Trip SPEC’s

Trip Duration: 3 days

Travel month: August

Travel Company/Sites: Airbnb, Priceline.

Drive time: 2 hrs.

Cities visited: Temecula, Murrieta, California

Experiences: Cougar Winery & Vineyard, Leoness Cellars, Robert Renzoni Vineyards, Maurice Car’rie, Falkner Winery, Mount Palomar, Mount De Oro Winery.

Is it me or has the state of the world really put a damper on life’s beautiful parade? It’s in times like these that it is important to take a moment to reset, reflect and relax. I find that the best way to accomplish this is to be surrounded by amazing people in a beautiful setting with copious amounts of wine! So, I gathered up a few of my favorite married couple’s and set out for a weekend couples retreat in beautiful Temecula, California.

We started the trip out by meeting at my place, whenever I am traveling with a group, I find that its best to choose a centralized location to meet up and depart from. My husband and I served breakfast burritos with sage sausage, bacon, shrimp, eggs, potatoes, cheese, and assorted veggies and spices. I wanted to be sure that our group had a hardy breakfast to account for all the wine tastings and bottles we were going to consume.

Cougar Winery

We were amongst the first guest to arrive at Cougar and they had our reserved tables set up, a quick note when making your reservations they have a maximum party size of 6 which we were able to circumvent by splitting into groups of 5 with close tables. We then proceeded to enjoy several bottles of their Sangio’s Peach Sangria wine which was the perfect cold and crisp beverage on a sweltering day. Cougar is one of my favorite wineries for a few reasons when in regular operation mode they have plenty of outdoor and indoor seating depending on the view you want to have; they also have an in house deli that is super delicious and is perfect if you are in need of “sobering up”. Our husbands played a few competitive rounds of dominos and we women were able to catch up on each other’s lives for the first time in person since going into shutdown mode. It truly was the perfect start to our wine tasting and set the tone for the rest of the wineries that day.

Robert Renzoni

Surrounded by beautiful mountains Robert Renzoni Vineyard has picturesque views. Renzoni offers exquisite red wines that are served in a the souvenir wine glass that can hold a whole bottle of wine…not that I have tried that or anything! It has a beautiful tasting patio for guest who are experiencing the winery for the first time and a separate patio with breath taking views for wine club members. This is a winery that I have visited from time to time in my Temecula tasting travels and the staff does an excellent job of treating you like a part of the wine family even you aren’t a member.

Leoness Cellars

Ample out door seating is what Leoness Cellars, however due to our party size we had to schedule a private wine tasting that was around $27 dollars a person that must be held with a credit card on file.  I felt the price was a little steep for the types of wines that they provided but that is due to my own tastes preference. This was our third stop on Friday and as you can imagine by this point, we were good and giggly, happy and to be out in the fresh air! I know I have said this in a previous post, but it is super important to have a good crew traveling with you no matter how long or short your trip is.  It helps to ensure that everyone traveling can have a great time, the conversation stays lively, and beautiful memories can be made.

Maurice Car’rie

Sparkling wines and Brie bread are what drew me to Maurice Car’rie winey They have so much to offer with a daily craft fair, DJ’s on the weekend and beautiful picnic grounds.

Falkner Winery

Falkner Winer was the first winery I joined; I feel at home every time I step into this winery. Holly, the wine club proprietor knows me by name and always makes accommodations for me and whatever guest I come with. In June the winery suffered a huge loss of inventory with a fire to their main tasting room and storehouse. They took some to reset and then opened their private event space usually used for weddings and have been able to provide unique drinks such as margarita flights and mimosa flights in leu of their traditional samplings which were destroyed.

Mont De Oro

A newer winery to Temecula Valley is Mount De Oro, we selected this winery to enjoy brunch, while we weren’t a fan of their wines we really enjoyed the ambiance, food and the beautiful grounds.

Mount Palomar

Mount Palomar is my husband Corey’s favorite winery, here he can have his favorite wine Mount Noir a smooth full-bodied red dessert wine and enjoy a cigar. They have a large outdoor patio area, and a separate smoking area so that those who don’t like cigars aren’t affected.  My favorite part about this winery is that they offer a wine flight tasting that can be customizable to your taste.

Let’s talk planning and cost for a moment. Knowing that our group size was 10, there were a few things that I needed to consider: Sleeping arrangements, transportation, food, and winery reservations. I felt that renting an Airbnb and large passenger van ($50 a couple via Priceline) would be the best route to go. Our rental was a 5-bedroom, 3-bathroom house, we were able to save money by splitting the total cost which averaged out to approximately $170 a night per couple. Also, to note each wine tasting is approximately $15/30 dollars per tasting but due to me being a member to most we were able to utilize my subscription bottles instead of individual tastings. Utilizing the Airbnb/carpool provided the opportunity to really capitalize on laughter, love and excellent memories! A few points to note when renting an Airbnb in case you have never done so are:

We had a smooth check-in into the Airbnb, the house was well appointed that boasted a firepit, pool and jacuzzi, grill and bar area, as well as a pool table for entertainment. I would say that our only complaints were:

1. Quiet hours 9:45pm- 7am.
2. The host had decibel readers inside and outside of the home. If you are unsure of what a decibel reader is, it is a machine that reads the level of noise that when a certain level is reached a signal is sent to the Airbnb host. Upon which the renters can be fined.
3. Pool camera- we felt this was an invasion of privacy. We could tell when the camera was on due to a bright light would turn on to view the pool.

A couple things to note when making reservations for the Airbnb, wineries or restaurants.

1. Make sure to check the listing for house rules and READ them all! If you are trying to have a great time you don’t want to get stuck with 9pm quiet hours or be charged an extra fee because you didn’t collect the trash!
2. Make sure that there are enough rooms for those staying with actual doors for privacy! There are many that will throw multiple bunk beds in a room and tell you it sleeps a certain number.
3. In this pandemic be sure to check what type of food establishments are near and what their pandemic protocols are.
4. If you are the individual doing the reservations be prepared to have a credit card to hold the reservations.

We set out on our couple’s retreat to escape all the craziness that this pandemic and life has offered up in the last few months. We came home refreshed, recharged, full of love and laughter with memories to help us get through the rest of a potentially difficult year. If you don’t have a network of trusted friends and allies in life, I strongly suggest that you start to build on one. Words can’t express how grateful I was for my crew who enjoyed their cup of T with me!