About South Coast Winery Resort & Spa

South Coast Winery Resort & Spa is big and welcoming, so it’s the first stop for many of Temecula’s local tour companies. On weekends, the tasting room buzzes with day trippers making their way around the valley. There’s usually live music in the afternoons, too, making for a lively atmosphere. On weekdays, there’s a different vibe, especially earlier in the week, when you might just have the tasting room to yourself if you arrive before 2 pm. 

The resort is a sprawling 38-acre property with ballrooms, outdoor event spaces, the only wine country spa, a pool, a three-story hotel, a large restaurant and bar, and private villas that wind out into the vineyards.

Jim Carter bought 400 acres in Temecula in the 1980s. In the mid-1990s, inspired by the movie, “A Walk in the Clouds,” he and his team started planting the vineyard by hand. His kids would join him on summers to help plant. Originally, he sold grapes to other wineries, but soon, he hired a winemaking team and opened a tasting room. The South Coast Winery opened in 2003 when there were only 10 or 12 wineries in the valley. Since then, he has added the villas, a conference center, the GrapeSeed Spa, and a vineyard hotel. In 2015, he opened Carter Estate Winery and Resort, just down the road, which specializes in methods champenoise sparkling wine. 

Winemakers Jon McPherson and Javier Flores oversee the production of all of the wines produced by Carter wineries. McPherson grew up in a pioneer Texan winemaking family and came to California in the 1980s, where he first formed Thornton Winery’s sparkling program before moving to South Coast to head up the winemaking team. Javier Flores also came from a winemaking family and moved from Mexico to California after finishing his Biochemistry Engineering degree at Tecnologico de Tijuana. South Coast wines are 100% estate grown, bottled, and certified sustainable through the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance. They lean heavily on the French and Spanish varieties and have won several regional awards. 

The place is a mix of hunting lodge interiors and Mediterranean villa exteriors, and while it shows its age compared to the newer Temecula wineries, it still has its charm. The newest addition to the South Coast team is a new executive chef for the Vineyard Rose restaurant whose classic French culinary background is starting to be seen on the dinner menu with items like Spring Escargot, Wild Mushroom Pâté, and Salmon Provencal Puttanesca. The lunch menu seems to be sticking with classic California fare like flatbreads, sandwiches, and salads for now. Like the winery, the restaurant has a long wine list. The crisp South Coast Winery Sauvignon Blanc and South Coast Winery Verdelho are good choices on the white side, and the 2021 Wild Horse Peak Cabernet Sauvignon and 2016 Wild Horse Peak Touriga Nacional are solid red options.

The winery also holds an annual concert series and regular holiday events. The tasting room and winery are open daily. 

photos of South Coast Winery Resort & Spa