I look out the plane window and I see this beautiful terra-cotta red roof landscape ordering the Mediterranean Ocean and I think, “Wow, Lisbon?” As the plane lands, I realize I know nothing about Lisbon. I’ve read nothing about Lisbon. And I have no idea what to expect. Sometimes that’s simply the best way to approach travel. While some people like traveling the path less traveled, I like traveling the path that I have no idea where I am. Except it’s in some vibrant city with some historical background.

Off the plane, I am quickly reminded where I am, another major metropolitan area with an airport where you stand in a cattle line waiting for the next cab. Oh well, welcome to Lisbon! We hop in a cab and a friendly driver take us to our hotel, just a mere 10-15 minute drive through a slight interchange of some semi-rural landscape. The hotel is a medium sized property, not as fancy and luxurious as a Hilton Barcelona that we just left, just a simple, nicely appointed Radisson. We check in and head out on our first day of adventures in Lisbon and it suddenly occurred to me what the city is about. Simplicity.

The reason for venture to Lisbon was twofold: First, visit another location close Barcelona. The second point is to scout out a location for our upcoming retirement. Not really an upcoming retirement, still rather far off, but the thought of getting into a region early seems to be the position that we find ourselves in now. To be honest, I wanted to go to Madrid. Maybe we could’ve done the Barcelona-Seville-Madrid tourist run. However, we decided instead to check out Lisbon as a step off the beaten path. The city is quite simple and yet, very creative. The people are warm with the sly sense of humor. A majority of the buildings are decorated with tile. Not decorated as in a little tile block here a little tile block there. Decorated as in the entire façade of the building is made up little 4 x 4 or maybe 6 x 6“ tiles with intricate designs. As I learn the one of the tours we take, most of these are in fact, hand-painted. Can you imagine the man hours it takes to hand paint a building? Well, this is what Lisbon is famous for throughout Europe, if not the world.

Our first adventure into Lisbon is an ode to Anthony Bourdain. Ironically and sadly, and I say that with the classic Bourdain voice-over, Anthony passed away just a month after we visited one of his spots in Lisbon, Cervejaria Ramiro. It’s a deli-style, lobster-seafood house where you can order plates of the freshest seafood without going out and catching it yourself. The place is a madhouse of waiters running orders, people smashing lobster, screaming over crab legs and consuming fine Portuguese green wine. It was a crazy cacophony of life, both sea and human, with some of the most tender, succulent and tasty garlic sautéed shrimp I’ve had. It is actually quite fun with everybody sitting at these long communal tables, sharing their stories of how they came about the location.

After a quick lunch, we head into town. Lisbon is a small town, and this spot is a quick walk from the Intendente metro stop, but we decide to keep walking in the opposite direction and take in the street scene while heading to the Martim Moniz metro stop. We exit at the Parca da Figueira, a small square filled with tourist busses, local shops and a ton tiny cabs waiting to scuttle tourist around the city. I look down and I see the entire square, and flat and smooth as a summer lake, is completely tiled. Now I’m talking little 2 inch octagonal tiles that make up the entire city scape. This is incredible. The amount of work that goes into setting all this up throughout an entire city, not just the local neighborhood or square, the entire city. Tens, hundreds, thousands of millions of man hours to do all of this. It is just amazing.

Touring the city, you see it is a combination of the old and the new, as we’ve so often with European cities, and Lisbon in braces this as well. From the antiquated streets of the Fado district and its hilly, antiquated streets, to the financial district, to the ultramodern Oriente District, and everything in between, Lisbon is alive and vibrant. Traveling to the north side of the city you see a large orange bridge that is identical to San Francisco Golden gate Bridge. And then it hits you, Lisbon is the sister city to San Francisco. The older sister city. Identical in nature. Steep, narrow, winding residential streets. Well adorned buildings, and this great big orange “Golden Gate” bridge. The bridge is called interestingly enough, Ponte 25 de Abril. The name of the bridge celebrates the Carnation Revolution, where the Portuguese people rallied to overthrow the authoritarian regime in 1974. No shots were fired, instead, Carnations were placed in the army rifles standing guard, buy a local woman, Celeste Caeiro. Cable cars run up and down the streets, people hopping on and off. Parks and museums are all around, with great old churches , open for hundreds of years are around every corner. Tons of statues celebrating Portuguese heros dot the landscape and adorn city gateways and government buildings.

