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wine marketing Pinnacle restaurant on a hilltop adjacent to Falkner Winery is surrounded by 15 acres of 38-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon and 4 acres of Merlot and Sangiovese vines. TEMECULA VALLEY A side of food with your wine? BY Elisabeth Deffner L ocated in Southern California's wine country, the Temecula Valley is home to 10 winery restaurants catering to an estimated 1.7 million tourists who go wine tasting there each year. Temecula Valley is 58 miles northeast of San Diego and 90 miles southeast of Los Angeles; its vineyard plantings range in elevation from 1,500 to 2,500 feet. The industry has worked closely with Riverside County to ensure that its wine country would develop in the most desirable way, notes Peggy Evans, executive director of the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association. Thus, aside from property size, there are few limitations on wineries hoping to open a restaurant. (Winery restaurants are only permitted on sites that are 20 acres or larger.) Evans notes that the restaurants offer a great variety in terms of ambiance, style and menu, but she suggests that what they have in common is, perhaps, their biggest selling point. "It's not so much the food, but the presence," she says, "the great experience of having lunch in wine country." Still, an idyllic location is only one part of the equation for success. How do Tem- ecula's winery restaurants handle wine lists, menus and other issues so they can survive—and thrive—in today's economic climate? To list, or not to list? You might think a winery restaurant's wine list would be the least complicated facet of operations, but there are different ways of approaching the issue. John and Sally Thornton had no prior restaurant experience, but they were certain that the pairing of food and wine could only be beneficial for a winery. Originally silent partners in the Culbertson Winery, the Thorntons put their silence on hold long enough to st rongly suggest opening a restaurant on the same property. T he w i ner y (later renamed Thornton Winery) and restaurant opened simultaneously 25 years ago, 60 p racti c al w i ne ry & v i n e yard S EPTE MBER 20 13 and today Thornton produces 7,500 cases per year (25% Methode Champenoise sparkling wine and 75% still wine). Open for lunch and dinner every day of the year, Café Champagne (which seats 64 inside and another 64 outside, weather permitting) offers a menu of appetizers, salads and entrees. Each dish is listed with a suggested Thornton wine pairing; for example, the popular boneless beef short ribs, braised in a sweet, spicy mole and served over white corn grits, is recommended alongside Thornton's 2010 Cabernet-Merlot blend. "Café Champagne serves other labels plus beer, but Thornton's wines—sold by the bottle, by the glass (a 5-ounce pour averages $9) and in flights ($12 to $17 for four wines)—are the big sellers," reports Thornton media director Linda Kissam. "That is what visitors are here for—the Thornton experience." The restaurant wine list includes 25 Thornton wines—12 red, seven white, and six sparkling—and about 25 nonThornton wines. President Steve Thornton estimates that the winery sells 97% of its wine onsite through the tasting room, jazz concert series and restaurant. "If a customer would like additional help," says Kissam, "each Café Champagne server receives training in the art of food and wine pairing. If a guest is not sure what a wine will taste like or does not like the suggested pairing, wait staff may offer a sample of a wine to a customer, so they can feel confident their wine choice is correct." Thornton Winery offers a red wine flight of four 1.5-ounce pours of Mourvedre, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Estate Syrah.