Callaway Vineyard and Winery is the "grandaddy" of the valley. In late summer of 1968, entrepreneur, and then President of Burlington Industries-New York, Ely Callaway, was touring the newly subdivided "Rancho California" with a real estate agent. That fateful (and now history making) day, Mr Callaway and his agent befriended a man along Rancho Cal Road, the now infamous viticulturist from his family's vineyards and winery in Cucamunga, John Moramarco. When asked where would he plant a vineyard in this valley, he showed them the land that is now the site of Callaway. Smartly, Ely immediately hired John to plant and manage his vineyards. In 1974 the Callaway winery became the first to open it's doors in the valley, and boasted high capacity state-of-the-art wine making equipment, as well. A few years later, Dwayne Hemuth joined Callaway as assistant wine maker, leading to cheif wine maker in 1983. John and Dwayne remained with Callaway, together making many award winning wines, all the way up in to the late nineties. Ever the entrepreneur, in 1981 Ely moved on to start Callaway Golf, selling the operation to a large beverage company that became enveloped into the European owned beverage conglomerate, Allied Domecq in 1987. During this time, because of the production capacity of the local facility, Coastal was added to the name as more and more grapes from the Central Coast were being used for their wines. By the mid nineties the local vineyards occupied 750 acres, and total annual production from all grape sources, had reached 165,000 cases!

The real success magic probably started in 1976,  when during America's Bi-Centennial celebration, the Queen of England, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, visited the U S and was a guest at a banquet honoring the event, at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Callaway's 1974 White Reisling was chosen from a tasting competition of American wines, to be served the Queen. Her Majesty, not known to be a wine drinker requested another glass, and this honor was not lost on others. Callaway's white wines soon began to appear on retail shelves nationally, and the rest, as they say "is history."

In 2005, with the dissolution of industry leader Allied Domecq, the Callaway Coastal brand became a totally separate operation and company, located in and using grapes form California's Central Valley. The Lin Family of San Diego, associated with such San Diego "name" wineries, such as Orfilia, in Julian, purchased Callaway. Making a committment to carry on the tradition of quality wines, but with a renewed focus on local production, they have indeed acheived this distinction.

Since 2003, my wife and I have been very satified "Legacy Club" Members at the winery. To further illustrate the national appeal of their quality wines, click here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119335579007072233.html to read what  The Wall Street Journal had to say about their 2005 Special Selection Muscat Canelli. The "lagacy" is definately continuing!

When visitng Callaway's tasting room, be sure to tell them Le Roy & Phyllis at Shop Temecula Wines sent you. Oh... be sure to try their Zinfandels!