Temecula Creek Inn has a wonderful restaurant with good food as well. The best thing about their restaurant is that it lacks the 'cafeteria noise' that is so predominate with restaurants today - you can actually have a conversation with each other without shouting across the table. The place is very low key and has a very nice ambiance within walking distance of your room.

Otherwise, if you are looking into dinner at any of the wineries - check out Meritage at Calloway, Pinnacle at Faulkner, Ponte Restaurant (@Ponte) or Wilson Creek. Thorton and South Coast tend to be ridiculously expensive for what you get and their service is hit/miss - sometimes they are on the ball other times, you can't wait to get out. Also, check the website for each of these locations, sometimes they offer coupons for $10 off a meal or something along those lines. Since its with your hubby - you won't look 'cheap' by using coupons, but rather a very astute financial manager :)

BEST VIEWS while sipping wine:

1) Leoness (Looking south past a valley of vineyards and hilltop estates to Mt. Palomar and its white-domed observatory)

2) Callaway at sunset (looking west past extensive vineyards, the city of Temecula, and the coastal mountain range)

3) Bella Vista (from the hill-top lake looking down into the valley below and out to the San Gorgonio Mountains which are snow-capped in the winter)

BEST ATMOSPHERE (festive):

1) Wilson Creek Winery

2) Longshadow Ranch Winery

BEST ATMOSPHERE (serious wino):

1) Palumbo

2) Doffo

BEST ATMOSPHERE (overall):

1) Ponte

2) Leoness

My husband and I will be in the Del Mar area late October. We want to visit the Temecula area but prefer not driving ourselves... any suggestions of which tour group would be available or close by?

Will be driving from Anaheim. at the beginning of Feb. Anything you can add to what you said regarding view/suggestions,etc ?

Thanks,Coleridge

Hi Coleridge - not really much more to add to what's already been said about views. If you have specific questions about other topics, drop me a PM and I'll help you out to the best of my ability.

Can I join in and ask for advice on which Temecula wineries are the best to visit for informative tasting experiences and tours? I'd like to visit some that will help me learn more about wine.

Thank you.

Reneejean, read through the forum post titled "Temecula winery tours" for extensive info on your question.