Discover the Hidden Wineries of Warner Springs
Experience a different type of winemaking and tasting
Images by Donald Padgett
Hidden 45 minutes east of the Temecula Wine Country along State Highway 72 in Southern California is Warner Springs, a historic and picturesque valley with a collection of boutique wineries collectively known as the North Mountain Wine Trail. These five wineries are known for their red varietals and blends, and provide a relaxed, more authentic experience compared to the economies-of-scale tasting rooms offered by their corporate neighbors to the west.
The wineries along the trail sit at elevations ranging from 2,400 to 3,100 feet in San Diego County, on the northern slope of Mount Palomar and its observatory, and less than 20 miles from the Sonoran Desert to the east. The mix of higher elevations, warm summers, cooling ocean breezes, and a protected valley provides the perfect microclimate for producing red wines, and each of the five wineries of the North Mountain Wine Trail is particularly proud of its reds.
The five wineries – Emerald Creek, Hawk Watch, La Serenissima, Sierra Roble, and Shadow Mountain from west to east along the trail – are the antithesis of large corporate wineries catering to big box chains and tour buses filled with partiers. These are artisanal wines, poured in small tasting rooms at an appropriately slower pace. Don’t be surprised when the winemaker pours your tasting, explaining the nuances of their creation and regaling you with stories and anecdotes like old friends.
I first came across the wineries of Warner Springs over 20 years ago and have returned periodically ever since. I recently visited the wineries in the order listed, with my two favorites appearing last.
Please plan on bringing a designated driver and drinking responsibly.
History, Horses, and Grapes
Image courtesy Emerald Creek
Vineyards of Emerald Creek in the shadow of Mt. Palomar
The first and western-most winery on the North Mountain Wine Trail is Emerald Creek Winery (emeraldcreekwinery.com). Opened in 2009, it is the biggest of all the wineries on the trail, with a 5,000-square-foot tasting room and over 750 acres of rolling vineyards. They are the largest supplier of wine grapes in San Diego County, but their tasting room has a small-time feel in large part to Kathleen Veasy, who will happily explain the winery’s historic past and buildings as she pours generous tastings. Over the years the property has had many uses, including as a ranch for racing horses. There’s an oddly shaped pool that was formerly used for water therapy to rehabilitate injured horses. The winery is currently considering turning a space just below the tasting room that was once a horse racing track into an area for rentable tiny cabins and glamping.
Plan on sharing a glass or two with friends while viewing Mt. Palomar and the sprawling vineyards from Emerald Creek’s expansive stone patio.
The Grand Dame
Image by Donald Padgett
Owner Julie Davis in her tasting room
Shadow Mountain Vineyards (shadowmountainvineyards.com) is the matriarch of the valley’s wineries, first established in 1945 by Gus and Helen Mase and now on its fifth generation of vintners. The grounds are the most colorful, mature, and eclectic of the five wineries, with trees and a patio providing shade for guests. The low-ceilinged tasting room has a delightful hodgepodge ambiance, the result of various expansions and remodeling over the years.
Current owner Julie Davis was setting out chairs as I pulled up to the tasting room after a short drive down a maintained dirt road. As is the custom along the North Mountain Wine Trail, I was greeted more as a friend than a customer. She welcomed me inside and we chatted about the history of Shadow Mountain, and how the vineyard and wineries have passed down through various hands over the years.
Shadow Mountain’s signature wine is Old Gus, a red table wine featuring grapes from Syrah, Grenache, and Barbera vines first planted by Gus back in 1945. Old-timers still fondly remember the famed Smokey Gus version of the wine following one of the region’s many wildfires. I tasted the wine on my first visit to Shadow Mountain over nearly 20 years ago.
The New Kid on the Block
Image by Donald Padgett
The tasting room of Sierra Roble
Just west of Shadow Mountain is the relative newcomer to the region. Sierra Roble (sierraroble.com) started as a retired mom-and-pop winery and tasting room producing respectable reds and blends from David and Janine Lowe. I first met the couple at a wine party in Warner Springs over a decade ago, where they spoke of their winemaking dreams. They opened Sierra Roble not long after, but medical issues and changing needs necessitated a change in ownership. The tasting room is easily accessible and commands magnificent views of the valley’s vineyards and surrounding mountains. Sierra Roble specializes in Bordeaux varietals.
