More Winetasting Rooms Open in Ramona

Two more wine tasting rooms have opened in the Ramona Valley.

opened its tasting patio on March 5. Patch readers may remember my column back in January when co-owner Beth Edwards said she and husband Victor were proceeding cautiously about opening a tasting facility.

“We’re kind of taking it as weather and time permit, a stage at a time,” she said then.

“The weather hasn’t been too cooperative this year,” said Beth after the opening. “But it’s been fairly busy, especially since we’re just starting to get the word out.”

Their website includes an interesting wine blog which offers more information on the tasting patio. Right now it is just open Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. but it's available for private tastings during the week.

Not far from Edwards Vineyard & Cellars is Pyramid Vineyard and Winery, where owner Don Kohorst opened a tasting patio on the weekend of April 2. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Kohorst has been growing grapes on his eight acres since 2000. Pyramid has been a bonded winery since 2007, just selling wholesale until now.

Visitors will be able to sample five different wines at Pyramid, Kohorst said.

“We’ve got Merlot and Syrah in the reds, Muscat Canelli, Orange Muscat and White Syrah in the whites.”

Visitors might also hear stories from Kohorst’s wide-ranging career, from his days as an engineer at Cal Tech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, to his reinvention as a Christmas tree farmer and operator of Ramona Sizzler, to his helping to establish the Lum Eisenman Ramona Valley Wine Competition. I found all that out in less than an hour’s phone conversation. Think what you could learn while nursing a taste of Merlot!

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I appreciated getting some feedback last week from some valley vintners regarding upcoming events at their places. That invitation is a standing one to any members of the winegrowing community to keep me informed. Spread the word!

 I’d also like to extend an invitation to you readers out there in the wine drinking community. Obviously many of you have been visiting some of the local tasting rooms, or you have been buying the fruits of our vineyards from local merchants Albertsons in Ramona. Or you may have sampled some at county restaurants — as my wife, Peg, and I have — or purchased them online from vintners’ websites. So let me know what you think!

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Also, here’s an alert for lovers of wine and wildlife. Point of clarification here, I’m talking about wildlife as in wild birds like hawks and eagles.

“Talons, Tastings & Talent,” a fundraiser for the Wildlife Research Institute (WRI), takes place on Saturday at Highland Valley Studios.

 A fun day of events is planned, with proceeds to benefit the WRI’s efforts to preserve the Ramona Grasslands and protect wildlife habitat. WRI conducts  the programs.

Among the scheduled events will be wine tasting, including offerings from three valley vintners: , , and Eagles Nest Winery. Hawk Watch of Temecula will also have offerings. A paella lunch will be served and there will be an art auction and an encounter with a Golden Eagle. Tickets are $25. For further information visit the institute’s website.