Palumbo Family Vineyards and Winery

This was definitely my favorite stop in Temecula. I like the small vineyards. This quaint tasting room and patio is not pretentious and does not have a large gift shop. It’s about the wine here! I liked almost every wine I tasted and ordered a case to be shipped home. I recommend including this in your itinerary for your Temecula visit.

Was hoping for some nice big reds reading the other reviews but was very disappointed. The Syrah was weak and lacking tannins. The lady pouring was not friendly asked us one question the whole time and just poured our tastes. Didn’t tell us anything about the winery it what we were drinking.
Pretty poor experience.

Wouldn’t know if it was a five star winery apparently they will meet you at the door if they see you enter with a party over 6 in a limo. We had 8. On a Monday afternoon
Must be doing pretty well for themselves to turn away business when they aren’t busy

One of my most favorite wineries in Temecula. Matt & Theresa are always here to take care of us. Was a member for a while but cancelled for $ reasons, not anything to do with the winery. Still come back to taste and say hi. Thank you for delicious reds Palumbo!!!

Pretty and sweet, love the tasting room with the wooden bar made of planks from old guitars (I think that’s what they were made of…). Props for sustainable sourcing — there’s an impetus for that nowadays. The Syrah was the most memorable. The tasting flight was nice, and the top-​of-​a-​hill setting is pretty.

When I was younger (and stupider) I thought that Temecula didn’t have great wine. I thought it had booze buses, and drunk bros. I WAS WRONG! Palumbo (along with a little help from some of their friends) have completely changed my mind. The wine here is DELICIOUS! They have an intimate tasting room with knowledgeable staff and a beautiful outside patio.
We have tasted here a few times and it has been one white wine and 4 (maybe 5) reds. They are not really a white winery but the one white they always have is super tasty. Their wine tends to be on the drier side and the Cab /​franc is to die for. They also have a small wine club so if you are lucky they may have space for you.
Definitely worth a stop in while in Temecula.

I came with a small group this summer. We made reservations ahead of time. The woman pouring the tastings was rude and short with us. We were not impressed with her or the wines. My husband works in the wine & spirits industry and we have been wine tasting in Napa & Sonoma & various other spots. I’ve never had such treatment. I won’t be back. The two stars are for the beautiful views.

The one word to describe Palumbo is disappointing.
The servers were not welcoming and were more concerned with each other than with the 7 customers who were tasting. It was not a pleasant experience.
The wine is average for Temecula but left a bitter aftertaste.

This is a great winery and usually provides a wonderful tasting experience. They only have six wines in the tasting line-​up, so you don’t have to worry about making hard choices. Generally, they have one white and five reds, with two of the reds being a Syrah and a Cabernet Sauvignon, then a couple of blends and maybe a Cab Franc or something else. Their production is extremely limited, so if you find a wine you like, don’t expect to come back three months later and buy it, because it will probably be sold out. Nick makes vineyard designated reds, so there are multiple releases of the Syrah for example, for the same vintage. Every Syrah I’ve tasted here has been superb, and all unique compared to the others.
If you visit on a weekend, be sure to get here early, preferably when they open at 11:00. The tasting room is so small that when the mid-​afternoon rosy-​cheeked crowd comes buzzing in, it can be chaotic. Teresa and Matt are usually behind the bar when I visit, and they are so pleasant and knowledgable that it makes the experience even better, especially if there isn’t a packed house.

This winery is great because it is a small family run operation. The tasting room while small is quaint and the staff is super nice. The wines are good and the views are beautiful. It is a nice relaxing place to stop and sip wines.

And they said Temecula wines were bad. That’s because they were busy checking out Wilson Creek and wondering why. Nick Palumbo’s wines are handmade from start to finish. The Sangiovese is the only one outside the Italian village of Montalcino worthy of mention in the same sentence as a Brunello (probably because the vines are Montalcino clones, but more because of Nick’s amazing talent). WOW! And as a white wine lover these are just as good (wish there were more frankly). Limos are not allowed HA HA HA HA. So there will be no one in high heels falling ass over teakettle and spilling bourbon on herself.

A must-​stop locale when hunting down great reds in Temecula. We had some great and informative chats about the area and wine in general with the very friendly servers.
As a smaller winery they might not have the range of some of the bigger guys around the area but the quality is right up there with the best of them. Beautiful spot too.

This is the local’s winery! Family farmhouse to the right end of the driverway — tasting room to the left — vineyards all around.
We were helped by Ms. Palumbo and her son at the tasting room. Very attentive, friendly, and best of all — DELICIOUS WINE!
Beats the heck out of all the «big box» wineries in Temecula.

We went on a wine tour and they stopped here as a bonus place. They said this was a hidden gem. It really was. We met Matt Davison, assistant winemaker, and he was so helpful in introducing us to the wines here. I consider myself a wine connoisseur and probably a tad snobby when it comes to wines. This place was hands down my FAVORITE winery due to the quality of wines they had here. There was not one wine I could pick as a favorite. I would have to say their cabernet sauvignon was top notch. Very low key and personable winery to go to.

We visited here on a Saturday afternoon, and it wasn’t that crowded. This winery is on the smaller side, which is fun, but the wines are nothing spectacular. There are awesome views on the patio, but it didn’t seem like they had table service. The servers were welcoming, and there are fun pictures of when in snowed in December. Dogs are not allowed, and people appeared to be picnicing on the patio. Their wines are upwards of $ 40 a bottle, and they just aren’t that good to pay that much.

Love this winery, and I love the Family! Great atmosphere, amazing wine, and the people are even better :)
I LOVE the fact that it is a smaller winery. It makes the experience so much more personal, and intimate versus the commercial wineries, like South Coast, for example.

A great location with a great view. Would have been nice to grab a bottle and some glasses and sit on the porch and enjoy the day.
However, $ 15 for a limited tasting selection of some average Temecula wines is too pricey IMHO. Only 1 of the 5 wines were very memorable.

We were there on January 2^nd. It came highly recommended from another winery, actually assistant winemaker at another winery. We enjoyed our tasting and the views. We had a short time to talk with the pourer working as it was just the 4 of us. Her attention got pulled away by a larger group with some little ones so we drank up and got out as it was getting a little loud in their relatively small tasting room.
The wines were pretty good, the pourer was pretty nice. It was a nice way to finish up our trip to wine country, argh back to L.A.

Looks can be deceiving as this small tasting room delivers big on taste with a syrah blend that had us at first sip. Their cabs were good as well. A tasting was $ 15 if I recall for a weekend day and that seems to be the going rate. They do a 10% military discount.

As someone who has seem the region of Temecula grow the last 15 years I am pleased to see Polumbo continue to grow with it and keep making excellent wines. This year is the third year we visited them and their Meritage continues to get better every year. This year we tried (and bought) the 2011 which was actually better than last years 2010. It was a well made wine connoisseur’s type of wine, with a playful teasing yet structure and backbone of a truly great wine. All of their wines good, but the Meritage is simply a great wine.
If you want a small, serious tasting room with a great staff and people around you that appreciate great wine, this is your place. Their isn’t a lot of merchandise to distract you and it’s a tight cozy atmosphere.
I have had some darn good wine in Napa, Santa Barbara, Italy and France and am so pleased to see a local winery blossom like Polumbo that can be considered among the greats. Keep making Meritage and I will keep coming back plus telling my friends. A $ 40-​$ 50 price point is perfect to be taken serious but not too pretentious.
This is one of the top 3 wine makers in my mind in the region. Keep it up !!!