Lisbon, like San Francisco, has a large developed Harbor inlet with tons of restaurants and museums along the harbor front. I highly recommend visiting this beautiful area, see the museums, walk along the waterfront and enjoy a day of open sunshine and great food. One really cool spot, if you like the buzz of the city contained in a single cavernous hall, is the Time Out Market. A modern up-take on the food court concept, here’s where the young hipsters mingle with old tourists in a fun ‘Are we in a Seattle fish market’ feeling spot tucked inside a previously abandoned warehouse. The energy here is just awesome, and everyone is so excited about being here. The lines for food are filled with warm smiles and cold beers. And they have cooking classes for those wanting to up the ante on cooking at home what they’ve tasted here. And speaking of beer, although the selections may not be as extensive as the bars of Belgium, what they have is tasty in deed. And two places to learn more about Portugal’s beer history: Cervejaria Trindade, the oldest beer house in the country since 1294, and the Museu da Cerveja are 2 places you should for sure make a stop. If you want to see the city from a birds-eye view, head over to Amoreiras. Once in the shopping center, head on up to Barrio Alto. However, a word of caution, there is no bar here. Whereas barrio alto is simply “top of the city” and sits atop the name of the Amoreiras mall you actually have a 360° view of Lisbon sprawled out beneath you. It is quite exciting, but somebody really needs to put a bar up there. That place would be standing room only 24 hours a day.

Just down the street from Amoreiras is the landmark of the City Father, Marquês de Pombal. The large roundabout is centered by a large obelisk topped with the statue of the Marquês, the hero and savior of the city. The Marquê was responsible for rebuilding the city after the 1755 fire destroyed almost 75% of the city. When you think about that, you realize the aristocratic nature of old Lisbon. Remember, the Portuguese, one of the smallest European countries, also had possibly the longest naval reach of any European country. The Portuguese were settling South America while the Spanish and English were taking the shortcut and settling in Central and North America.

Another fantastic birds-eye view is the Castelo de St. Jorge. This fortress/castle stands as testament to the building of old world fortress and gives a view into old world castle life. One of the cool aspects of the castle is not the castle, but the village beneath it. Walking through this little neighborhood is walking through the classic small European seaside village with its walls of pastel colors and the flowers sitting on the window ledges. Then once you are at the castle, that walk can be satisfied with dining at Leon, the restaurant of the castle. There is both inside and outside dining on two sides of the restaurant. One side has seating overlooking the city, the other side is internal to the castle, where the peacocks put on a daily display of their colorful feathered prowess.

From a historic point, Lisbon is a researchers dream. Plenty of history remains intact and in place to time travel. Lisbon does a great job maintaining its historic quarters. Which undoubtedly leads to the future being developed just outside of downtown. The northeast harbor front has the Santa Maria dos Olivais neighborhood, home to the central train station, Estacao de Oriente. This futuristic looking tribute to Logan’s Run designed by Calatrava, connects to the ultra modern fashion shopping centre, Centro Vasco da Gama. The Oriente neighborhood also is home to the Casino Lisboa, a neat little in town casino. Modern slots, some card tables and a couple of restaurants round out the location, providing a chance to try your luck to pay for your trip. Hint: it never works out like that.

Lisbon is a wonderful city to visit and I only wish we had more time to visit more of the city, and then venture to the outskirts and the surrounding Portuguese countryside. As we were landing, we flew over large stretches of beach and that would’ve been awesome to visit as well. As I’m starting to realize our European visits are simply too short and that anywhere from a week to two weeks are truly needed to really dive into the culture, Lisbon gets a check as another city to be revisited in the future. Bon Voyage!

