Be still my "Hart."

Hart is the 4th winery established in Temecula. The first 3 have changed hands at least once. Hart is family owned and operated. They maintain estate grapes but have several other locations in Temecula which grow their grapes. They always harvest themselves. Lucky us, Kristine Hart was passing by the tasting room and took us on a tour of their crushing method. She and the rest of the Harts were warm and welcoming. They harvested their petite sirah the night before and crushed that morning. We watched the stems being shaken off and transported to the vats.

Things I learned at this winery:

If you have vines planted on a slope, you can’t take tractors through. Hand picking is the only solution.

After stems are shaken off the vines, the grapes hang out in settling vats before being placed into barrels.

To make port, you can add brandy to the white grape for a powerful blending of dessert wine.