We are visiting in the Newport Beach area. I came across a brochure for Temecula Wineries, which I had never heard of. We have very much enjoyed visiting wineries in Napa, Somona, New York Fingerlakes, as well as Swan Valley Australia and southern France. How would a trip to Temecula compare to the more established wineries? I am assumming it's a new & developing area, but if anyone can give me better information, please do! Is it do-able as a daytrip from Newport Beach?

Lot's of info on this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34924532

It's definitely do-able as a day trip from Newport Beach.

We were at the wineries in Temecula earlier this week, and made the 1 hour drive from San Diego. It's a nice relaxing way to spend a day. There were about 18 wineries but we disciplined ourselves to one flight of Champage as we were driving. There are lots of small hotels, B and B's and transportation options if you wish to enjoy all 18 wineries in one day.
Most of them have lovely restaurants, and interesting gift shops and nice patios. Great way to spend a day. The wines we tried were OK, keep in mind we only tried Champagnes and they are tough to compare to French Champagne. There is a store nearby with an interesting choice of olive oils and vinegars. The town itself was intersting to see.

Friends own Ponte Winery and that is IMO one of the best..
Have a wonderful time and will take about an hour and a half to get to Temecula from Newport.

www.pontewinery.com

Thanks for all the info. Sounds like a place worth exploring. I think we'll try to make the trip!

Temecula is a great place for wine tasting. It is not very large or spread out and there are some very nice wines. Our favorites are nice dry red wines at Hart (it varies year to year as what we like best), the dry Reisling at Bailey and the almond champagne with chocolate port at Wilson Creek (I think that's it). We are in the area visiting familiy several times a year and always try to visit Temecula wine country.

The Thornton Winery has an outstanding restaurant, advance reservations are needed. The also have jazz concerts in the courtyard on weekends. Very small venue so expensive but very enjoyable. Call to get their schedule.