When someone says to you, “Do you want to go to Spain for the Formula One Gran Prix?” You say yes and find the best way to get there! Formula One race in Spain has so many fantastic things going for it: It’s located just outside of Barcelona, one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It rarely rains on the race, you see Fernando Alonso fans by the thousands, and it’s Spain! Between Barcelona, Seville, Madrid and Bilboa, there is so much to do in Spain. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that it’s next-door to Portugal, where we are pondering our retirement. So when Nancy says we should go for the Formula 1 Gran Premio de Espana, I was in it to win it!

This time we’ve upped the ante for Gran Prix attending, and bought Grandstand seats. This is going to be our chance to see the starting grid up close and personal. Due to work, time invested, etc. etc., we decided to fly in to Barcelona arriving Friday evening and would witness the Saturday practice session and qualifying, and the race on Sunday. Little did I know things were about to get very interesting.

Two weeks before the start of the race, I received an email from Marriott Rewards: “See the Mercedes-AMG Petronas motorsport team with grandstand tickets on qualifying day.” Sounds awesome so I’ll play. I made a bid and won a Marriott Moments F1 Experience where we got to spend the day being pampered courtesy the Mercedes-AMG team. We started by meeting the Marriott Moments team at the W Hotel in Barcelona.

This by itself is a win-win situation. The hotel is just absolutely beautiful, a super cool spot to hang out. We met with Jonny Odell from Marriott Moments, said hi to some other auction winners and quickly became friends with everyone. I look up and see movement in the crowd, and it’s Red Bull F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo! How cool, so I grab a photo with him. It caught my attention at how tall he is, so I commented, “I didn’t realize you were so tall.” He responds with that huge smile of his, “And handsome.” Wait…what? Did Daniel just prank me? “So I responded, “Well, not really. I mean I know handsome. I see it everyday in the mirror!” And we both have laugh. Daniel is known as the most fun guy on the grid, and now I see why.

From the W, we hop onto a shuttle bus and we’re driven to the track. This was awesome because I had no idea how to get to the track. In looking at the maps it seemed like a harrowing event, between buses, trains, and a long walk. Once we get to the track we cross the bridge from the parking lot to the track, and go through the flag of champions. A walkway of flags with drivers photos as if they were on the starting grid. This was cool introduction to the facility.

If you’ve attended Formula One races in Europe, you know a lot of times concrete is replaced by dirt, which in a rainstorm becomes mud. But not today! This was concrete and asphalt. And approaching the backside of the grandstand, a massive structure, it made it all the more exciting. Once in the grandstand we make our way to our seats, and find ourselves across from the Mercedes pit box. This is pretty cool as we can look down and see the drivers getting into the cars. I wish I brought my binoculars but a good squint of the eyes made it work. Our seats were at the southern end of the grandstand, so we get to see the cars exiting the final turn before hitting the long straight and zooming down to Turn 1. We are high up, in the second tier, so we have a nice overview, and to my surprise, were able to see above the pit buildings, and catch quick glances of the cars along the backside of the track. Of course the cars are going by so fast, the quick glance that we would catch could not allow us to make any determination of track positions gained or lost. It’s just a wisp of color as the cars shoot though the gaps.

Lunch was provided to us, a nice little souvenir lunch box containing sandwiches, chips, a soda, a bottle of water, an apple, a cookie, and crackers. This was much more than the “light lunch” that we were expecting. This was awesome and I have a full belly by the time I finish the sandwich, so I save the rest for later.

The day wrapped up with the Mercedes team qualifying 1-2. This made the next day look very promising for the race, although the weather was not as promising and threatened rain. But, we were OK with since we had grandstand seats and would be under the cover if the rain broke out.

That night, Marriott Moments treated us to dinner with the Mercedes engineers. Six members of the team joined us for dinner, and we all had a rousing good time. Pretty much everyone sat next to an engineer and was able to have some good conversation and dive into tricky tidbits of F1 life and garage gossip. Dinner at the Cotton House Hotel was just awesome, with wine, champagne, and cocktails accompanying our wonderful dinner of Roasted Duck. It was truly an evening I will not forget.

