Took some friends to the Temecula Wine Country over the weekend. In our experience, the wines there are good, but we've been to Santa Barbara and Napa, so our palettes are a little distinguished, I think. Temecula has some pretty good whites, though.
On this trip, we just sampled three wineries: Callaway, South Coast and, on conclusion, Ponte. We always end at Ponte for lunch--it has this al fresco restaurant with pretty rose gardens that drop down to acres of green vineland. The mountains stretch up in the distance. Whenever we lunch there, the sky is always incredibly blue, the air fresh and invigorating. And the food is to die for. This time, I had an incredible bouillabaisse. For appetizers, we had bread with artichoke and spinach dip and a mushroom risotto that just melted in Raina's mouth--who ate a good deal of it. And dessert was an absolutely delectable flourless chocolate cake--all for me. (OK, I permitted my husband and friends a spoonful or two, and fed Raina all the creme anglaise.)
I don't think I've mentioned it before, so for the record, I'm a big foodie. Much more than an oenophile, as is obvious from the level of detail I gave about the wines we tasted. The thing is, I used to be into wines quite a bit. Now I'm just bored. I swivel them around my mouth and they just get a thumbs up or down--no fancy musings on fruitiness and dryness, a touch of fennel and a glimmer of aniseed, a lingering flavor of apple or an aftertaste of blackberries or what-have-you. Just yummy or not yummy. C'est tout.
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