California Wine Month, Temecula Style!

California Wine Month, Temecula Style! is a month-long passport tasting event held annually each September in the Temecula Valley wine region of Southern California — offering access to 4 participating wineries for the price of a single low-cost passport. Rather than a single-day grand tasting, this event is structured around the 'SIP Temecula' passport, which visitors can use on any day of their choosing throughout the month, giving the experience an unusually flexible, self-directed format.

The passport model lets visitors select 4 wineries from the participating members of the Temecula Valley wine community, then visit at their own pace across September. Temecula Valley is home to nearly 50 wineries growing more than 30 grape varieties, so the range of potential stops is broad — from Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay to Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Vermentino, and classic-method sparkling wines. The region's Mediterranean climate, shaped by sea air flowing through gaps in the Coastal Range less than 25 miles from the coast, supports this diversity of styles.

Because the passport is valid throughout September, visitors can time their trip around weekday openings, weekend live music events, or winery-specific programming already scheduled at individual estates. There is no single venue or ticketed event day — the experience is distributed across the valley. Specific passport pricing and the full list of participating wineries are available through the official Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association website at temeculawines.org.

Temecula Valley wines regularly receive 90+ point scores and Best in Class awards at major competitions. The region was voted one of the world's Top Ten Wine Travel Destinations by Wine Enthusiast Magazine in 2019, and the first commercial vineyard was planted here in the late 1960s — giving the area over 50 years of winemaking history.