Alex’s Red Barn Winery

Based on the reviews for this winery, I chose it as our first stop on a self guided tour. While not as fancy as other wineries, the 1:1 attention, educational experience, and very tasty wines made it the best stop of the day.

This is one of the best sherries I have had. We enjoy the varietal wines also. Felicita gives a very informative firsthand look at the wines they produce. A great family business experience. Well worth a visit.

Absolutely the best tasting experience in the Temecula wine valley. Wonderful hostess, great tastings and general camaraderie. Definitely going to return over and over!

This is a great place! It’s totally different from the rest of the Temecula wineries we visited.
My husband and I take many trips each year to Santa Barbara and Pas Robles wine country, but finally made our first trip to Temecula! The entire valley feels very commercial driven, so finding Alex’s Red Barn was a welcome relief from all of this nonsense! It reminds me of the family owned wineries dotting Santa Barbara.
The server, Lise, is the owner. She’s a no-​nonsense German gal, who took her time to explain every pour. She was kind, but to the point. Including us, there were a total of three groups, so we had the perfect amount of time to experience each pour. I can imagine having to wait longer if there were more people there.
We bought a bottle of the Cab and Cream Sherry. The port was fantastic.
I loved this place. If you want to go somewhere that’s completely different (i.e.: no stamping passports after every tasting), come here. It’s very relaxing and homegrown.
Cheers!

Excellent customer service!!! Just got schooled
On wine, sherry & cognac. 09÷06÷15 The BEST wine tasting experience EVER!!! Lise knowledge base and willingness to provide us with a generous sample
Of their wines, sherry & cognac was awesome! I found lise to be very personable with the our group. She took the time to explain, swirl and taste. Which provide an amazing experience with their selections! By far the BEST experience, their selections left no after taste which you find in most wines today. The sherry were AMAZING! The cognac was a bit out of my league, however red barn hits a Homerun! I will definitely be a return customer!!! Lise and Alex keep up the amazing job!

To start they are retired so they are only open the first two weekends of the month. Other than that being a pain the other weekends they are well worth the stop. They have the only liquor to go with your wine tasting, which for $ 15 that is really a nice treat. Their wines are over all pretty good and although you may have to wait a few minutes the time they spend with you makes it worth the wait. The cream sherry is absolutely lovely and the woman offered us recipes that went well with it. I recommend if you are here when they are open try it out.

I have been a member here for years, and two weeks ago went in with friends to pick up. After tasting and chatting, I requested an exchange of the white cab Sauvignon for the Grenache, paid the difference, and went home. When I got home I realized felicita had not exchanged the bottle. I called back, Alex offered to exchange it. I couldn’t make it in, so came back by today. Right when I walked in, felicita denied she had made an error, denied I had paid the money, and would not take back the wine. She finally refunded my money, rudely. Needless to say I will not return and canceled my membership. So much for loyalty!

If you are going to Temecula to get drunk and party, you should skip Red Barn. If you don’t know a thing about wine, or you are open to learning more, you should go. If you just want to taste some of the best wines, port or sherry, go now! Alex is a wine maker because he loves his craft. Lise, his wife, is an amazing sommelier because her knowledge and passion for what they make is shared with anyone who takes the time to ask and learn. My wife and I have visited Temecula for years and always make Red Barn our last stop so we can savor the best before going home.

What I like about Alex’s is they are not the run of the mill wineries that you will find. The place has no additional help other than the husband and wife team; so expect to wait at times, but worth it. The environment is low key and if you are planning on yuppy bar hopping, do yourself a favor and skip this joint as you will not be welcomed.
Keep in mind they also offer homemade brandy and other unique spirits. Definetly worth the stop.

Alex’s was a very interesting place! The owner (female) was very welcoming and explained a lot about the wines the winery, and Temecula itself. We enjoyed the wines, but the star of the show was the sherry and cognac. Very good and we will likely purchase some around the holidays.

