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.
As we strolled up the path to the winery we were all stopped in our tracks and realized we had just walked into a scene from a Disney film. The original owner of Briar Rose Winery had worked for Walt Disney himself, and designed the house (where the winery now stood) as an exact replica of the Seven Dwarfs’ cottage from Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The cottage had a thatched roof made of plaster, but one can’t help to imagine the seven dwarfs themselves laboring away laying the roof whistling, “Hi Ho, Hi Ho.” The Disney imagineer literally built the house with his own hands, and his finger prints can still be seen in the plaster he molded to become the magical cottage. It was so perfect and seemed so real that we expected Snow White to step out at any moment and offer an apple that she was told would make wishes come true.
Thinking the magic ended at the front door, we were again taken by surprise when we discovered the tasting room had an enchantment all its own. Music from Disney movies serenaded us as we stepped through the door, and welcomed us to a wine tasting unlike any other. Unlike most of the larger wineries, where visitors must fight to stand at a spot at the bar and flag down a wine pourer, Briar Rose’s tasting room had small tables where we could sit and savor the wine as it was poured. The fragrance of pomegranate and blackberries fill our senses as we breathed in and savored the wine’s ‘nose’. As we took our first sip and let it linger on our tongues our taste buds were awakened as they tried to discover all of the complex flavors that had just been revealed. It is then that we realized that, although it was first the ambiance that enchanted us, Briar Rose’s wines are more than capable at standing toe to toe with any of the larger wineries in Temecula.
Leaving such a magical place was difficult, so we spent some time exploring the outside garden before we were forced to leave. We sat under a large tree and listened to the wind dancing through the branches, as the scent of roses from several flowering bushes waft our way. Little figures of the Seven Dwarfs are lined up on path, as if waiting to march off to their hidden mine of gems, while porcelain figures of little forest animals friendlily gazed at us; hoping we had a good time. Gazing out from the hill that Briar Rose sits on, the Temecula Valley is spread out before us. Grape vines and orange orchards seemed to go on for miles, and the sun sets behind the hills; signaling the end of a magical day.
By simply going a little outside the comfort zone of the main road of Temecula, we discovered a winery unlike any other. With its house plucked straight out of a Disney film, amazing wines, and serene garden, Briar Rose Winery holds a magic all its own that is often hard to find in the real world. This enchanted feel of this magical place is made possible with childhood charm, and perhaps just a bit of pixie dust.
By Kathryn Petruzzelli
