Masia de la Vinya Winery

Masia de la Vinya — Catalan for “manor house of the vineyard” — sits at the far eastern end of De Portola Road, past the cluster of better-known stops, where the views open up across the valley toward the hills. The property opened in 2008 with a deliberately Spanish identity, and the Smith family took it over roughly a decade later, bringing it under the same operation that runs Galway Downs and Danza del Sol. Justin Knight, a Temecula native with UC Davis winemaking training, runs the cellars at both Masia and Danza del Sol.

The wine

This is the most committed Spanish-leaning lineup on the trail. Tempranillo and Garnacha are the headline reds, both made in a lighter, more food-friendly style than the heavy oak-and-extraction approach most Temecula reds default to. Monastrell — the Spanish name for Mourvèdre — shows up as a single varietal and as half of the Orquestra blend with Syrah. Barbera covers the Italian side. The whites lean toward Albariño and a fresh-style Sauvignon Blanc, with an Estate Chardonnay that’s notably less buttery than the valley average.

The 2022 Garnacha and the 2022 Orquestra Syrah-Monastrell blend are the bottles to taste if you want to understand the house style — both are quietly structured, lower in alcohol than most Temecula reds, and built to drink with food rather than to dominate it. The 2024 Sauvignon Blanc and the Estate Chardonnay are the right summer-patio whites.

The California NV Brut sparkling rounds out the lineup and is reserved more often for wine-club members than for the standard pour list.

The room and the patio

The architecture is Spanish-villa rather than Tuscan-villa — courtyards, painted tiles, fountains, a cluster of patios with Adirondack chairs. The whole property is built around outdoor seating, with patio placement that maximizes view rather than capacity. It’s casually elegant in a way most Temecula wineries don’t manage; the polish is real but it doesn’t feel performative.

There’s no on-site restaurant. Food trucks set up on the driveway most weekends — the rotation varies — and the Pours and Pairings experience is a guided seated tasting with six wines paired with bites from Grazing Theory. That’s the right booking if you want a longer, sit-down visit; the standard six-pour casual tasting (no reservation needed for parties under eight) is the right play for a shorter stop.

Practical notes

Hours run roughly 11 am to 5 pm weekdays and 10 am to 6 pm weekends. Weekday tastings come with a small discount over weekend pricing. The far-eastern stretch of De Portola Road is quieter than the central section, but it’s also a longer drive — budget the extra ten to fifteen minutes if you’re coming from Old Town or the Rancho California side.

Who this is for

Masia de la Vinya is the right call for visitors who already drink Rioja, Priorat, or Jumilla at home and want a Temecula stop that won’t redirect them to Cab and Chardonnay. It’s strong for couples, small groups, and second-time valley visitors who’ve already done the resort-winery rotation. It’s also the natural pairing with the more Italian-leaning Sangiovese-and-Tempranillo trail.

It’s not the right call for a large casual group looking for sweet-leaning sparklers and a DJ patio — those visits are at Wilson Creek and South Coast, and we’d send you there for that occasion. The tradeoff in coming this far east on De Portola is that you trade volume and bustle for view and quieter wine. That’s the deal Masia is built around, and it’s the right deal for the right visitor.

For an evening continuation in the same Spanish-Mediterranean register — Tempranillo, Garnacha, lighter natural-leaning reds — PAMEC in Old Town is the obvious follow-up, and the Mediterranean Varietals in Temecula post maps the rest of the category.