Later, I asked Jonny if he would if there was room on the bus for Nancy and I to join them on the way to the track Sunday. He enthusiastically extended an invitation, saying it would be a blast to have us along, even though we would not sit together during the race. I reminded him that our original purchase tickets are just the level below their current location, so I’m sure we would catch up with them at some point.

On race day, there was a slight drizzle on the drive to the track, but fortunately, the rain backed off once we arrived and we were spared a wet race. Our seats aligned with the back markers of the starting grid. This was awesome!  We were staring right at the cars of Pierre Gasly in the Toro Rosso, Esteban Ocon in his bright pink Force India, and Charles Leclerc in the Alfa Romeo Sauber. What was amazing was seeing the sheer number of people on the starting grid for the start of the race. Hundreds of people are milling about as the engineers go through their last minute race set up checks.  An announcement is made and they all begin to clear out, leaving the engineers to fire up the engines. This was awesome. Even with their exhausts muted, the sound of the cars reverberates and my skin tingles.  Now it is time for the race, and the cars pulled off for the formation lap. Hearing the cars take off like that was just heart pounding. But now, an interesting F1 fact is that hundreds of pit crew members must run off the track, squeezing through on 15ft wide opening. And somehow they do it and clear the track before Hamilton brings the field around to the start.

So here we go. It has all come down to this, the cars are lined up, the lights count down…and they’re off! They vanish down the straight in a matter of seconds. In an awesome display of speed and pandemonium, the cars simply were there one minute, and gone the next. And like that, all that preparation, anticipation and intensity is just gone. It was so fast, and yet, so exciting.

At the drop of the checker flag, Mercedes took another 1-2, with Hamilton cruising to an easy victory. Back in the safety of the race podium at the finish, the fans run onto the race course to surround the winners and await the awards presentation. Not as crazy as Monza, but still, I wish we had been able to get onto the track. From where we were, we simply did not know how to get to the track entrance, and we had to get back in time to get onto the bus with the rest of the Marriott team. So no tire scraps from Circuit de Catalunya.

One thing I did mess from this racing event, unlike other races, were the clothing vendors around the course. Unfortunately, the US media conglomerate that has taken over Formula 1 has cut back on the availability of merchandise at the track. Whereas other tracks have dozens and dozens of vendor trailers selling T-shirts, caps, sweaters, and all sorts of accessories for the race teams, this race had just a handful of trailers selling primarily Ferrari gear, some Mercedes gear, and then some Moto GP gear. In the fan zone, they have a huge F1 store there, but it’s was just one building, and it lacked the enthusiasm and the fan frenzy of shopping multiple vendor locations. Thumbs down for sure!

One aspect of the grandstand that I truly appreciated or that the beers were just a two minute walk down the stairs. Just like any ballpark, you have food and beverage stands located at the base of the grandstand. Although it was convenient, it was not as luxurious as the VIP areas that we were able to view from our seats. That’s the trade-off of getting good seats, it puts you where you can see there are even better seats. I guess that’s all part of the marketing campaign, to get you to upgrade for next year’s race. Cheeky monkeys.

I wake from a sleepy airline haze, just connected from LAX (Los Angeles) to ZUR (Zurich), and after 10 hours on that flight, I’m finally tired enough to sleep. The thought of Barcelona and Formula 1 racing keeps my mind buzzing, and now, after a relaxing stop at Zurich Flughafen, I’ve dozed off to a peaceful slumber. But now I’m confused as hell as the plane begins its descent, the window slides open, and where the hell are we? We’re over water and I’m confused. The plane touches down, nice landing, and I just roll through the scenarios: Did we board the wrong flight? Was the plane diverted while I was asleep?  We exit the plane and yes, thank God, the F1 signs let me know I’m in the right place. I’m in Barcelona.

