Category: About
Harvest Season Unveiled: The Inner Workings of Wilson Creek Winery
Posted on September 27, 2024 in About
Behind the Scenes with the Winemaking Team at Wilson Creek Winery During Harvest
As the sun rises over the Temecula Valley, a sense of excitement fills the air at Wilson Creek Winery. It’s harvest season, the most exhilarating time of year for our winemaking team. Behind every bottle of Wilson Creek wine is a dedicated team working tirelessly to bring you the best flavors and experiences. Today, we’re taking you behind the scenes to show you what harvest is all about and why it’s so crucial to creating the wines you love.
Before the first grape is picked, months of preparation go into ensuring a successful harvest. Our winemaking team, led by Kristina Fillippi, starts by monitoring the vineyard’s progress throughout the growing season. Using cutting-edge technology alongside traditional techniques, the team carefully tracks grape ripeness, sugar levels, and overall vine health. This data-driven approach allows us to decide the perfect time to harvest each grape variety, ensuring optimal flavor and quality.

Grape Picking: Hand-Harvested for Quality
We believe that quality wine starts with quality grapes. We believe that it starts in the vineyard, and that’s why we are fully committed to our regenerative agriculture practices. By nurturing the vines with sustainable techniques, we ensure the healthiest and most flavorful grapes. Hand-harvesting is a vital part of this process. Hand-picking allows us to be selective, choosing only the ripest, healthiest grapes. Our skilled staff picks through when the temperature is cooler, which helps maintain the grape’s freshness and quality.

Once the grapes are harvested, they’re immediately brought to our crush pad. Here, the winemaking process truly begins. The grapes are sorted, de-stemmed, and gently crushed to release their juice. This juice, combined with the grape skins, seeds, and stems, is then transferred into fermentation tanks.

After fermentation, the next step is pressing, where the juice is separated from the solid grape material. For red wines, this is done after a period of maceration to extract color, tannins, and flavor. For white wines, pressing occurs immediately after crushing to keep the juice light and fresh.



The pressed juice is then transferred to barrels or tanks for aging. This is where our winemaking expertise truly shines. Each wine has its own aging process, tailored to enhance its unique characteristics. Whether it’s aging in oak barrels to impart subtle flavors of vanilla and spice or in stainless steel tanks to maintain crispness and freshness, every decision is made with the final wine in mind.
One of the final steps in the winemaking process is blending, where the winemaker combines different lots or varieties of wine to create the perfect balance of flavors, aromas, and textures. This step requires a refined palate, and a deep understanding of how different wines interact with each other.
Once the blend is perfected, it’s time for bottling. We take great care in ensuring that each bottle is filled and sealed with precision. Quality control is paramount, and every bottle is inspected before it’s ready to be labeled and shared with our guests.

