Temecula Adventures... August 31, 2015

No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one. ~Elbert Hubbard

The Party Began A Little Early For Kathy & Ed And Donna & Bob (Page One)

Page 1 - Arrival, Lunch, and Briar Rose   |  Page 2 - Pickups and Carter's New Winery

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

They departed Sunday morning so they could get a good start for Monday! Bob had to head back (work... a terrible word) so we took Donna home on Monday.

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Great times with wonderful friends but... We miss Bob

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
The fun was well underway!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Temecula may never be the same

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Any place that serves wine is our "Happy Place"

Did You Know? - Do you know what a Tastevin (or tâtevin) is? You may have seen sommeliers in Europe wearing one around their neck on a chain. It is the tasting cup used by tasters and wine producers. This silver cup is concaved and faceted, allowing winemakers back in the days of candlelight to catch as much of the light as possible to evaluate the wine. It is also used to appreciate the color of the wines, especially the reds, and to test the quality and clarity of the wine, to see if it is ready to drink.

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Hatch chiles... The way to go!

Did You Know? - Chile grown in the Hatch Valley, in and around Hatch, New Mexico, is called Hatch chile, but no one type of chile is specific to that area, which is smaller than the acreage used to produce chiles with the "Hatch" label.

The peppers grown in the valley, and along the entire Rio Grande, from northern Taos Pueblo to southern Isleta Pueblo, are a signature crop to New Mexico's economy and culture.

The chile pepper is New Mexico's state vegetable, and the official New Mexico state question is "Red or Green?".

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
The girls were partying hard!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
They came back for Kathy

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Visiting Europa (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Donna studies the walls (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Did You Know? - The French didn't invent wine; in fact, the oldest known wine making was in Iran back in the Neolithic period. These Zagros mountain villagers were making and storing wine around 5400 B.C. in some of the earliest pottery jars archeologists have found. The Nile Delta established a royal wine making industry around 3000 B.C., with the Pharaohs of Egypt enjoying wine so much that they took thousands of liters of wine into their tombs with them.

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Message to Bob (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
How true (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
We like happy places (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
We are off on the adventure

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
There were five weddings at Falkner this past weekend... Hence some flowers

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
No kidding... We checked Facebook... So far... So good!
What time is it??

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Falkner's vineyards are always beautiful to look at (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Great place to sit back and relax (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Glasses in hand... Ready to drink! (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Kathy is good to go (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
The girls make their selections

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
The wine flows!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Meanwhile over in the corner the boys are talking

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Ed has the iPhone working overtime

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Kathy could not resist buying Paul this sign!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
If the bar were two inches taller Sue and Donna would NOT be able to see over it!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen   Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Admiring the flowers

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Bob must be getting a "We Miss You" message

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Loaded for bear...

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
"Look at my iPhone... I can't lose it!"

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Sue takes the picture! Must be for Bob or her girl friend

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
"This is a lot of fun!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Donna was decorating the bottles

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Checkout time!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
"Run for the hills!  It's the Liles' Group!"

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Being brave at taking an order

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
"I changed my mind!"

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
"I know what I want!"

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Ed gets the giggles

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Pablo and Colleen join us! Good to see them again!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Donna 'splains the new "open door" policy

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Love Kathy shirt.... We is old!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Our waitress in training.... Did she get the wrong table or what?

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Off we go!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
The "new" restaurant manager is also a photographer!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
"Where is the car dear?" (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

Did You Know? - "Sleeping Beauty" (French: La Belle au bois dormant "The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood") by Charles Perrault or "Little Briar Rose" (German: Dornröschen) by the Brothers Grimm is a classic fairy tale written by Charles Perrault, which involves a beautiful princess, a sleeping enchantment, and a handsome prince. The version collected by the Grimms was an orally transmitted version of the originally literary tale published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697.

This in turn was based on Sun, Moon, and Talia by Giambattista Basile (published posthumously in 1634), which was in turn based on one or more folk tales. The earliest known version of the story is Perceforest, composed between 1330 and 1344 and first printed in 1528.

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
The hot rod was in close pursuit

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen   Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen   Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Come on in (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Us guys are going to take a short nap (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Entering the grounds is neat... Through the hedges

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
On our way to the cottage

Did You Know? - Many years ago before developers discovered Temecula, the valley was dotted with small family owned farms, orchards and vineyards. In the 1970′s, Beldon Fields purchased land in Temecula and built replicas of Snow White's cottage for his wife. Beldon worked for Walt Disney and was one of many artisans who built Disneyland's Fantasyland and Toon Town. The fairy tale cottage was celebrated as the first home showcased on the Temecula Valley Women's Club Holiday Home Tour in 1984. There is an old olive tree in front of the cottage that was a gift to Beldon Fields from veteran viticulturist John Moramarco. The olive tree relocated from the Calloway Winery – is one of the largest and oldest olive trees in Temecula, if not in the entire State of California.

