Doffo Winery — Attraction in Temecula

This winery is a little gem for its laid back vibe, attentive staff, enjoyable patios, lovely views, and an intriguing collection of vintage motorcycles and scooters. Our host was Susan; she was very knowledgeable, attentive, and gave us quite a bit of insight into the Doffo story.

The reds here are delicious, we went with the medal flight as my girlfriend is a bit of a chef was seeking out wines for ideal pairings. A single serving of the medal flight was pleasantly sufficient mated with the charcuterie board. While at first surprised by the fact the board was packaged (in a container), all the ingredients were freshly prepared and I kind of was digging the the more conservationalist approach (considering all the water restaurants use simply to clean) it was charmingly refreshing. Their chimichurri is off the chain using estate grown avocoado oil, likewise with estate grown olive oil (a bottle of the latter we took home - spicy buttery - amazing).

They provide a handsome portion of meats, cheeses, fresh fruits, snacks, and hummus, and a small portion of olives to round out the tray, very nice. We fancied the bold and fruity estate cabernet (had a lovely finish and great with the spiced meats) but their zinfandel IMO is an amazing daily drinker. This wine has 2 years in a row as a Temecula favorite and I can only imagine this is a suburban soccer mom top choice award - amazingly fruit forward with a breath of sweet - we looked at each other after a sip and were like... "what...?" Yup, it's that good.

The patios are diversified, we wished the back-of-house one was open as we passed through, lovely trellised area, good shade and just a wonderful space. We sat outside what we'll call the museum room and took in the view across the valley. If your a moto enthusiast, you're in for a treat - definitely a destination spot if you're into vintage moto and scooters.

We even got to meet Patrick! (You'll have to ask when you go, I'll not give the secret away but it's pretty damn cool... especially if you're a Malbec fan.) This winery is a just a bit further along than the main drag and actually welcomed because it then gives you a more central coast feel versus that Temecula strip mall winery feel when every other driveway is another winery.

It was an intriguing and enjoyable experience and we shall return! Maybe we'll see...

We found the Mother’s Day event through an Instagram post. I bought five tickets for my family, one of those being separate for my husband . Shortly after we had a large group of friends who wanted to come. Right from the get go we could tell it wasn’t Organized very well. And we were patient to work them to get our larger group to be seated as one. ( we had about 16) We walked up to the booth to grab our mimosa flight and right off the bat this woman gave me attitude when I tried to explain who was with who and how large our party was. When we purchased a ticket it didn’t say anything about seating arrangements so we ordered our tickets as necessary. When we tried to get seated they made it very complicated and said we couldn’t be seated together but they would do their best(which they did) There was one woman who is very kind and told us multiple times she would try to accommodate us as best she could. She was very nice. During the last half of our time there we realized we were missing about $120 worth of alcohol that we had ordered. When we confronted one of the multiple bartender/waitresses they argued with us and claimed that we were wrong. We had all of our receipts and proof that we paid $35 a flight for each of the Mother’s Day flights and they still would not budge. Not only did they not work with us, but Sam was very rude. From the moment we walked in she had an attitude. She mentioned working an event the night before and It obviously carried on to today’s event. We brought almost 20 people with us today and they shorted us over $100 worth of mimosas. Not only did we bring a large group, but we also planned to eat food. After the encounter with sam(who is apparently related the the owner) we were super disappointed. We were very patient with them despite how unorganized they appeared to be. When she confronted us, she was very rude. It might have been bad management, but still, we were willing to figure out what happened and she was straight up rude. We will not be returning.

We ended up going to the main part of the winery and enjoyed the company of Susan (the blonde). She was super nice and accommodating after our first encounter. From there we went to the barrel room and had jen as our server. She said as so kind and friendly. Jen and Susan definitely turned our...

Doffo Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve 2017

I received the DWCSPR17 with the intent of doing my best to cellar it and practice delayed gratification for at least an additional year of aging as suggested by the experts at Doffo Winery. I soon discovered that my willpower would fall short of my aspirations. And I am so glad that it did. I planned a small dinner party with the best of friends and proceeded to acquire some of the finest filets that I could find to accompany the Private Reserve. If I were writing about pairing before the dinner I would've spoken about pairing the wine with the meal instead of the other way around. Now, after the meal and tasting, it's obvious that the wine was the star of the affair. I've tasted wines before that added to the meal that it accompanied, but this is one of the few times that the wine truly elevated the entire meal. The Private Reserves rich and balanced tannins and its dark fruity notes and earthy undertones combined to convince me that it was in the top three CabSavs I've ever encountered in any price range. The filet was cooked to a perfect smidge under mid-rare and after thrilling in a few bites with a finish of the PR I ventured to try a bit without the wine kicker. Although a delightful few bites it was immediately obvious that Doffo Winery was trying to aid me in my dinning experience and I quickly returned to my glass. Sipping the remainder of the bottle post dinner assured me that the 2017 PR could hold its own as a solo act in any setting that again was amongst the very best I've enjoyed. I've tried a few other offerings produced by The Doffo Winery recently and they all held their own extremely well. The Cabernet Sauvignon PR 2017 was my absolute favorite. The Temecula Valley is without doubt becoming the next big California wine region and I couldn't be more excited for more to come. My next advent will be to acquire a few more bottles of the '17 PR and actually give them a bit more cellar time. After which I'm convinced that it will easily move into first place in my personal pallet history. Thank you Salo for your expert guidance in...