Shae and I were meant to spend 9 days in Warner Springs, CA but there was a problem with the Airbnb we’d booked and so we had book something else at the last minute.
Thankfully we found a hotel to stay at in somewhat nearby Temecula which didn’t cost many points. Having to deal with that accommodation hassle was a blessing in disguise because we loved Temecula.
In case you’re not familiar with the location, Temecula is Southern California’s wine country. Napa and Sonoma in Northern California get most of the attention from wine-lovers, but Temecula is a fantastic alternative. In our opinion the wines in Temecula are just as good as Napa but the tastings are half the price. It’s a beautiful setting and many of the wineries are pet-friendly.
That was perfect for us because we travel full-time with our dog Truffles and so we prefer doing activities where she can join us. We visited a handful of wineries during our time there, so here’s a list of 5 great pet-friendly wineries in Temecula, CA.
1) Baily Vineyard & Winery
Address: 33440 La Serena Way, Temecula, CA 92591
Cost: $20 for a tasting of six 1 oz pours of your choice. Comes with a souvenir logo wine glass.
Baily Vineyard & Winery website
The first winery we checked out during our stay was Baily Vineyard & Winery and it almost ended up being our last. Not because we hated it but because we loved it so much that we weren’t sure we wanted to visit any other wineries!
The winery has a large tasting room along with lots of outdoor courtyard seating. Dogs are allowed both outside and in the tasting room which was nice. It was a warm day when we visited and all the outdoor seating with shade had been taken, so we were grateful to be able to do our tasting inside the cool stone building.
Shae and I both liked how Baily did their wine tasting. We were each given six chips which we redeemed for each wine that we wanted to taste. That means that if you want to sit outside, you can still do that and just head back inside each time to get your next wine rather than having to do your tasting at the bar.
There were several other reasons we enjoyed our experience at Baily Vineyard & Winery. Their wines were all excellent, the servers were both very friendly, there was a peaceful vibe despite there being 30+ other people there and there’s a restaurant next door called Carol’s which has a separate menu for dogs too.
If you live in or near Temecula and have a pup, it could be worth buying one of Carol’s Dog Day Sunday t-shirts. Those cost $15 but you get a free entrée for your dog every time you visit on Dog Day Sunday. Entrées cost $4, so you come out ahead after only four visits.
2) Oak Mountain Winery
Address: 36522 Vía Verde, Temecula, CA 92592
Cost: Tasting of six 1 oz pours of your choice – $20 Monday-Friday, $25 Saturday-Sunday
The next winery we checked out was Oak Mountain Winery. I initially came across them because I saw that they were on Groupon. They had a fun-looking cave wine tasting tour for two or four people that came with a meat and cheese tray, but unfortunately dogs aren’t allowed in the wine cave and so we decided to just do a regular tasting seeing as we planned on being out all day with Truffles. (n.b. if that Groupon link above says the deal is no longer available, do a search on Groupon for Oak Mountain Winery in case they have a different offer.)
Oak Mountain Winery is an expansive winery with the wine cave, an outdoor patio next to the cave along with a separate tasting room and covered outdoor patio area next to that. Dogs are allowed both in the tasting room and on the patio next to the tasting room, so we decided to sit outside to enjoy the weather as the patio offered some shade.
Oak Mountain Winery had a similar kind of setup to Baily. You don’t have to stand at the bar to do your wine tasting; instead, they give you a slip of paper and they note on there each time you go back to try a different wine.
The wines we tried were pretty good and the servers were all very friendly, particularly James. If you decide to do a tasting in the tasting room at Oak Mountain Winery rather than the Cave, I’d highly recommend visiting during the week instead of at the weekend.
The reason isn’t because it’s $5 cheaper to do a wine tasting there during the week but because it’ll likely be significantly less busy. Oak Mountain Winery is on the De Portola Wine Trail and tour bus after tour bus rocked up while we were there because we visited on a Saturday lunchtime. That meant it was very busy and not at all peaceful. It wasn’t a huge issue and we still enjoyed ourselves, but I imagine it’s a more pleasant experience when you don’t have constant bachelorette parties coming in and out.
3) Churon Winery
Address: 33233 Rancho California Rd, Temecula, CA 92591
Cost: Tasting of four 2 oz pours – $22 for the Sweet Flight or White Flight, $25 for the Red Flight. Check for Groupon too – see below for more details.
Our third pet-friendly winery was Churon Winery, another one that I found on Groupon. This time we were able to take advantage of that offer and it was a decent deal. The Groupon was $33 for a tasting for two people on a Saturday or Sunday, but Groupon also had a coupon code for another 20% off when I bought it. That meant we only paid $26.40 versus the $50 + tax we’d have had to pay for two red flights, so pretty much half price.
They had options for midweek tastings as well as tastings for four people, so it’s definitely worth checking that out if you’re planning on visiting Churon Winery. If the deals at the link above are no longer available, search Groupon for Churon Winery in case there’s a new offer available.
Wine tasting worked differently at Churon Winery compared to Baily and Oak Mountain in a couple of ways. Those first two wineries offered six 1 oz pours whereas Churon provided four 2 oz pours and so you get a couple more ounces of wine.