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
It does look like a cottage

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
This is good... We can carry the ladies out when they are done
(Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
...and greeting us was no one else but Snow White

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
The gardens are wonderful

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
See... It is five o'clock here

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Squeeze me you little devil

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Wine press circa 1550... About the time Ed was a youngster

Did You Know? - A wine press is a device used to extract juice from crushed grapes during wine making. There are a number of different styles of presses that are used by wine makers but their overall functionality is the same. Each style of press exerts controlled pressure in order to free the juice from the fruit (most often grapes).

The pressure must be controlled, especially with grapes, in order to avoid crushing the seeds and releasing a great deal of undesirable tannins into the wine.

Wine was being made at least as long ago as 6000 BC; in 2011, a wine press was unearthed in Armenia with red wine dated 6,000 years old.

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Ye Ol' H2O pump

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Spitting is not nice

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
The weather was perfect

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
We found the back door (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
We begin to smell wine and pick up the pace (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
It was swooping.... Not pooping... That's a good thing!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Through these doors pass _____________ Fill in the blank
(Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
We got the message....

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Looks fantastic

Did You Know? - The Briar Rose Winery has created a unique and charming wine experience for guests and wine lovers. We invite you to come and "Taste the Enchantment" and enjoy our wines from the Ultra Premium, Premium, and Standard Tasting Menus. Briar Rose is the premiere wine experience in the Temecula Valley Wine Country.

Property Size: 40 acres with 23 acres used by the vineyards.

Location: 41720 Calle Cabrillo, Temecula, CA 92592

Open: Tuesday – Sunday 11:00 a.m to 5:00p.m. – we take our last appointment at 4:00 p.m.

Closed Holiday Schedule: Closed Halloween, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day

Services: Daily hosted, seated wine tastings with wine education by our staff sommelier. Tastings usually last about 45 minutes to an hour.

Food: Bourbon-infused smoked cream cheese, apricot brandy smoked salmon, and crackers are available for purchase.

Reservations: Required. It's recommended to call at least one day in advance for an appointment, especially for a Saturday. During the week, you may call the morning of to make an afternoon appointment. Our tasting room can accomodate up to 28 people. We also have outside seating areas available.

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Chris was or server today and
he also an assistant wine maker

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Paul was NOT in a good mood today... We calls him grumpy

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Ed checks his wine database

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Donna gets an extra sip!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Ed was going to play the piano but Kathy saved us!

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
We calls him "Fingers"

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Ladies... What would you like to hear?

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Life is good! (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015

  Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
"Look up... I saw tinkerbell... Oops, wrong fairy tale"

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
What... Gang signs?

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Nice paintings inside

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
The cottage was amazing

Did You Know? - A cottage is, typically, a small house. The word comes from England where it originally was a house that has a ground floor, with a first, lower storey of bedrooms which fit within the roofspace. In many places the word cottage is used to mean a small old-fashioned house. In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cosy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. In the United Kingdom the term cottage denotes a small dwelling of traditional build, although it can also be applied to dwellings of modern construction which are designed to resemble traditional ones ("mock cottages").

In the United States the word cottage is often used to mean a small holiday home. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities that were built primarily for the purpose of housing slaves, and in places such as Canada the term generally exists with no connotations of size at all (cf. vicarage or hermitage).

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Necessary Room?

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015
Yes (Courtesy of Ed Roberts)

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
The landscaping was pretty

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen
Wonder if it is real?

Temecula adventure 8/31/2015 with Roberts, Zaitz and Pablo/Colleen

Did You Know? - Where could you find the largest consumption of wine per capita in the world? California's Napa Valley? France? Italy? Well, almost. The Vatican is the winner. According to the Wine Institute, more wine is drunk per person in the Vatican City than in any other country in the world. Not only is there the regular consumption of ceremonial Communion wine, the Vatican's residents are also more likely to be elderly, male, highly educated and eat in large groups—and these are all factors that indicate a propensity for greater wine consumption.

 

Page 1 - Arrival, Lunch, and Briar Rose   |  Page 2 - Pickups and Carter's New Winery