Team C&J
This Winery Is Permanently Closed.
Winery Rating
Located at:
32720 Rancho California Road
Temecula, CA 92591
Wine Club Rating
Price Range For Tasting
Callaway Vineyards is located on the ever-popular Rancho California Road in Temecula, California. If you’re newer to Temecula wine tasting, this Southern California wine growing region is roughly an hour north of San Diego, an hour east of Orange County, and two hours south of Los Angeles.
When you visit Callaway, you have the option to book a tour of the property, which includes an overview of the vineyards, along with a guided explanation of the winemaking process in the winery, or a tour and a tasting. In our opinion, the tasting is a must.
Wine tasting pro tip: visit Callaway Vineyards later in the day to catch a spectacular Southern California sunset while sipping one of Callaway’s lovely wines.
If you’re an avid golfer, you already know the Callaway name. Ely Callaway, Jr. founded Callaway Winery, and he was indeed the very same man who founded the famous golf brand.
Ely had a striking entrepreneurial spirit. At the age of ten (yes, ten), the young Georgia native used the money he earned from a summer job delivering newspapers to lease an acre of peach trees. He would go on to sell the fruit from those trees for a hefty profit of $700!
The start of World War II had an enormous impact on Ely’s life. He had only just graduated college when he was compelled to join the Army and assist with the war effort. The Callaway family had made a name for themselves in the textile industry before the war. When the higher-ups in Ely’s division discovered that he had a background in fabrics, they gave him considerable responsibility for managing the Army’s clothing manufacturing.
Ely is quoted as telling Emory Magazine, “I was spending at the rate of something like $700 million a year under just my jurisdiction, with my name on every contract. So you learn business real quick.”
This proved to be a fruitful position because when the war ended, Ely took the contacts he’d made while serving his country and created his own clothing manufacturing company. The profits from this company allowed him to purchase 140 acres in Temecula, California. With the help of viticulturist John Moramarco, Ely planted his first grapes in 1969, achieved the first harvest in 1974, and sold the first vintage of Callaway Wines in 1975.
Ely Callaway’s venture into the wine business was so successful that he was able to sell the vineyards and winery in 1981 to Hirman Walker. Today the winery is owned by British liquor conglomerate Allied Domecq.
Wondering where the Callaway golf story starts in all of this? Well, with the funds from the sale, Ely pivoted to golf clubs! And the rest, they say, is history.
The list of wines at Callaway Vineyards is lengthy, to say the least. The wines are decent, but we got the impression that if they honed their focus and slimmed down the menu, they could bump up the quality a bit.
Our Callaway wine tasting included 14 different wines, including a nice cross-section of dry whites, rosé, sparkling rosé, reds, and sweet wines like port and a late harvest chardonnay. But Callaway actually makes over 24 different bottlings from French varieties like viognier, roussanne, chardonnay, grenache blanc, cabernet sauvignon, mourvèdre, and syrah.
Highlights from the lineup of Callaway wines were:
Callaway Vineyards, 2017 Winemaker’s Reserve Syrah, which had notes of clove, purple plum, boysenberry, and vanilla – 90 points.
Callaway Vineyards, 2018 Winemaker’s Reserve Profonde, a blend of 60% cabernet sauvignon, 35% syrah, and 5% petit verdot. This wine exuded dried cherry, cranberry, and peppercorn and was wrapped in soft tannins – 89 points.
Callaway Vineyards, 2016 Wild Yeast Cabernet. This rich cabernet is easy-drinking and has a palate ripe with bright cherry, boysenberry, and cloves – 89 points.
The upside to this huge number of offerings is that there really is something for every palate at this Temecula winery.
Callaway wines are only sold on-site at the winery in Temecula, so if you discover a few bottles you really love, the Callaway Wine Club is the way to go. The folks at the winery have included nice benefits if you join, although you can’t swap out bottles.
The more casual drinker will want to consider the Legacy Club, which gives you two bottles of wine every other month and perks like:
More serious wine enthusiasts should consider the Callaway Owner’s Private Reserve Club, which features all of the above-listed benefits but also:
Our experience at the Callaway Vineyard and Winery was a positive one, and we can see why it’s a favorite with the Southern California wine community. If you take a day trip up to Temecula for some wine tasting under the sun, you can’t go wrong with Callaway.
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