Lumiere Winery — Attraction in Temecula

I had a lovely visit as part of a group wine tasting with 10 women on a recent Friday afternoon. Lumiere is a small boutique family-owned and managed winery located at the top of a hill on Calle Contento off Rancho California Road. All their wines are estate grown. The original vines, all Sauvignon Blanc, were planted in 1980 on the 21 acre vineyard. The current owners, the Kleiner family, purchased the property in 1987 and started growing grapes which they originally sold to local wineries. Their focus is on Bordeaux wines. They kept 6 acres of the original Sauv Blanc vines and added vines of the 5 "Noble Grapes of Bordeaux" - Merlot, Cab Sauv, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cab Franc.

Construction of the winery started in 2006, tasting room offerings began in late 2010 and the official opening was in 2014. Andrew Kleiner is the winemaker and his mother, Martha serves up wine, as well as fascinating stories about Temecula Valley wine history. She is charming, kind and very knowledgeable. She welcomes visitors to Lumiere and makes you feel right at home. Her love of the wine and all the history surrounding this special place shines through - Lumiere is so fortunate to have her there! We had such a wonderful time tasting and learning.

Lumiere has a small indoor tasting room and although it was a warm day, there was a delightful breeze coming through and we were perfectly comfortable sitting outside on the covered patio. Tastings are very reasonably priced, with options for premium ($15 for 6 tastes) or reserve ($25 for 5 tastes), as well as $10 for 3 tastes of all premium red or all white. Add $5 and you go home with a logo wine glass! I opted for the reserve tasting and especially enjoyed the 2012 Cab Franc. Martha was gracious enough to also give us tastes of their two Sauv Blancs - 2006 late harvest and 2013 Fashionably Late. The late harvest SB was a bit sweet for my taste with 4.5% residual sugar, but I loved the Fashionably Late - both the name and the wine!

They're open Thursday-Monday 11am-6pm, are kid and pet-friendly, and invite you to bring outside food in to enjoy with your wine.

This is a special little winery that might otherwise get overlooked as you make plans to go wine tasting in Temecula. But I'd encourage anyone visiting (or living in the area as I do!) to pack a little picnic basket with some cheese/crackers, nuts and dark chocolate and head...

We recently visited Temecula and enjoyed several wineries, but we were a little disappointed with the almost universal custom of tastings taking place at the bar, where it’s typically noisy and crowded, rather than having a more personal experience with a server at a table, especially since it was such a beautiful weekend. To that end, I was looking for something more personal and intimate for our last winery stop, and that’s how I found Lumiere. We had the most wonderful experience of our Temecula trip at Lumiere. Martha was so lovely to talk to and so knowledgeable about wine and the history of wine-making in Temecula, her being the matriarch of the family business. I’m not sure why Lumiere doesn’t seem to get as much business as other nearby wineries, because the property is beautiful with stunning views of the surrounding hills and mountains, the staff is so genuinely kind, and the tastings are much more reasonably priced than almost anywhere else we visited, especially considering the quality of Lumiere’s wine compared to some of the other, more popular wineries. We left with three bottles and a wonderful memory of our conversation with Martha. If you’re looking for a quieter, more personal experience while in Temecula (and to support a small family business), take this as your sign to make Lumiere a stop on your Temecula winery tour—you absolutely will not regret it. Lumiere will be our first stop the next time we are in the area. Thank...

Located on a branch of road off the main street in Temecula, this winery sits atop a hill overlooking countless rows of grapevines facing the northwest and northeast. There is a quaint tasting room for those who like to be at the bar and about 7 tables outside in a covered patio.

Because Lumiere Winery isn't on the main road, I feel that they don't get lots of traffic. Meaning that there is more attention paid to the patron. That's exactly what happened today. For some odd reason my wife and I must've missed weekend rush. We got here at 11am and stayed for about 2.5 hours and had the whole place to ourselves. It was spectacular!

The tastings are $15 per person for 7 wines on the pre-set menu with wine glass included. Although, I do think we got more like 9 pours, which is definitely fine by me.

Martha was great and we had time to chit-chat with her about the winery and the business and wines that were being produced. Stephanie was totally awesome, she schooled us on the scientific aspects of the grapes, harvest, and production of the wines themselves.

Thanks for such a great time Martha and Stephanie. We'll...