The best winery in Temecula

This place was… weird. But informative. The lady that handled the tastings was very intent on not letting anyone get tipsy, so if that’s your goal, don’t go here. She was also intent on telling everyone why they were wrong about everything. Having said that, the wine tasting was good, and the brandy tasting was more than good. If you go here, have a designated driver and a designated speaker and leader of the group! Be open-​minded. lol

If you’ve never been wine tasting before, this needs to be your first stop. You will not be disappointed, except for the fact that you’ll run out of tastings before you want to leave!
What Mark M. says is true. It’s not necessarily off the beaten path (directly across the road from LongShadow Ranch Winery), but it is very quaint and allows you to really take in the scenery & the experience of tasting, which is why you’re out there in the first place, isn’t it?
It is THE first spot I take anybody that’s new to wine tasting. Lise is amazingly patient and always answers every one of my questions with the demeanor of a caring grade school teacher, who really wants her students to walk away more knowledgeable than they walked in. Alex may just be standing there observing you & not saying a word, so you may feel the need to introduce yourself!
I have never had anything but wonderful experiences every time I have visited, and I can’t recommend them more highly. The place is small, simple and unassuming — the perfect place to start off a great day in Temecula!
FYI — I will only menton that the place may not be the best for small children only because there really isn’t much there to entertain them or keep their attention unless they are outside.
Just be careful of your last tasting… you may need to go outside & have a seat by then!
Thank me later!

Service is hit or miss… depends on who is working that day.
Found foreign object in our bottle of wine, when we spoke to the owner was told «no way that was in our wine»

All,
We have been members for several years — we absolutely love the owners!
[See a picture of Lise here…]
The (seemingly wrong) BEST thing about the winery is that they are NOT frequented by commercial vans & limos. It’s surely a low-​key and very personalized venue that you (and your friends) will appreciate.
Alex & Lise have the very best of low-​volume, high-​quality wines — mostly specialized on ‘un’popular varietals! So be it — but they do them all in a very positive and tasty fashion.
If you so dare — try some of the ‘spirit’ samplings that they are offering (the only ones in the area allowed to do so). I have one of each and love them all.
Bottom Line: Perhaps ‘skip’ the big-​time wineries and drop by this gem… I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Mark

Are you a fan of Sherry? Tonight I opened a bottle of Sherry I bought from them a couple months ago. I had forgotten how good it is. Seriously, the smoothest Sherry I have ever tasted!
They will be on my next tour de Temecula, for sure!

This winery not only was an unwelcoming experience d/​t the owner being rude to me and all of my group, but I want to amend my previous post.
I did not give this winery a good review, but this is Unilocal and I posted based on my experience, which is my opinion — one of many. After I posted, I received a caustic message from one of the staff accusing me of being from another winery, which I am not.
Take this into account before venturing here… it is WAY more than you would bargain for. Life’s too short to spend any of your time here.

Alex’s is by far our favorite winery in Temecula. We are wine club members here so we visit at least once every other month for our wine pick up. Lise and Alex are wonderful and make superior wines. Every single wine is great, and now they make liquor too. The barn is small and Lise gives you personal attention and explains everything to you and she is very friendly. If you are wine tasting on a Saturday or Sunday this is a must visit!

Wines here are bit on the pricer end compared to some of the wineries. However, everything on the tasting menu was pretty good. The lady (owner? Alex’s wife?) gave us great explanations of each wine.
I liked all of them. The Riesling was particularly notable to me, because I usually find Rieslings too sweet. This one was nice because it was light, crisp, did not have a syrupy texture, and had just the right amount of sweetness.
They have a friendly and adorable cat hanging out at the red barn during tastings.

If you could only visit one winery in Temecula, I’d have to say, go to this one. This is a very small, ’boutique’ style winery. All their wines are estate wines which is really rare these days. However, once you have a taste, you’ll understand the difference.
If not for Unilocal we would never have gone to this winery, let alone, have found it. It’s off a small road hidden from the main drag that is Rancho California, where all the other wineries are located.
When we got to Red Barn, we were the only ones there and it was situated — you guessed it – in a barn. I loved the simple atmosphere of this place. The lady owner was very sweet. There were 6 wines to taste and like other wineries, it cost $ 10, however, they give you their souvenir glass for that price.
I would say, the wines here are of extremely high quality and can give the more renown wineries a run for their money. The Cabernet Sauvignon was fantastic. It was so good we even bought some.
The lovely lady then called out to whom I can only assume is her husband and said «Alex, donnez un poire pour le petit garçon». I then said «oh! Merci!!». Her husband brought out a pear for the young man. They have Asian pear and quince trees on the premises and these organic home grown pears are the sweetest I’ve ever tried. I thought it was such a lovely gesture — she didn’t have to do that.
This is the sort of hospitality I expect from people in the wine country. Residents of Napa, Sonoma, all have this sort of warmth to them. I’m guessing that the nasty lady at Churon must be the exception because after her, all we had were pleasant, happy, upbeat folks who we encountered throughout our winery hops out there.