Celebrating the Harvest: A Time of Gratitude
Harvest season at Wilson Creek Winery is more than just hard work—it’s a celebration of everything that makes our winery special. It’s a time when our winemaking team’s passion and dedication come to life in every bottle. From early mornings in the vineyard to late nights in the cellar, every member of our team plays a vital role in creating the wines you know and love.
As Kristina puts it, “Harvest is about gratitude. Gratitude for the land, for the vines, for the team, and for the opportunity to share our wines with the world. Each bottle is a testament to the hard work and heart that goes into every step of the process.”
Join Us at Wilson Creek Winery
Interested in seeing the winemaking process firsthand? Visit us during harvest season to experience the sights, sounds, and tastes of Wilson Creek Winery. Our team is always excited to share our passion for winemaking with our guests. From vineyard tours to tastings, you’ll gain a deeper appreciation for the care and craftsmanship that goes into each bottle.
The Story of How Wilson Creek’s Almond Sparkling Lands Japan
Posted on December 22, 2020 in About
Shushi Shiraga, the Founder & CEO of a wine e-commerce startup SoCalization Inc (Tokyo, Japan |www.socalization.com ), was a regular customer at Wilson Creek during his 7 years of life in San Diego, working as an expat, then studying as a grad-student. He became interested in wine because of Wilson Creek’s signature Almond Sparkling.
SoCalization Shushi at Wilson Creek
In 2019, as he graduates from Sports MBA program at San Diego State University, he went back to Japan to work as a consultant to projects at Rugby World Cup 2019 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
However, something was missing for him. It just felt wrong. Living a happy, stress-free life in a SoCal city changed his perspective so much. A workaholic, who was on international conference calls regularly until midnight, questioned “Why are people in Japan working so late?”, “Why are people here not enjoying their personal life?”, “Why are people not having a quality time with their family?”. He was culture-shocked to his own country.
That feeling just got stronger and stronger, every time he recalled receiving unconditional love and support from his American “family”, a Christian family in San Diego who had been accepting international students to live together at their home.
Shushi was intrinsically entrepreneurial as he built his career at start-ups prior to MBA degree. However, if he was to build a company, he wanted to do something impactful to the society. So, he founded SoCalization, to promote relaxed and loving SoCal people’s value to Japan through SoCal food culture.
“I need an ‘Ace’ product…” Shushi thought. Something that is unique and has potential to become nationally popular but also represents SoCal value. Wilson Creek Almond Sparkling wine, he thought. He flew back to San Diego and drove to Temecula without an appointment with us (Wilson Creek), January 2020. We welcomed his passion and agreed to do business once he incorporates and receives necessary licenses.
He came back with them, but the pandemic hits the US. With both of us patiently and carefully checking off the boxes, Almond Sparkling Wine landed to Japan for the first time in October 2020!
Almond Sparkling is gradually gaining awareness and served at wine bars in Tokyo. Shushi and SoCalization promote family-first value to Japan through the taste of Almond Sparkling – like the “stick” of cuttings clones and shares Wilson Creek’s founding values through their branches and vines.
=================
For former SoCal-residents in Japan, below is the direct link to purchase our Almond Sparkling wine in Japan from SoCalization! (English check out process available from link below.)
https://www.socalization.com/en/collections/wilson-creek/products/wilson-creek-almond-sparkling
For those of you moving to Japan, now you know where to get us! ????
Celebrating his brother’s birthday at the first restaurant in Tokyo to serve Almond Sparkling
Building, Expanding, and Building Some More!
Posted on September 13, 2018 in About
Do we have some exciting news to share with you!
We are building, expanding, and building even more as we strive for a better experience for our Extended Family members.
Since June 21st, the Upper Room has become the new exclusive Wine Club Members Lounge! What does this mean? It means as a Wine Club Family member, you will be able to enjoy an exclusive area featuring bar tastings, wine by the glass, and sit-down tasting service daily as part of your membership. Small bites and appetizers will be added to the available array from noon to five Friday through Sunday for a nominal charge. No need to make reservations any longer! However, if you are a Reserve member, you can call your wine club team and have them reserve a table just for you.
Fear not! The Upper Room guided tasting experience will return. A new sit-down tasting experience area is expected to open in late Spring of 2019.
Wilson Creek will continue to host sit-down wine tastings at special events during the year in the Upper Room Wine Club Lounge so you will not miss out on the sit-down experience. Watch your email and our website for date and time announcements.
In the meantime, we invite you, as a wine club member, to join us for a glass or two in the Lounge from Noon until 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday!
We are excited about expanding our facilities once again and bringing you the very best wine tasting experience in the valley. As always, we look forward to seeing you and sharing the beautiful views from the second floor, and of course some very special wines!
Oh! Let’s not forget about our current expansion excitement! Learn more by clicking here on “Our good problem to have, but still a problem that needs fixing,” and what we are doing about it!
Cheers!
Wilson Creek Takes Wine Tasting to a New Level
Posted on September 7, 2017 in About
UPPER ROOM IS NOW OPEN!
Open 12 noon – 5 pm, seven days a week!
For an elevated wine tasting experience, join us on the second floor overlooking the courtyard and vineyards in our NEW Upper Room! Tasting are $50 per person ($25 for wine club members) and will include a guided tasting of our most exclusive reserve wines with small food pairings exclusively designed by our Executive Chef. Bottle service is also available on the outside patio for more secluded atmosphere to enjoy the beautiful view of the winery grounds and vineyards!
To make a reservation today, click here!
Keep reading for some FAQs answered by one of our owners, Mick Wilson:
As a Sommelier, when I visit other wineries I really enjoy those times where I could sit down and learn about the winery and the wine in a quiet, more personal setting. So, as you can imagine, I am excited that we will be offering an “elevated” wine experience in our new Upper Room, the area on the second floor above the Tasting Room. I know many are wondering, “what is it?”. Here are some answers that may help.
How will this be different from the tasting experience now?
Right now our tasting room offers a “stand up at bar” experience, which is fun and informative. I love tasting at a bar at wineries, but there is something magical about sitting down, relaxing, and really focusing on the wine. So, in addition to the tasting we currently offer downstairs, we are offering a separate “sit-down” experience on the second floor. In the Upper Room, you will be guided through a flight of four to five Library Wines, Reserve Wines, and Special Selection Wines. These wines will be paired with bite-sized foods, prepared by our Executive Chef. Our trained wine servers will be present to answer any questions and guide you along the experience. These wines will be served in Riedel Stemware, which is the most prestigious, crystal wine stemware in the world. Seating will be inside or outside on the balcony overlooking the grounds. A sit-down wine and food pairing experience will last about 60-80 minutes.
What about wine classes?
Later in the year we will be launching some new wine classes for you to enjoy. Some classes to look forward to are dessert and wine pairings, holiday food pairings, Temecula wines vs. other appellations, and more! If you are interested in a certain type of class or have a fun idea, we would love to hear from you! E-mail your ideas to info@wilsoncreekwinery.com. If we choose your idea, you will receive four free passes to a wine class of your choice, maybe the one you e-mailed in!
This place looks amazing, can I book an event here?
Yes, it will be available for wedding receptions and private parties. We can also tailor a wine tasting for a larger group or business. Keep an eye out for more details to come.
When will it be open?
NOW! Make your reservation today! Follow us on our social media accounts to stay in the loop as well.
~ Mick Wilson (Owner, COO, Sommelier)
Pardon our pixie dust..
Posted on March 3, 2017 in About
We are finally well underway with our Tasting Room Expansion and improvements at Wilson Creek. No, you don’t need a hard hat when you visit, that’s just a fun picture. During the construction, our team will be laser focused on making your visit the best experience possible. We always strive to make you, our guest, feel warm and welcomed, construction or no construction. We are going the extra mile working days and through the night to minimize as much ancillary construction dust and noise as possible. We are proud of what we are doing and can’t wait to have it ready for all of you to enjoy. If you want to see what we are doing as well as keep track of our progress, go on our website, there you will find a 3D video fly through rendering or check it out on our You Tube Channel. It’s pretty cool! Keep up with all of our exciting news, events, sales and more by following us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and You Tube.
As Always,
Cheers
Bill Wilson