It’s easy to be bewitched by Lorenzi Estate Vineyards. Seated at the edge of their patio, looking out on rows of vines with a glass of gorgeous red wine in your hand, is quite the seductive experience. I’ve enjoyed a few tastings at Lorenzi in the past but have been curious about the story behind all of the accolades that this small, family-owned winery earns year after year, so I made an appointment for their Vineyard Tour and Tasting with the promise of an “inside look at how it’s done.”
Our tour started in Lorenzi’s tasting room, the Lion’s Den, where our guide handed us each a glass of their 2021 Estate Chardonnay and led us off into the vineyard. We paused in front of rows of Petite Sirah, with the Lorenzi’s home above us and the tasting room below, and were told the winery’s origin story.
A graphic designer with a family history of winemaking, Don Lorenzi founded and ran the successful Inland Empire Magazine. In 2000, his cousin, Steve De Ambrogio, gave him a gift of Zinfandel vines from his 100-year-old family vineyard in Cucamonga Valley to experiment with. Having no formal winemaking training, Lorenzi researched how the European wines he loved were made and tried to reverse-engineer them from grape to barrel. He started making a few barrels of wine out of his garage, eventually leading to the purchase of the current 16-acre estate in Temecula and the winery’s opening in 2013.
Don Lorenzi says that he “makes wine for people who love wine” and seems to be willing to spare no time or expense in doing so. Understanding that the Bordeaux wines he admired so much were aged in French oak barrels, he relentlessly pursued the competitive barrel market until he was able to build a relationship with a procurer, and today, all of his wines are aged in 100% French oak — the only winery in Temecula to do so. At age 79, Lorenzi now collaborates with his Assistant Winemaker, Omar Morales, on new releases and winery management. But Mr. Lorenzi still travels yearly to seek out new wines and discover what makes them great, and our guide shared that he shows up for work some mornings to find Mr. Lorenzi seeking opinions on a new blend that he’d seemingly been working on since dawn. After touring the vines and seeing vines being grafted first-hand, we visited the crush pad for a look at the fermenting machines and those French Oak barrels.
The winery has an extended covered patio that winds along the edge of their vines set with tables and chairs for seated tastings. Our tour now complete, we were led to a small table out there where we were presented with a box of cheese and charcuterie, a notebook with some history about the vineyard, and our first taste from the Winemaker’s Select tasting menu. Grape leaves from Zinfandel and Cabernet Franc vines —still standing from the recent harvest — rustled below us while a hummingbird danced from flower to flower on nearby bushes. As we sipped our wine, a musician started his afternoon set. This was a relaxed, leisurely-paced wine-tasting experience with generous pours, and we even tried a few off-menu wines.
The Wines We Tasted
- 2021 Estate Chardonnay ($95)
- 2022 Brush Strokes ($35)
- 2019 Estate Zinfandel ($85)
- 2020 Paso Doble ($95)
- 2019 Estate Merlot ($75)
- 2019 Estate Syrah ($85)
- 2019 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon ($195, but that day they were offering it for $135)
The crisp Estate Chardonnay was a pleasant surprise as it is not commonly grown in Temecula, and the subtle Brush Strokes rosé blend came alive with cranberry once we tried it with food. But the standouts to me were the Estate Zinfandel, smooth and fruity with a dry finish; the Paso Doble, a dark fruit and chocolatey blend of Syrah, Grenache, and Petite Sirah; the Estate Merlot with flavor that builds with each sip, and of course, the Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2019 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon from Rutherford, CA, is beautifully soft, with dark fruit and hints of espresso. It is quite a splurge for this area at $195, but comparable to other quality Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa Valley. And this is quality wine — it has earned over 90 points from Wine Enthusiast, Patrick Bartlett, Jeb Dunnuck, Antonio Galloni, and The Sommelier’s Journal. Lorenzi made the Napa Cab in collaboration with Julien Fayard of Maison Fayard with grapes from Rutherford, CA, and the bottle can be found in both wineries’ tasting rooms.
The winery is a family affair. Brenda Lorenzi oversees tasting room operations and wine club management, and his daughter Michelle manages the brand’s social media and marketing in her spare time. But the love for the place seems to extend beyond the family. Lorenzi wines consistently earn awards and mentions in publications from The Sommelier’s Journal, Patrick Bartlett, Tasting.com, and Wine Enthusiast. Our host had a decade of experience at different establishments in Temecula but said he jumped at the opportunity to work at Lorenzi. “Every winery should be run like this,“ he said. One might argue that every wine should taste like his, too, which is why we’ve included it in our Luxe Escape itinerary.
Lorenzi has four different wine-tasting menus ranging from the Discovery Tasting ($20) to the Art of Cabernet tasting ($75). Our Vineyard Tour and Tasting ($65) included the Winemakers Select tasting of 5 wines ($35 without the tour) if you’re interested in the wine without the tour. Reservations are strongly recommended, especially on the weekends. 36095 Monte De Oro Road, Temecula, California 92592
