Temecula Wine Country is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. In an earlier blog (see my fascinating post from February of this year titled "50 YEARS OF TEMECULA WINE COUNTRY"), I shared the story of the Cilurzos, who planted the first commercial wine grapes in Temecula back in 1968. And also the story of Ely Callaway, who began planting in 1969, and in 1971 became the first winery in Temecula Valley. However, like most California wine regions, the area's first wine producers were not commercial ventures, but rather the missionaries, who planted and harvested the so-called mission grape ...
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