The Italian Hot Tub Time Machine
Image by Donald Padgett
Owner Tony Tio pours tastings and tales in his personal wine cave
Sitting atop a hill like a grand Tuscan estate is La Serenissima Vineyards & Winery (vinotiso.com). Accessed by a slow drive down a dirt road, there is no tasting room or gift shop. There is only what looks like a quiet, well-maintained two-story villa in the vineyards, but appearances are deceiving.
La Serenissima includes not just an owner's residence, but also winemaking facilities, a very cool wine cellar, and Tony.
Tony Tio is the outgoing and white-maned owner and winemaker at La Serenissima. Freely admitting that he can be an acquired taste for some, Tio is passionate to the point of exuberant when it comes to winemaking, and he shows little respect or tolerance for the wines produced in Temecula.
“Conglomerate swill!” Tony declares while pouring a glass of his Pinot Grigio for me and two other guests I had met only minutes earlier. Kurt and Lisa were eloping to Spain the following day and were dropping off their dog for safekeeping with Tony.
Kurt and Lisa had met Tony years earlier in much the same way I had. They saw this beautiful winery on the hill while in the area and decided to visit. Tony welcomed them (as he did with the author on his first visit) with open arms, and the rest is history.
If the front gate is open, then so is La Serenissima. Just pull up the road, park your car, and honk your horn. Tony will invariably appear from somewhere and welcome you like an old friend, even if it's your first visit. He’ll take you into his den (“I turned my man cave into a wine cave”) which serves as the La Serenissima’s de facto tasting room.
He won’t charge you for a tasting or even the live entertainment, which consists entirely of Tony holding court over everything from winemaking to family to his favorite hidden gems of the Spanish Mediterranean while pouring endless glasses of his artisanal wines.
“I like to think of La Serenissima as the Hollywood hot tub time machine of wineries,” he explains in his wine cave. “I want you to think you have stepped back into a winery in 1950s Italy, where it’s about friends, it’s about family.”
The Red Barn on the Hill
Image by Donald Padgett
The patio and gardens overlooking Mt. Palomar at Hawk Watch
Hawk Watch Winery (hawkwatchwinery.com) remains my favorite tasting room and vineyard in Warner Springs. I’ll be the first to admit there’s a certain sentimentality to my preference. For years I passed the large red industrial tasting room en route to Julian to the south or the desert to the east before finally stopping for an overdue tasting. It was love at first sip.
The red barn set above yet visible from the state highway serves as the tasting room and Mike’s winemaking facilities. Stacks of massive barrels define the interior space, while the immediate exterior has the feel of a shaded and lovingly overgrown British garden with a water feature providing gentle background noise.
The only thing better than the signature Tinderbox Zin and red blends created by Mike and Lisa Schnell, the owners of Hawk Watch, is their story in bringing the winery and vineyards to life. The pair cleared the land, installed the irrigation, and planted the first vines on weekends while working their day jobs in Temecula, with Mike working as an assistant winemaker at Leoness Cellars known for its bold reds.
Hawk Watch first opened its doors in 2008 offering vintages of 2005 reds and 2007 whites.
It didn’t take long before word spread and Hawk Watch was a quiet favorite of locals, with harvests and bottlings becoming a communal affair. Veterans of those early years remember long days picking grapes by hand, followed by group meals with great wines as the sun set over the vineyards. It was a communal labor of love that in encapsulated the spirit of Warner Springs wineries as well as the reality of winemaking.
“Winemaking, like any craft, requires patience, diligence, and the highest degree of attention to detail and dedication. Growing grapes in some of the highest-elevation vineyards in California is the true test of this belief,” says Mike. “Creating a consistently high-quality product each year is challenging, but when the stars align and Mother Nature plays nice the results can be nothing short of spectacular.”
The winemaking stars have certainly aligned for Hawk Watch and the other wineries along the North Mountain Wine Trail.