“This is cool”, I think to myself as we pull into the Hilton Barcelona driveway. Or is it a courtyard. Or outdoor reception area. There are no real designating lines or curb of any sort to make it a parking lot. I don’t realize it, it’s my first encounter with Barcelona design. A subtle, yet powerful design nod. Oh look, there is a restaurant next to the driveway, Piscolabis, and it looks like the spot we should check out for our first meal in Barcelona. Sure, some people would prefer to do massive amounts of research, check out international Yelp, and find the listing with the most stars. Not me. I like wood and glass restaurants, well lit, and with people smiling in them. And this place has the all the markings, so I’m in. After all, we’re hungry and I want some fresh air and to start exploring. Our cabbie opens the door, we step out, and our Hilton adventure begins.

Ziko greets us at the entry. We enter through the revolving door, and the space speaks to me. Clean white floors, minimalist Euro design, splashes of color and wood provide a real design feel to the place. This design is supposed to mean something, like the red streamers dangling over the bar. The front desk is responsive and we have our room in a minute. Even the fact that we had two reservations under one name, one with points and one with cash doesn’t faze Alex in the least. Hilton’s system is sharp, and he takes care of the dual reservation with a single room effortlessly. We walk over to Nico and tell him the room number, “Yes, of course.” He responds in a manner that says he knows. Duh. I didn’t realize these guys were mind linked.

We leave the counter and of course, I have to check out the bar. A nice sized rectangular setup with a white counter-top over a gold base. And then I look up and I realize the red streamers are in fact a 40ft art installation. A Murano-glass sea kelp forest hanging over the bar turning us little fish swimming in an aquarium. Where’s my diving helmet? This was an amazing piece of work for a mid-level hotel like this. And as I would find out, Barcelona is one artistically expressive town. This would be par for the course throughout the city. After spotting my wine chair, we head up to the room to scope the layout.

We get off at the 9^th floor. The elevator opens to an opens as the top floor of an open atrium lobby space. Stepping out of the elevator, we can see the top of drapes and no floor. Interesting. We walk over and look down on 4 lounge chairs, 2 coffee tables, and a dazzling carpet display of vertical lines. I’ve never seen anything like this, well, yes, I’ve chairs and tables before, but not in a quiet little 8th floor elevator lobby space like this. The ceiling to floor sheer drapes that partially shade the glass wall that reveals the…wait…yes, that’s the fire stairwell. This place is just too cool! Is this related to the history of Spaniards and their mid-day siestas? Maybe it’s more of a new take on an old tradition. Maybe our diets don’t welcome the midday snooze, but more about taking time to decompress, relate to one another, and just have some quiet time in an open space that frees the mind from its physical restrained surroundings. Whatever the reason, it goes to show there’s a lot more to the design than just plopping some paintings on the wall.

We head into the room, and it’s a clean, smooth design. The focal point of the room, the bed, has a bed-to-near-ceiling fabric headboard with wood planking trim and the coolest floating lanterns for side table lights. Good thing they thought of outlets on either side for charging the phones. Always intrigues me when hotels don’t have outlets next to the bed. Guess they have never stayed in a hotel and need to charge a phone overnight, the same phone that is also the alarm. Yes, that happens sometimes so it’s nice to have the phone next to the bed. Another cool feature is the sliding glass closet door that is some sort of red/gray artistic pond scene. Or maybe they’re just geometric coordinations. More design! The glass door slides to reveal the closet, a good sized space with the daily amenities of ironing board and safe. But, in an effort to maximize space, the sliding open of the door does cover the bar area. So slide the door close and expose the bar counter top, glass shelves and storage drawers. And that’s Europe: Clothing dresser storage is just 4 small drawers. For the whole room. Hence the term, “living out of my suitcase”. No problem. A simple TV, desk area and a little catch-all glass topped table accompanied by a sitting chair round out the room. A very relaxing room, visually pleasing and spatially engaging.

