Beer, Wine & Spirits in Lemon Grove

Since the first vines began to climb across Hamilton Oaks Vineyard in 1989, Ron and Connie Tamez have worked with a dedication to craft a selection of fine wines. Having sworn off pesticides and herbicides, the two collaborate with ladybugs and red-tailed hawks that thrive by devouring crop-threatening pests. After picking, sorting, and crushing the naturally grown harvest, Ron and Connie complete the Old World process by aging the wines in French oak barrels for 20 to 34 months, or until each grape sees its own shadow.

Visitors are welcome to sample varietals such as chardonnay, zinfandel, and cabernet sauvignon during tastings and tours of the Trabuco Canyon vineyard made by appointment. Tastings last between 45 and 60 minutes and provide guests with the opportunity to picnic with a packed lunch on the sun-dappled outdoor deck and purchase bottles for favored mailmen.

Having grown up on a farm in central Canada, Marlowe Huber already knew about crop harvesting and soil when he began making wine in the early 1980s. He refined his skills still further by studying oenology in Vancouver before embarking on his first wine-business venture with his brother, Darren. Together they ran two wineries in British Columbia for 15 years before opening Laguna Canyon Winery in 2003.

Today, staffers pour out a diverse selection of Laguna Canyon wines at two tasting rooms in downtown Laguna Beach and at the winery itself. Marlowe and Darren also collaborated with marine artist Wyland to create his Wyland Cellars label, whose bottles he adorns with colorful undersea scenes. Grapes for these wines are sourced from low-yield growers in Napa and Sonoma valleys, who cultivate subtle flavors by hand-picking and home-schooling their fruits.

Though they loved wine, Les and Dorian Linkogle didn't move to Temecula for the grapes; and even though their land was home to one of the largest, oldest olive trees in the city, they didn't move for the landscape. They moved to give their motocross cyclist son a place to ride his bike, but in time the siren song of the vines got through to them. In the late 1990s they planted acres of grapes—viognier, merlot, zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, and riesling—to ship to other vintners. However, it wasn't long until the Linkogles began handcrafting small-lot artisanal wines of their own under the banner of Briar Rose Winery.

Soon, Briar Rose Winery’s vintages began racking up accolades and awards in international competitions. All of the winery’s wines are unfiltered with no sugar added, and many are aged in oak barrels. Guests can literally taste the fruits of these labors at the winery's tasting room, sipping zinfandel, a bordeaux blend, and Talking Frog, a wine lager that becomes a prince when you drink it.

La Jolla Brew House fills four to seven of its taps with its own craft beers, brewed in the 30-barrel microbrewery located on site. Within the spacious confines of the sports bar or outside on a patio, friends can gather to cheer their favorite teams, chow on pub food, and sip plenty of distinctive beers. In addition to rotating house brews—which have included IPAs and stouts—bartenders crack open bottles of specialty beers from Belgian breweries, where the machines are not made of waffles—they're made of crepes.

Twenty flat-screen TVs broadcast games of football throughout the interior of the bar, and the comfortable patio has one 55-inch widescreen TV as well as a fire pit. All of the eatery and drinkery's seating accommodates dining on burgers—including one topped with house-made guacamole and jalapeños—and slices of hand-tossed pizza. At select times, The Brew House offers tours of their brewery. The Brew House also prides itself on being pet friendly; in addition to a menu of "canine cuisine," which dogs can enjoy on the patio, the staff holds regular "yappy hours" that often promote local animal organizations.

Though their shop stocks a selection of more than 300 wines, owners Bob and Heidi Fisher maintain their commitment to personally selecting vintages from boutique wineries. Inside the earth-toned walls of Salt Creek Wine Company's tasting room, visitors peruse the stacks of obsidian bottles or sidle up to the bar to sample the selection of wine flights, which, like the second hand on a tortoise’s watch, rotates weekly. The bar also stocks pairing bites such as charcuterie, artisan cheeses, and desserts.

Twenty-four wine bottles line the circumference of two stainless-steel cylinders, both of which add a futuristic flourish to the middle of the room. With the touch of a button, the machine dispenses a 1-ounce sample of any of the wines—red at room temperature, whites at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Praised on Foodbeast, this self-serve tasting bar, called the Enomatic wine system, lets guests sample an array of wines before committing to a long-term relationship with a single—or several—bottles. This method is just one of several ways OC Wine Mart & Tasting Bar owner Julie Lim takes the intimidation out of wine buying.

At her boutique wine store, Julie fills the shelves with vintages from both well-known and under-the-radar vineyards, with some of her favorites including Silver Oak Cellars, Caymus Vineyards, and Cakebread Cellars. She and her team thrive on helping guests find the best bottle—whether they're hunting for wine, craft beer, or a fine liquor. Once guests feel confident in their selections, the staff can help them compile gift baskets for holiday parties or year-end performance reviews. Committed to green practices, the staff eschews foam packaging in favor of molded-pulp shippers, derived from 100% recycled materials. Such practices earned Julie a place on OC Metro's list of 20 Women to Watch, plus her boutique a place on Gayot's Top 10 Wine Bars in the United States.