-sea and Healdsburg where tasting rooms are walking distance apart.
Make sure to plan in advance for transportation – Uber, private transportation, or a designated driver. (Don’t drink and drive)
There are smaller tasting rooms in Old Town Temecula that are walking distance apart if that’s what you’re looking for.
2. You May Need Reservations for Wine Tasting
Some wineries require reservations on weekends. Some wineries do allow walk-ins, if you don’t have a reservation try going early to see if they can squeeze you in. We did this at Robert Renzoni Vineyards – we arrived right when they opened at 11 am and they were able to accommodate us.
If there is no space in the tasting room, some wineries will offer wine by the glass for purchase in a separate area.
3. There Are Three Wine Trails
Temecula Valley offers three “Wine Trails” which translates to not all the wineries you plan to visit may be located near each other or your hotel.
The three wine trails are:
- Rancho California Trail
- De Portola Trail
- Calle Contento Trail
Unless you want to be driving back and forth throughout the valley, or paying for multiple long distance ubers, try to plan to visit wineries on the same wine trail.
