Pamo Valley Winery

Here we are, back again!  We did stop into Schwaesdall Winery prior to coming back to Salerno’s.  Sadly we didn’t get any pictures at Schwaesdall’s.  But we did enjoy John and Shirley’s company and catching up on all the local gossip!  Had lots of laughs and may have even gotten John a small roofing job (yes, he’s also a roofer)  John has a nice Harvest Red and we also purchased the Port and the Orange Muscat…yum!  Conveniently located literally across the street and down a ways, we wound back up at Salerno’s.  What a beautiful day.  Of course it began to rain around 3pm, note the green umbrella’s.  Loved the wood fireplaces to keep us all warm. Especially those of us wearing flip flops.  I think one of their dogs was looking for some attention.  We weren’t sure what was going on with him until he started sliding across the concrete in this sitting position!  We dog owners know what that means.  This was a great day!  Pizza, music, dancing, wine tasting, socializing, weather changes, views, etc.  Rose announced that they had just gotten word of two new medals.. one for their Red Blend Perfection and one for their 2007 Legrein Vintners Reserve Special.  It was an exciting moment.  All of their wines are quite good but my favorite of them all was the Ramona 2008 Pinot Noir.  Herman is the King of hospitality. He took us in the winery and showed us some behind the scenes things that only friends of friends get to see.  You have to love his authenticity, so cool!

Ok, so this was one of the highlights of the day.  Did we just double cork that bottle?  That’s a first!  When you go to cork a bottle and wine starts oozing out the top, one of two things has happened. 1) the Bottler or the QA person wasn’t paying attention and the wine level of the bottle prior to corking was too full, 2) the Corker corked a bottle that had already been corked!

CLASSIC.

We had all kinds of silly banter about how to treat this bottle like, will it explode on the way home, should we take one of the corks out, how should we store it if we want to keep it like this, and on and on.  Luckily our local cork supplier was in town and readily available to answer our corky questions.  Whew.

Third stop of the day was Salerno’s.  Here are Herman and Rose   Salerno in their outdoor tasting room, happily sharing samples of their award winning wines.  Not only do they have amazing wines, they have a great atmosphere, probably the best yet in Ramona.  Outdoor seating, great views of the mountains and the vineyards.  There is so much excitement in the air and lots and lots of friendly people.  You will always meet someone new at this winery, guaranteed.  Herman has a big screen TV outside that always seems to have soccer on..guess he’s a soccer fanatic!  Here he was discussing how he keeps his dried oregano and the importance of not breaking the dried oregano until it is ready for use.  You just roll it between your fingers and sprinkle it on whatever your choice of food is, say garlic bread, pizza, spaghetti sauce, you name it.  I’m bummed because I left my little freebie baggie of oregano that he gave me behind.    Herman has always been a good guy for the wine community. Very generous in sharing his wine making secrets and giving great tips.  I hear they do a great “Sunday @ Salerno’s”.  So we are going to wrap it up on this day and come back tomorrow to have our “down the hill” friends experience the famous Sunday @ Salerno’s.

Second stop of the Ramona Wine Trail of this day.  Mahogany Mountain Winery, named after the location of their street Mahogany Mountain Road. This winery is a little further out but worth the drive.  To get there you drive through Mussey Grade Road which is a very scenic drive. Lots of huge, old oak trees line both sides of this road and go on forever.  Mahogany is located amongst a bunch of mountains which can be admired with the great view outdoors on their patio.  One would wonder how a vineyard and winery could be located in all the mountains and big rocks!  But they’ve done it.  Mike and Kim Hargett are the owners here, along with their son Geoff. They’ve had their tasting room opened almost 3 months now.  Kim says they all take turns and rotate the wine tasting room responsibilities.  This is my second time here and Kim has been a great hostess.  They have a stunning wine tasting room.  They really did go all out in their efforts with this project.  We all admired the oil painting that adorns the back wall that was painted for the winery by a family friend.  The bottles are actually painted with the Mahogany label.  Very classy.  Kim gave us the tasting tour of all the wines on hand.  Our favorites were the 2008 Syrah and the 2003 Port.  In fact, I think we bought the last bottle of the port and we wanted two!  Kim said she is going to get Mike quickly back to work on making more port!  For more information about Mahogany, visit www.mahoganymountain.com.