But the scene stealer for me was the bathroom. Porcelanosa finishes throughout rock the place! The wall tiles, the bath fixtures and lighted mirror knocked it out the park. And irony of ironies, I had just received the latest Porcelanosa catalog at home, and just dreaming of finishing my house with pages 23, 48 and 58. I wish! But now, I’m living that dream. Unlike a lot of European bathrooms, this one is very spacious. Easy for my wife and I to maneuver around during our morning shower routines. A large shower space with fixed glass and open entry has my favorite feature: Separate water and temperature knobs. Get in turn on the water, and its the same perfect temperature everytime. The large mirror helped with me shaving at the same time Nancy was doing makeup. One large single wash bowl worked equally well. The porcelain wall tiles were subtle, yet playful. Very well thought out.

The next morning we head down for breakfast, and even the breakfast area was exciting. This was more like a nice dinner restaurant than breakfast. And the food offerings was more than I could have imagined. The normal chaffing dishes of eggs, bacon, sausages also were home to fried eggs, and beans. But turn around, fresh fruit is waiting for you. But wait, walk to the backside of the fruit, and there are assorted Spanish favorites of meats and vegetables. Tomato and Mozarella, jamon serrano, olives, and much more. Quite a turn out. Turn around from there, oh my, a cooler with assorted cheeses, both fresh Cheddar and Jack slices and Laughing Cow wrapped varietals. Yogurts and milk. And it just keeps getting better, around the other corner, juices and Cava! I love sparkly in the morning! Wow, what an offering. Everything for everyone. I could just sit and eat this all day! But we have to leave to head out now, and as we do, I look closer at this little office area off to the side of the restaurant entrance, maybe the coordinator’s space. It’s was just flawless in its design. I so want to work here! White tile, geometric walls, a cool astro-tech feel. And then when it couldn’t any better, I notice the dining lounge is just decorated in the latest cool colors, Purple and Teal. Wow, this place was just a feast for the eyes. If more hotels like this designed at this level, life would be great.

On the way back to the room, someone gets off on the 4th floor. And what’s this? I inquire, it’s the Hitlon Honors member lounge. Again, beautifully designed, a sepearte lounge for Honors members where they have a complimentary happy hour in the evening. Pretty cool, this hotel has it all. Oh, and the bed was pretty comfy too!

One of the rising stars of the LA cuisine scene, The Upper West opened in 2010 and quickly became a local favorite. A couple years later, Nick Shipp, the executive chef from Pete’s Café in downtown LA, came over and provided a menu that is out of this world. Pete’s Café, at least when I was living in downtown, was home to my absolute favorite late-night comfort food combo: Blue cheese fries and a Fransikaner hefe-weissbier.

Now, Nick is here at The Upper West and things are looking and tasting good. The overall design of the restaurant is SOHO lofty. The walls are just enough white to house pictures, and contrast to exposed beams giving it a touch of industrial. The walls are covered with local artwork, but not haphazardly plopped on the wall. They are displayed in a much more comfortable gallery feel. The seating area is spacious bistro with dark toned-wood. This gives is cohesive feel of deep casual with light airiness, aided by to the 15 foot glass walls framing the forward building along Pico Boulevard. Another interesting aspect of the restaurant, in contrast to most others, their private room is actually at the front is at the front of the restaurant and surrounded by glass. This allows a dual purpose for having it as open seating on days when it’s not needed as a private room, but also being able to close it off as a private room that has sunlight and city life exposed. I like this design. Too often, for big birthday parties, they put you in the back room and you feel like you’re in a cave. This setting up front, lets you feel like you’re enjoying the light and the liveliness like everyone else.

The food is fantastic. Anything that’s going to garner a Santa Monica Best Happy Hour vote has to be. Our first trip to The Upper West started off with happy hour, and of course I had to have the Bar Burger, and Nancy tried the Mini Mac & Cheese and Braised Brisket Tacos. And in  the process, I was introduced to the Allagash Curieux beer. The beer is quite interesting as it’s aged in bourbon barrels. Who ages beer? But this allows the Tripel to finish with a taste bourbon to it. Quite nice actually, glad someone actually thought of it. All of it was all an absolute hit.

