HELLO SEPTEMBER, that most harvest-happy of month. Hello again, late summer, and the beginning of fall, and all of the leafy, grape-nice, picnicky pleasures you bring. And hello to you, dear wine countries of California, places that are encountering one of the busiest, and most celebrated, periods of the vino-making year. It's a time that can't pass without a party or two, and once again Temecula Valley will do it up with a host of local vineyards in tow. The name of the celebration is one known to any oenophile who follows the almost-fall doings of grape-growing regions — it's called CRUSH — and it is scheduled for the final Saturday of summer, during that lovely meld-into-autumn time that suits wine country so very well. That's...
SATURDAY, SEPT. 17... and Wiens Family Cellars is the place to be. The Temecula Valley Winegrowers is the outfit behind the extravaganza, one that fully spotlights over 30 members of the organization (Falkner Winery, Callaway Winery, and many more are on the convivial list). CRUSH is also about the cuisine, too, and a host of gourmands'll be at the party's HQ, doing up the cheese-yummy, oil-lush, fruits-and-veges snackables that only ever enhance a wine's inner character. Should you be at least 21? You should be, yes, to get your CRUSH on. Will you get to chat up a few of the people who make the eats and libations? They'll be there, so arrive with any queries you have (such as how a grape's juiciness or skin-thickness adds to the general flavor, or when they know that a grape is ready to be picked, or how vines weather the winter). September is here, lovers of beauteous beverages, and Temecula Valley's wineries are putting out the welcome sign, for wines and lovers of wines alike.
