Everybody knows that California is Famous for Wine. We have several prominent wine growing regions: Sanapanoma, Oh I'm sorry, Napa-Sonoma, the Central Valley, the Central Coast, and Temecula which has more or less supplanted Cucamonga as Southern California's premier grape growing region.

Well, I live only an hour away from Temecula. So guess what this story is about. You got it. Temecula or there abouts. And grapes of course.

You can find grapes growing all over North San Diego County and South Riverside County. This area is collectively known as the Temecula Valley Wine District or Temecula Valley Wine Country.

I don't know how many wineries there are in the region, 20 or 30, but there might be 40 by the time you read this. It is a major "growth" industry in our neck of the woods. That and Indian casinos. So who cares why they come as long as they leave a little money behind.

A lot (most) of the wineries are small family-owned businesses. Some include restaurants and some have small inns attached. Almost all feature wine tasting. How else are you going to know which ones to buy?

Growing of grapes is known as viticulture and wine production is known as enology. The two go hand-in-hand like love and marriage.

The California Land-Grant Colleges (the University of California-Riverside and UC Davis in addition to the campuses of California State Polytechnic University) provide education and research into viticulture and enology.

Grapes are subject to insect-borne diseases, particularly Pierce's Disease spread by the glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS). PD devastated the grape crop a couple of years ago. Much research has ensued. Vineyards were lost. In the after-math some new vineyards have sprung up growing more red grape varieties that seem to be affected by PD to a lesser degree. Also the new vineyards employ wider spacing of the vines. Yields are going back up.

The grapes produced in the Temecula Valley tend to end up in Temecula Valley wines. To be labeled "Temecula Valley" wine at least 85% of the grapes need to have been grown in the Temecula Valley Viticulture District. This is a Federal ATF ruling.

As Temecula Valley Wineries become more popular, the demand for locally grown grapes will increase. Anyone growing wine grapes in the Temecula Valley will be sitting pretty.

This article is the out-growth of an earlier article on a Planned Unit Development (PUD) incorporating viticulture with retirement living. See "106º Today and We Went Looking for Land."