As you may have heard by now, South Coast Winery, the Costa Mesa/Santa Ana restaurant run by the Temecula winery that shares the same name closed its doors a few weeks ago.  This, of course, was a sad occurrence – it is never a happy occasion when a dining venue shuts down.  However, this particular fallen venue does come with its own silver lining.  For even though it is gone, its charming, relaxing spirit still lives on as part of the Temecula Valley.  This is a good thing, since this particular ambience runs very deep throughout the appellation, not to mention their penchant for producing stellar wines.

Now, I know this endorsement rings hollow to some Orange County food and wine aficionados.  After all, a lot of us carry a stigma regarding the wines of Temecula, one that tends to mentally calibrate a sense of dissatisfaction that is almost instinctual at this point.  However, I would also venture a guess to state that a lot of this opinion was formed somewhere between 1990 and 2004, an era when the Temecula Valley had not quite fully grasped what their appellation was (or wasn’t) capable of producing. 

If you find yourself nodding in agreement with this assessment, you do owe it to yourself to give Temecula another shot.  Times and wines have changed for the better, as the numerous top awards that have been showered upon the region over the last half-decade can attest to.  Gone are the days when Temecula wineries would try to emulate the kinds of wines that other regions would grow; instead, the fields are populated by vines that thrive in the area’s climate such as syrah, cabernet, and zinfandel varietals. 

I can say that their wines are worth much more than a cursory look these days because I had grown into a bit of a skeptic myself.  There were a couple of wineries that I really enjoyed over the years, but if given my druthers I would select a wine from Napa or the Central Coast almost reflexively.  However, I’ve had the chance to explore the region a bit more in depth over the last couple of years (starting with, oddly enough, my first excursion to the late South Coast Winery restaurant), and such doubts have greatly dissipated.  There truly are some terrific wines to be had here, primarily because the wineries had indeed developed a full understanding on how the area’s terroir functions. 

If that isn’t enough to convince you to take a trip to Temecula, consider the area itself.  It would seem that a healthy chunk of the wineries are either run or are populated with people who consider themselves farmers above all else.  As such, the wineries tend to have a folksy, winsome charm to them; considering the fact that the appellation is surrounded by dessert, this vibe almost comes across as refreshingly anachronistic, as if you could don a cowboy hat and ride a horse into the city’s downtown without feeling the least bit self-conscious.  It’s a decidedly different vibe than you would get in other appellations, to be sure, but it is also an atmosphere that’s refreshingly dissimilar.

And really, that’s the best part about hopping in your car and splitting OC for Temecula for a few hours.  Other than its close proximity to all points Orange County, the area provides type of wine country experience that you can’t get anywhere else, both through their wines and from their wineries.  That may sound a bit clichéd, but such an assessment is legitimately genuine.  It was an experience that South Coast Winery strived to meet until its final day, and it is one that looks like it will stick around in its original habitat for years to come.