Leoness Cellars — Attraction in Temecula

People say that when it comes to the finer things in life, the nuances are most important. Cigars, whiskies, tea, yubari melons and wines share several things in common. For example: Islay peat & Highland water for Scotch, Vuelta Abajo for cigars, Hokkaido for the best melons, Yunnan (honorable mentions for Kyoto, Sri Lanka and Wudong Mountain range) for tea and Northern California for wine.

Temecula Valley is NOT the first place I think about when it comes to fine wines. It's a place where the micro-climate seems more suitable to grapes with high potential for complexity, but generally unrefined in the end (independent of the process, which counts of course). It's just my opinion but based on a taste of quite a number of wineries there, I've come to my own conclusion that Temecula Valley wineries are working with LESS and not MORE when compared to their Northern California siblings.

So will I be providing 5 stars to Leoness Cellars based only on superior service? If so, then I would be doing you no favors.

Stepping on the Leoness compound for the first time, we were greeted by an easy going charm and a complete lack of pretension.

My wife and I purchased our wine tasting tickets and entered the tasting room, little aware that we would be greeted by Greg, our wine expert. His easy going nature almost disguised his incredible (i.e. professional) knowledge of their wines. I wanted to challenge him so I gave him a list of some of my other likes (cigars and whiskey) and asked him to create a "Omakase" (chef's choice) flight for my wife and I to showcase what Leoness had to offer.

What came next was an incredible flurry of wines that kept adding on top of the other in full compatibility. The 5th sample, a perfect wine for whiskey lovers (SS Eloquent), was second to last. I told him he had made a mistake, that number 6 would undoubtedly be a disappointment for me. For his final trick, he gave me a 6th wine that finished me off with a bittersweetness that was a perfect way to end this journey. He then proceeded to inform me, that the last wine was a "Cellar Selection" Compilation. He got me in the end, with their most basic wine.

After being astounded by the quality and taste of their wines, we promptly purchased a membership after seeing how reasonably priced it was for what you get. We were then immediately given our 3 bottles of member wine and allowed to sit in the members only terrace where we could enjoy the beautiful weather.

Here we met Kayla, who was a spitting image of Ms. Emma Watson (yes that one) mixed with a little Maia Mitchell (my son loved her on Disney). She was friendly and enthusiastic about the food, telling us that we should expect the same level of quality and taste as we got with the wines.

We proceeded, on her advice, with the duck tacos, tuna tartare and finished with gran padano cheese fries that were all very good. The duck tacos used a very good smoked chile that reminded me of authentic street tacos served in good ol' East LA.

After eating our fill, I proceeded to return to the wine tasting area where Greg confidently asked me if I would be interested in another "flight". Egged on by his confidence and knowing his talent, I purchased another 6 tastings and bet him a good tip that he would not be able to astonish me again.

It was on!

First, he tricked me by giving me number 2 before 1. I had just finished smelling number 2 (which he gave me first), and as I was about to drink, he asked me to drink number 1 first instead (which he gave me second). This trick created an incredible flavor of strawberry jam, one of my absolute favorite foods (which he didn't know about). Then he went straight, 3 to 6 without any tricks and bowled me over again. Needless to say, he won the bet fair and square.

Thank you to Leoness Wineries for making such a quality product and showing me Temecula Valley's finest effort. Thank you to the team that were so down to Earth and...

We went to Leoness last night as our final dinner in California, and although it started out nice , service quickly dived.

To begin, we were the final table to be sat, and although it may seem like an excuse for the bad service, they were still open for business and accepted the reservation, so we were confident the experience would be outstanding. However , it was not the case. We were greeted nicely and the beginning of the service was very nice, but right after the appetizers were served, our table of six was forgotten about. I ordered a Caesar salad , and in my opinion, a Caesar salad at a Giordano’s pizza tasted much better. It was just good, but not delicious. Before the main entrees were served , there was no clearing of the table, and we were frantically moving all of our dirty dishes to the end of the table in order to make room. There seemed to be one person checking on the table from time to time , no interaction, just observing , and we were hoping she would see that there was an obvious pile of dirty dishes at the end of our table, but she did not. The entrees did not come out all at once , leaving a couple of people at our party with cold food. In addition, NO clean silverware was issued. The entrees were just OK, nothing out of this world. Had we known, we would’ve have just ordered appetizers. Although we all ordered for ourselves, we did share food, and the main complaint was it lacked salt and flavor. Going back to the lack of service, the server , nor anyone else poured the wine for us. The only time it was poured for us was when the bottle was initially opened. At this price point , we were at least hoping for a clearing of table, fresh silverware, and the wine poured for us. When all of the entrees finally arrived , they did not provide enough spoons for the accompaniment- when we asked for an additional spoon, the request was acknowledged but ignored; someone from our party asked for one on the way to the restroom. We were lucky enough to get a family photo from an employee at the beginning , before service went downhill. All in all, we were left underwhelmed, our car ride home was more complaining about this place rather than singing its praises. I am sure this place has good potential, and you can decide for yourself what you think , but please DO NOT book towards the end of the night- the service and quality of food will NOT be worth the...

Leoness is always a pleasure. Their wines are great and the ambiance is awesome. The staff is very accommodating. Aside from appetisers, I have not had a meal there. I hear that the meals are amazing. The appetizers are creative and, Off The Chain!!!

Well it's been eleven months since I wrote the review above. Let me tell you about my latest experience with Leeoness Celllars. It seems as though there is a lot of new staff. One hand doesn't know what the other is doing. I attempted to make reservations for dinner as well as the Terrace. I was told that they were not excepting reservations for dinner because it was a Holiday weekend. Therefore it was first come first serve. They did in fact make a reservation for the Terrace. On the day in question, I drove all the way from Huntington Beach to have a belated Valentine's day celebration. Our first, so it was kind of special. When I arrived thirty minutes before my reservation time, I was told I couldn't be seated because I was too early. I could clearly see that there were numerous tables available but I went along with the program. I was told to go to the restaurant and put my name on the list for dinner. I contacted the host at the restaurant to put my name on the list and she abruptly said they were not taking any walk-ins, that you must have a reservation. I contacted the manager who got our name on the list. I went back to the Terrace to be seated. Once seated, I noticed the same tables that I saw earlier were still empty. For some unknown reason you can't order a Flight anymore. I hope they don't say it's due to Covid. So we ordered the Charcuterie for two along with garlic fries. Keep in mind I have been here numerous times. The fries were burnt and so was everybody else who had ordered the same. Then the server informed me that they ran out of bread for the Charcuterie tray. So I said well bring crackers. The order never showed up. As far as our dinner experience, The Salmon looked great but was dry. Neither of our plates were hot. I was very disappointed with Leoness. Management compensated us for our less than acceptable experience. I will give them a pass this time but I hope this isn't a trend because this is one of my favorite wineries. And Please, bring back...