mahogany mountain vineyard and winery

Once you make the turn off of Mussey Grade Road, you proceed up the hill a short ways to the vineyard and tasting room. The Barbera is excellent, and the Merlot's superb. Quite well done.

My husband and I bought a tasting through TravelZoo and unlike the larger vineyards we frequent in southern CA, this one is very small and family owned and nestled in the hills of Ramona. The area is beautiful and perfectly quiet and is definitely worth the drive out.We met two family members at the tasting and it was the son of the owners who took us in the vineyard itself and explained how they attach the baby vines to the posts and so on. We even saw the wine storage barrels inside, and though we've heard a lot of this before, it seemed so different, so quaint, so family oriented. Even though most of the vineyards, including the larger ones, are family oriented, because of the size, there is a commercial (ism) about them. We love that for what they can offer, i.e. live bands and events.But Mahogany Mountain Winery feels different, very intimate. As the son was talking about how his mom is the wine maker and his father, the grape grower, and how they don't pay anyone to harvest, it's all done by family and friends, we both felt the "quaintness" of the family somehow. I actually put my name on a list to be notified when it's harvest time, as I'd like to be a part of that!What is remarkable to me, as an avid white wine drinker, is that I absolutely loved all four of the red wine tastings I had. My husband said that one of the red wines he tasted, was just out of this world, over the top, the best red wine he has ever had. We made sure to ask the son to relay this to his parents. So yes, take the drive to Ramona and visit, sample their wine collection!!