Wine Tasting in Temecula Mood Wine Style #1

One of our goals with Mood Wine is to make it fun, informative, and interactive - and oh, did I mention FUN?

So to meet this goal we planned our first Mood Wine Weekend in Temecula. We weren't exactly sure how to craft the agenda, but we wanted it to be custom all the way! We secured a wine country estate home with pool, and privacy. We scheduled a limo, hired caterers, picked out LOTS of wine, and organized a wine tasting day that would be memorable!

This is post #1 in the series on this fantastic weekend.... when I'm done with this series, you can tell me if this is something we should keep doing.

Meet the gang...

L-R, Brian, Phil, Dan, Robert, David, (Phil Bailey), Patrick, Casey, Tom, Mike, Jim, (Jake taking pic)

This first trip sold out pretty quickly, and was all boys, but we plan to do trips that cater to the group... can do couples, all girls - Jake and I would HAVE SO MUCH FUN, mixed groups, etc.

And now to meet the boys a little more closely:

Let's start this with these two dapper gents...

Jim Monahan and Dan Lewis

What's great about these kinds of trips is you get to spend more quality time with friends; get to know them better. Jim is a fantastic cook (anyone who knows him knows that), but I learned he used to work in the field of research for sleep disorders, I bet he knows how to keep Dan from snoring. And Dan, well he recently retired from a distinguished career in law... as a judge, an attorney who's argued several times before the Supreme Court, and working with the World Court at the time of his retirement. Practical wisdom suggests Dan is NOT someone you want to mess with!

Next is the guy who gets the most attention for being SO DAMN CUTE...

Robert McConnaughey

Robert is the CFO for a multi-state electrical construction firm. He is a quiet storm of flirtation and charm, and drives a pretty car that Jake refers to as "The Princess Leia Shuttle". Robert is such a wine lover that he has more wine than he can possibly drink by himself; he finally bought a regular refrigerator for his garage just to store all his wine in. line-up, Robert needs help drinking wine!

Our non Palm Springs contingency was comprised of these two characters....

Phil Russ and Brian Gregory

Phil and Brian own a beautiful home in San Diego with a fantastic vacation rental apartment called Morley House, and a Palm Springs condo - also a vacation rental. Oh, and if you go to a Pride parade in Long Beach, San Diego, or Palm Springs, you'll see Brian leading his San Diego area biker gang - San Diego Cruiser Motor Cycle club, right behind the Dykes on Bikes - I keep telling him he needs a side-car for Phil so he doesn't have to hang on for dear life on the back of Brian's bike. Phil travels a lot for his work... he's a pharmaceutical compliance consultant, DON'T ask me what he actually does... it's WAY over my head!

The biggest one-liner funny man of the weekend has to go to this guy...

Casey Strachan

With Casey, there's NEVER a dull moment, trust me, wait until you see more of the pics of this crazy guy! Casey works in Marketing for the Marketing Hub. His focus is largely on connecting via social media, I guess that's why he's had his phone surgically attached to his hand. When we needed to track him down, even if only in the other room, all we had to do was text... and VOILA - Casey!

This next couple throws some of the BEST pool parties, probably because the one on the left has so many suits to model...

Tom Schmitt and Mike Gialdini

Oh, and they have a VERY well stocked bar - :-). Tom is an interior designer - Tom Schmitt Interior Designs with fantastic eclectic taste and also does tons of upholstery/vintage furniture restoration. Mike is the Chief of Staff for a state representative - a unique combo of the artistic and the analytical! Hmmm, I wonder why Mike was always the late one for meals?

The last Moodie to join the Flamer weekend was this handsome dude...

David Lahti

We met David at a tram picnic only about a month ago. He heard us yammering away about wine, and as a fellow wine lover he quickly joined the conversation. By the next day, his reservation was confirmed. David is VERY active in the HRC, is a serious trail hiker, and plants everything he can get to grow - you should have seen the collection of succulents and clippings he gathered to bring home and plant. Going into this trip David hadn't really discovered the great wines that can come from Temecula. I think he has a different perspective now! Plus he's a shutterbug and got tons of fun pictures!

And of course...

Jake and Patrick

Putting together this trip was a labor of love for us. Having spent several years of my life managing catering and event companies, this trip was a challenge. I HAD TO GET IT RIGHT! I don't know if we accomplished our goals, but we sure did have a blast, and the consensus from this original gang of 11 - THIS SHALL NOT BE THE LAST TRIP!!!

Now that you've met this cast of characters, stay-tuned, I'm going to dedicate a post to each of the wineries we visited for private tastings, shuttled to each via this gigantic vehicle...

Let's FLAME in style!

and then do a post on the fun we had eating, drinking and playing - are you curious how Carmen Miranda played a role?...

All at the estate we fondly dubbed:

Chateaux de la Flamme