by Frank Mangio
Southern California’s wine country is Temecula, with its growing vineyard and winery population, producing more wines in quantities that enable these wineries to emphasize quality.
The challenge for this growing appellation is to be recognized as a premium wine country by the trade and the major media. To this end, the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association, whose job it is to market the region, enlisted a panel to blind-taste a number of locally produced wines that they considered good enough to be 80 points or higher. This is the 100 point media rating scale for Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator, the largest circulated wine rating publications in the world.
I was asked to independently taste test the finalist wines. From the 15 wines submitted to my office, I have made my recommendations, narrowing them down to seven, without ranking them individually. All the wines can be obtained at their respective wineries.
I favor the Rhone and Tuscan style of grape for Temecula Wine Country. In my judgment, that is where it will capture its greatest success, and this is reflected in my choices. All, I believe, could be 85 or more points in any major publication ranking. They are, by alphabetical order:
·Falkner 2004 Amante Super Tuscan Blend
·Falkner 2006 Viognier
·La Cereza 2006 Viognier
·Palumbo Family 2005 Estate Sangiovese
·South Coast 2005 Wild Horse Peak Sangiovese
·South Coast 2005 Wild Horse Peak Syrah
·Thornton 2005 Syrah
I would venture that in future screenings there will be many more wines that can and should make an 80 plus ranking from Temecula. See for yourself how this region is growing by visiting or accessing their website at www.temeculawines.org.
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