After this tasting, we had to go back, and we did. Inviting friends for a couples night, we ventured to the entrée world. Nancy’s desire for Octopus was not to be denied here, and my lust for a good steak was equally satisfied. I am not an Octopus man, but I have to admit, this Octopus, had more flavor to it than Octopus to it. Quite tasty actually, and I was intrigued by the ever-present little suckers. Not a problem. And even though I enjoyed the Octopus, it was nowhere as good as my Sirloin. With a touch of Adobo glaze and steak fries dusted in Furikake powder,  the Furiake leaves a hint of seafood from a ponzu-greentea-seaweed blend, that is a nice twist on an old classic.

But I digress. I’ve skipped over our entry to dinner, the Curry Chicken salad that is as tasty as any I’ve had. So much so that I can’t seem to get enough, and I’m scraping the bowl for more. And this had happened only twice in my lifetime, and I can’t remember the last time.

The food is fantastic, meeting and exceeding the flavor expectations, but another added grace is the service. Our waiter, Robert La Croix, is excellent. I always get a kick out of the waiter taking the order without writing it down, and getting everything perfect on delivery. To round out the full effect of an Upper West restaurant, he checks in on us consistently, and we are never far from our requests being met.

And now, I have a new restaurant favorite, and look forward to exploring the rest of the menu.

Wine drinking in the US has risen some 12% over the last 5 years. That’s amazing because that was my first trip visiting Temecula looking for a wedding venue. Comparing this current trip, I’d say wine visits have increased more in the 50% range. Since 2012, Temecula has added another 7 wineries, bringing the total to around 47 wineries in an area of about 20 square miles. That’s my estimation, as I’m measuring from Hart Winery, the first Winery from the south entrance on Rancho California Road, to Chapin Family Vineyards to the north, which is. 5 miles as the crow flies, and from Vindemia in the west to Renzoni Vineyards to the east, a 4 mile trek across Anza Road to the De Portola Wine Trail, and this is where we will start today’s tasting adventure.

Robert Renzoni Vineyards has everything you would want in a vineyard visit: great wines, good food and a bocce ball court. The exterior of the tasting room is a remodel of Italian vineyard homes of the family’s northern Italian origins. Inside is a cavernous room to accommodate several hundred tasters. The private tasting room is a bit more intimate with seating arrangements both indoor and outdoor. The tables are pub style indoors, and high tables outdoors. Food offerings are light casual fare: salads, pizzas, and a few pasta dishes. I can highly recommend the Pork Belly Mac & Cheese. Bowtie pasta combined with a four-cheese blend is spectacular. The perfect adult Mac & Cheese accompanied by little bits of pork belly. Pork Belly, in case you’re unfamiliar with the food, is a vertical slice of bacon. Instead of having a slice of bacon that has lean strips of meat surrounded by the bacon fat, it’s a stack with fat on top and thick chunks of meat on the bottom. When it’s diced in small chunks like that, it gives a wonderful texture and flavor to any dish. Accompanying the Pork Belly Mac & Cheese on this outing, we added a Chicken Caesar salad, and a Julia‘s Favorite pizza. The Julia’s Favorite is a Neapolitan style with three cheeses, a light marinara sauce known as Mama’s Own, and some tasty pepperoni. Sitting out doors on the member’s patio is this perfect 75° weather is just a slice of heaven. Renzoni has one of the better views for outdoor dining as it looks across De Portola Road, across a few ranches, up a valley of hills to other vineyards and blue skies.

