Callaway Vineyard and Winery

Pros: one of the better tourist spots in Temecula, inexpensive wine tastings
Cons: gift shop prices are too high, winery is falling out of favor with local growers

Twice a year -- during the Memorial Day and Veterans Day holiday weekends -- there is ritual that I almost always perform. I pick up my mom and we drive together to Riverside National Cemetery (the largest national cemetery in the United States) to...

Pros: Great wines, beautiful grounds, friendly staff, take-home crystal glass
Cons: Small fee for tasting

A beautiful setting, wonderful wines, friendly people, and a gentle breeze--what a lovely place to visit. Most people think of Napa when they hear the term California wines; however, there is a growing presence of award-winning wineries in Temecula...

Pros: Great atmosphere, easily accessible
Cons: Don't bother if you're not a white wine drinker

When touring wineries in Temecula, I would definitely recommend a stop at Callaway. The property sits on a tall hill, overlooking acres of rolling grapevines, and is a fantastic place to watch a sunset. Access is also relatively easy, since Callaway,...

Pros: Friendly atmosphere, decent affordable wines.
Cons: Somewhat overcrowded, you can taste better.

The good thing about wine tasting in Temecula is that most of the wineries are situated off of one road, Rancho California, so it's pretty easy to find one that you really like. Being proclaimed power-tasters, we visited 11 out of the 13 wineries located...

Pros: many excellent varieties
Cons: none

I am fortunate to live in the Southern California area. This is where the Temecula Valley wineries are located. There are about 15 or wineries in the valley, with Callaway being the largest. They have a beautiful location perched atop one of the hills...

Pros: Offers tours.
Cons: Overpriced. Unpleasant tour guides.

Callaway Winery is one of the few in Temecula to offer regularly-scheduled tours, so on a visit to the area we took one.

What a mistake!--It was the most unpleasant winery tour I've ever taken. The guide was whiny, seemingly uninterested in the tour, and had a particular fondness for the word "pissy". The whole thing had a rushed and uncomfortable feel, like a drive-through dental hygenist office. Since it was my sweetheart's first time wine tasting, this was acutely disappointing.

To top it off, the wines offered--a pinot gris and a zinfandel--were so mediocre that we decided, having seen the prices before the tour, to skip the tasting room and move on. Almost everything in Temecula is overpriced, and Callaway may be the worst.