Briar Rose Winery - Temecula, California

Dear Dorian,

My boyfriend and I live in Dallas, TX and just this past weekend we visited our friends Kevin and Lyndsay Bumbernick in California. They took us to your winery on Saturday and I can not even begin to tell you what a wonderful time we had! You and your staff were so friendly and welcoming - I felt very comfortable as someone who really knew nothing about wine.

The wine was delicious and I appreciate all of the time you spent with us teaching us about the different processes and flavors. We did go to several other wineries that day but by far yours was the best! My boyfriend and I talked about it the whole flight home and as soon as we opened the door we opened our bottle of Talking Frog!

Thank you for all of your hard work but mostly the amazing service you and your team provided. It was a wonderful trip and we are already planning another trip out there to visit you!

Sincerley,

Ashley Bass

My wife and I signed up for a wine tasting tour for her 35th birthday. Our tour took us to 4 wineries and ended with us going to Briar Rose. The tour definately saved the best for last, because we had the GREATEST time talking with Les and Dorian. So good a time in fact, that our entire group signed up for their wine club and bought several bottles of their FANTASTIC wines. They were all INCREDIBLE, especially Les' invention of "Talking Frog". Thank you sooo much for such a WONDERFUL time at your family's business, we can't wait to come back!

Sincerely, Chris and Michelle

There is a time in a woman’s life when she just needs to get away with the girls and drink a little wine. In San Diego the best place to go for tasting amazing wine is the Temecula Valley, and that is just where my mother, sister and I went for a girl’s weekend of good wine and even better company. While driving along the main road of the Temecula wine country we were met with large winery after large winery — far more than anyone could visit in one day, or even one trip to Temecula. Many visitors never venture off this main drag of “mega-wineries,” and it is their loss. For on this trip, far away from the hustle and bustle of the main road, we discovered a hidden gem of the valley that took us out of Temecula and into an enchanted land. Briar Rose Winery is a truly magical place made us feel as though we had stepped into a fairy tale.

Briar Rose is the most amazing winery I Have ever visted. I adore the spirit and presence of Les and Dorian. The wine is fantastic no matter which one you choose. I tell everyone about this fabulous place where blessings and peace abound! 

Briar Rose was one of a handful of call-ahead stops in Temecula that I heard I absolutely needed to hit from two sources at other wineries, despite my initial reticence about including anywhere http://temeculawi... and other sites mentioned requiring more than a knock at the door. See, to a Realtor (I am), anything requiring an appointment often translates into "difficult to access". All I can say is that this thinking was a major oversight on my part, and it's safe to say that both myself and my guest wish I made that call on my first trip to the area, rather than the third. Not only were there no hassles at all in setting up a private tasting that suited our schedule, but Briar Rose is now on my short list of favorite Temecula Valley wineries, period. Briar was definitely unique compared to many other area wineries I'd stopped at, in that it was built by one of the designers of Fantasy Land at Disneyland, and has several design touches and decorations that visitors might recognize. But the winery is small but charming, the grounds beautiful, and the staff very friendly. A tasting at Briar is designed to offer a more private and instructional experience than what is often had at many other area wineries. I'm sure we've all experienced crowds that can limit the amount of time a pourer has to talk to you about what you are enjoying. Not here. First off, our pourer had a great deal of knowledge of the wines and the winery's history to share. I don't recall us getting into brix levels and the like, but even better, we were the only tasters present where the pourer had an eye for when to take a step back behind the bar and let the guests chat, or to keep expanding on what she knew of your wine, depending on what you were feeling. And I noticed no overt pressure to buy, although we did end up buying bottles. In short, the hospitality was flawless.Oh

I found the Temecula Valley Wine Country by accident on my way to Murietta, CA from San Diego. Briar Rose Winery is one of the many wineries in the valley. It is a premium vineyard that makes outstanding estate-bottled wines. Given the fact that they only conduct wine tastings by appointment only, the host was nice enough to accommodate me without an appointment. The tasting room is a small European cottage-style tasting room. I met the owner's son and daughter and their buddy who began to pour me some of best wines. I started with a Sauvignon Blanc, then Chardonnay, and the rest were red wines most of which were Cabernets. Tasting costs $15 (it's suppose to include glass, but I didn't get one) for nine pours. I tasted more than 9 wines in which some of them were from their reserved wines. I would have to come back to this review and give a more technical review of some of the wines I tasted, but overall, it was a great experience. Their wines are a bit expensive but definitely worth it. I now belong to their wine club. ;) (May '08)