First stop of the Ramona Wine Trail of this day.  Woof n’ Rose..can you guess?  Well, they LOVE dogs (woof) and have lovely roses planted everywhere on their property.  I’ll start with the dogs first. We had the great pleasure of meeting recently adopted Syrah (sheppard mix) and their new puppy Tawny (short for tawny port, a white lab, i believe).  These are winery dogs, through and through.  If you visit www.woofnrose.com, the’ve made a tribute to all the dogs in their families past which is a reflection of their true love for dogs. Next, owners Steve and Marilyn Kahle (who I understand to be married 40+ years!) and their oldest son Travis and his long time girlfriend Susan.  This family is a hoot, lots of energy and excitement here!  We called and made an appointment to take our friends Adam and Dawna wine tasting.  I’ve always admired Woof n’ Rose’s wines, they truly make great wine.  It was neat to pull up to their establishment as they rounded up the family and dogs to meet us at their winery. They have a similar setup to us, only they have us beat by a few hundred sq.ft.  It’s a decent size garage, full of barrels and wine making eqpt.  Off to the left is a wall of pictures, licenses and awards.  And a nice mosaic round table where they do their wine tastings.  It was so fun to share in a part of the joyous, family, wine sharing festivities.  Steve and Marilyn talked about the wines and showed us around their vineyard.  Our favorites where the 2008 Cab Franc and the 2008 Red Blend named Eglantine (Cab Franc and Merlot).  They were also pouring their Estate Reserve 2007 Cab Franc, 2008 Merlot and a 2009 (?) Blush Grenache.  We had fun. Good people, lots of laughs.   Check out their website for more information www.woofnrose.com.

Today we bottled our 2008 Syrah and 2008 Red Blend currently named Passion.  Ultimately we will have to rename Passion to something else as it has already been registered.  Passion came about during the wine making festivities in 2008, during the blending phase.  Passion is a blend of Petite Sirah, Syrah, Merlot and a small percentage of Viognier.  Our bottling crew (Mike Celaya, Sal Garcia, Adam & Dawna Ertel) assured me these wines were pretty “yummy”.  Hmmm… wonder if that name has been taken?  Yummy.  Today we bottled roughly 550 bottles in 2 hours – a record breaker for Pamo Valley!  This will wrap it up for our 2008′s which will now get some more rest in the bottle for up to another 6 months or more before being released.  The life of wine is sure good, all that resting time!

The Ramona Chamber Installation Awards Banquet at Barona Casino in the Oak Ballroom last night was a great time!  The Ramona Valley Vineyards Assoc. was nominated as Non-Profit Organization of the year (2nd time, also in 2006), along with the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs of Ramona and Ramona POP Warner Softball.  The Kiwanis and Rotary clubs were honored and awarded non-profit of the year 2011 for their joint effort to bring the Ramona Music Fest into fruition for the past three years. Working together, the clubs raised $27,000 from the annual event and donated it back to the community through scholarships, donations and supporting other local events.  Maybe the third time nomination will be RVVA’s charm next year!

However, a very deserving and special recognition was given to four individuals for their exceptional work within the community.  One being our very own Carolyn Harris, General Counsel, of Ramona Valley Vineyard Association, who was honored for her instrumental efforts in changing the county’s winery ordinance.

Yesterday we stopped at our favorite winery friends in Temecula, Rick and Jennifer Buffington at Cougar Vineyards & Winery. 

I think I actually met Rick and Jennifer at their winery several years ago.  I knew of them before that through Lum Eisenman and the San Diego Amateaur Winemakers Society.  We’ve kept in touch on email over the years.  They are super nice, down-to-earth people and so are their staff (and of course their two adorable dogs!). 

Oh, wait, did I tell you I am the 2nd wine club member of their ever-growing wine club of over 1,000 members?!  I keep joking with them that I hope the first member drops out so I can be ranked #1 and get VIP treatment!  Even at #2, they did more than give Mike and I VIP treatment.  They invited us to stay and hang around for the live music they had playing, which was very entertaining.  Rick gave Mike a jar of his homeade green olives.  Not only were we honored that they spent alot of time with us, they walked us around their establishment showing off all their new equipment, which I ooooooh and awhhhh at everytime I get the opportunity for them to show us their advancements each time we stop in.  Rick gave us a bottle of their latest Sparkling Champagne which was very tasty as is all of the wines they produce. They were over generous with their wine tastings, I think I tried almost everything on the menu.  The Nebbiolo was my favorite pick!  Rick and Jennifer were kind enough to gift us with 15 cases of clear burgundy bottles for a small batch of blush wine we will be bottling shortly. 

We had great talks and I love picking their brain and asking them wine questions, they’ve walked the walk and I admire them for everything they’ve done and what they have become.  I’d say Cougar Winery is a true role model for Pamo Valley Winery.  Needless to say, we ended up buying a mixed case of wine, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese Plus (super tuscan), and the Monte’s Blush. 

Thanks Rick and Jenn for looking out and after us litte guys in the sticks!  You are the best!
Cougar’s wine tasting Temecula room is open 7 days a week, 11 – 6pm with a tasting menu that is constantly changing. You can reach them at 951-491-0825 for the current offered tastings or visit their website www.cougarvineyards.com.