Although you get more wine, you get less choice. Baily and Oak Mountain let you pick any wines to taste, whereas Churon has three wine flight options – sweet, white and red – with pre-selected wines for each of them. Shae and I prefer reds, so we both chose the red flight. From what I can remember, the 2019 Tempranillo was our favorite.
The tasting room at Churon isn’t pet-friendly, but dogs are allowed outside on the patio area. That was where we wanted to sit anyway, so that was fine.
Shae and I were feeling peckish while we were there, so we ordered a meat and cheese plate. That cost something like $20-$25 and was well worth it as it came loaded with meat, cheese, crackers, fruit, nuts, olives, artichoke hearts and more. Truffles particularly appreciated how much cheese and meat was provided because it meant we had plenty to share with her.
4) Callaway Vineyard & Winery
Address: 32720 Rancho California Rd, Temecula, CA 92591
Cost: Tasting of six 1 oz pours – $20
Callaway Vineyard & Winery website
To be honest, I’m not entirely sure quite how pet-friendly Callaway Vineyard & Winery is. When checking online beforehand I saw that pups aren’t allowed in the tasting room but that they are allowed on the grounds.
When we arrived, there was a sign mentioning that dogs could be walked in the parking lot area, but there wasn’t anything stating that they were forbidden from also being on their extensive patio area. We saw several other dog owners there and no staff members came out to say that dogs weren’t allowed, so it seemed fine that we had Truffles with us outside.
Callaway had 31 different wines we could choose from, with our tasting coming with perforated tab cards for six different tastes. Most of their wines only required one tab per tasting, but a few of their premium wines required two tabs per tasting. It was nice that they offered the two-tab option rather than simply excluding those premium wines from the wine tasting.
Of the five pet-friendly wineries that we visited in Temecula, I’d say that Callaway had the prettiest setting – it truly felt like we were in SoCal wine country.
5) Somerset Vineyard & Winery
Address: 37338 De Portola Rd, Temecula, CA 92592
Cost: Monday-Thursday – $20, Friday-Sunday – $25
Somerset Vineyard & Winery website
Somerset Vineyard & Winery was the fifth and final Temecula winery we visited which we hit on our way out of town on the way to Palm Springs. Of all five wineries that we visited, this one was the most fun experience thanks to Connor.
He’s the son of the owners and provided us with not only the wine tasting but also an unexpected behind-the-scenes tour of their winery which Truffles was able to join us on. We got to try some wine they’re currently working on and saw the giant terra cotta pots they age some of their wine in.
After going on the tour, we headed back to the bar area for our tasting. I think we tried half a dozen wines and they were all very good, so we ended up buying a couple of bottles. One was their 2019 Tempranillo and the other was their Fuzzy Bunnies – a sparkling rosé. Neither of us are normally rosé people, but it was tasty and refreshing. If you visit Somerset, be sure to ask about the history of their Drunk Bunnies wine as it’s a fun story.
The vibe of Somerset was different to the other wineries we visited too. It felt more relaxed and had more of a beer garden vibe outside but without it being rowdy. We liked that it didn’t feel at all pretentious, but we sadly didn’t have time to hang out after our tasting because we wanted to get to Palm Springs in time for the Super Bowl that night (congrats to Connor at Somerset who’s a Rams fan as they won that night).
Be sure to check out their gift shop area too because they had some cool items like these candle holders made of wine bottles.
Final Thoughts
If you’re traveling with a pup, these five pet-friendly wineries in Temecula are all worth visiting. If you don’t have time to go wine tasting at all of them though, I’d recommend prioritizing Somerset Vineyard & Winery and Baily Vineyard & Winery as Shae and I both enjoyed those two the most.
Hi-Have you written about what your problem was with the airbnb? Maybe you have but I don’t remember. Those stories are interesting to us all too. Sometimes it seems nothing goes wrong but in real life things happen to us all.
Thank you for your stories-really enjoy reading about you all. Safe travels!
I was thinking about covering it in a separate post, but decided against it in the end as I wasn’t sure it was worth a separate post by itself.
We’d shown up and the internet there wasn’t working. It was a rural area, so we had no connection on our phones either. I had an online meeting that evening and we were both needing to work, so we went over to the house on the site which is where we figured the Airbnb host lived (we were due to be staying in an RV for the week). The hosts were away for the weekend, but their mom was there. She said it would be at least a couple of days before they’d be able to sort out the internet which wasn’t going to work for us, so we left straight away and drove until we had phone signal to book something else.
Thankfully the Airbnb hosts were very understanding about it and provided a refund which we appreciated.
Thanks for that. None of my business I know. But sometimes on blogs it seems everything always goes so well all the time.
Reading about you three has enriched my life-especially these last couple of years. A sincere thank you.
Thanks! I published a review of the hotel we stayed at in Temecula this morning and included more of an explanation there – if you were curious about it, I’m sure other people were too 🙂
I thought the gift shops and the restaurants connected to the wineries in Temecula..but thought they did too many varietals -quanity vs quality.. Hart winery was a nice one also.
We’ll have to check out Hart Winery if we return there.