We leave Renzoni to head to our second stop, SC Cellars. This will be our first visit to Scott and Colleen’s place. Although SC Cellars is not a private winery, you have to be ‘in the know’ to go there. No flashy road markers. No neon sign touting their happy hour. Just a small 8×10 sign on a fence at the end of a cul de sac that says “Come On In”. It’s small, independent and quiet. The tasting room is the size of a large living room, because it is a large living room. With 4 or 5 chairs at the bar, a couple of couches strewn about for more seating, and a patio on the backside of the building, this is a small house doubling as a tasting room. The gates to the property are normally closed, this is as much to keep the property Beagle, Molly, inside the vineyard, as it is to maintain a shush of privacy. You see the sign on the gate that says “Open, come on in”, and it’s simply a matter of well, opening and going in. Colleen normally host the tasting desk. They are in fact open five days a week so you can go by anytime during normal business hours. They grow their own grapes and have a few vines strewn about the property. My favorite here was there Syrah. Flavorful with Cherries and Blackberries. My wife picked up a bottle of their Sangria, and is looking forward to a summer party with the sangria been chilled by frozen fruit pieces. That’s her thing. It was nice with just the four of us sitting and chatting about wine, and saying hi to her husband Scott as he comes in and checks on a few items. Then Molly scratches at the door to be let out, and we do so, and soon hear her barking up a storm as she chases the wild rabbits around the property. You’re not eating these vines today.

Now it’s time to head over to Ponte Family Vineyard and Inn to pick up our members shipment. Ponte will always hold a special place in our hearts as it’s where we were married. Adding to that, they have outstanding wines. Their Barbera is the best in the valley in my opinion. They have a wonderful blend that seems to be a member’s favorite, The Angry Wife. Interestingly enough, this title is available in both red and white blends. The recipes for the blending are kept secret, but some say its a Cab, Cab Franc and Merlot, to give it a Bordeaux feel. The white may be a Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio blend to give it a light, crisp, sweet flavor. All of Ponte’s grapes are grown on property, and the vines are viewable from all over the property.

Ponte has two sides to its property: The Inn has been expanded to 90 rooms and with newly constructed wing and the new swimming pool. This location houses the Bouquet restaurant, The Cellar Lounge and marriage location #1. The Cellar Lounge is a members only, private underground cellar that also serves liquor and beer. As of this writing I believe they are still the only vineyard in Temecula that serves liquor on property. The other side of the vineyard is the main tasting room for the public, another tasting house for members. And both are large, the public room containing a containing gift shop as well can handle about 200 people, whereas the private members only tasting room will handle about 50 with inside and outside seating vineyard seating. Nestled within the tasting room acreage is The Restaurant at Ponte. Arguably the best food in Temecula. The Restaurant at Ponte has received numerous awards for it’s incredible menu of seasonal Mediterranean inspired American fare. Everything from an incredible hamburgers, wonderfully hearty chicken and steak dishes, lamb, duck, seafood and pizzas, The Restaurant at Ponte has everything your flavor buds are craving. Add to that spectacular service, The Restaurant at Ponte is a must see, do, eat in Temecula.

It’s getting a little late in the day, and we’ve had our fair share of wines, but this is Temecula, so let’s head over to Avensole Winery for one more glass before heading home and catch the sunset from the hilltop. We get there and we can see the members only dining patio is full, notice several tuxedos milling about the main tasting room and realize they are closed for a wedding. Well, it’s that time of year and weddings are huge in Temecula. Several wineries begin closing around 5pm to prepare for weddings. Who wouldn’t want to get married at a vineyard with these incredibly beautiful surroundings? I know I do… and I did. Oh well it’s 5:30pm anyway so let’s call it a day… oh wait, let’s give Callaway a visit, they’re open until 6:00pm!

We had down Rancho California and stop at Callaway Vineyard and Winery, maybe time for a glass of Mourvedre, one of our favorites. Callaway is actually the first vineyard we contacted about hosting our wedding. I actually like the modern twist in the design of Callaway. Aged metal is contrasted with modern wood finishes and concrete. It gives the location a nouveau rustic feel. Callaway also has both public and member only tasting rooms, and the Meritage bistro for dining offers a seasonal farm-to-table menu that just looks delicious, and tastes even better. The last time we ate here, the meatball sandwich was just perfect. Next time, for sure I’m digging into the Volcano Lamb Shank! But again, it’s May and wedding season is in full swing, so they are closed as of 5 o’clock for a wedding party. OK, you win, this time, we are actually heading home. With our bounty of wine, I’m looking forward to sitting out on the back patio this summer and enjoying some fine wines with our outdoor dining. We love offering our friends our Temecula wines and they love them as well.

Buonasera!