Temecula Getaway - Europa Village Review
Temecula Wine Country is a quick getaway for most San Diegan’s, near and far. Personally, we always highly recommend staying over night after a few wine tastings - so why not choose Europa Village! From quaint rooms, to onsite dining, and fun wine tasting - they have everything you need and it’s quite possible you may never leave!
Written by: Ashley Dunn
The Room
The Bolero Casitas are a great onsite option - walking distance from the wine tasting room and right around the corner from the restaurant, it was perfect for a day of wine and cheese.
The room itself is very spacious, with a small fridge to hold any wine we brought (or bought) that day. The vaulted ceilings were a great touch, making it feel very large and open.
We had the King Casita, which includes a king bed, walk in shower, and private patio! We personally really require a king bed - my girlfriend loves me, but she definitely enjoys her space.
The patio was probably our favorite part. It was nice to be able to relax and read a book without any interruptions from the foot traffic around the winery. We happened to visit in April, so the weather was pretty great. However, we could see it being tough to sit outside when it hits 90-100 degree weather. Taking the weather into consideration, it would be great to have water features - a small waterfall or fountain of some sort. The pool is under construction at this time, but that will be a great addition for future guests!
Wine Tasting
After checking in we enjoyed a lovely wine tasting at their onsite tasting venue. Very spacious, with lots of outdoor seating, they are defintely set up for large parties/birthdays/girls weekend!
The service was magnificent, the staff is very knowledgable about their wine tasting menu — providing great pairing recommendations and detailed tasting notes for each.
The wine itself was very good - they have lots of options for any taste profiles. Offering the typical whites and reds of course, but also even bubbles! With so many options, we chose to go with a tasting flight — and it was very reasonably priced, which we appreciated!
The wine menu, aside from the tasting flight, also included wines from other places — offering some amazing options, if you’re looking to explore outside of the Estate offerings and step into different regions of European wine!
Dinner - Bolero Restaurant
The Appetizers
Dinner at Bolero was great - and surprisingly very affordable!
We enjoyed dinner on the outside patio, where it was just cold enough to have the heaters running. Of course, come summer, they also have indoor dining available.
For our appetizers we ordered the Heirloom Tomato & Watermelon Salad — it was paired with pea greens, pine nuts, drunken goat cheese and a sherry vinaigrette.
We also enjoyed the Bandeja de Carne y Queso - the meat & cheese platter. For the meat it included three different hams - Jamón Serrano (six months aged), Jamón Ibérico (from free range 50% Black Iberian Pig from Salamanca, Spain) and Jamón Ibérico 100% (from free-range 100% Black Iberian Pig Ibérico). It was very interesting trying the various “tiers” of ham - from the least pricey to the most, essentially. We really enjoyed having the option to try all three! For the cheeses we enjoyed - Tetilla, Manchego, and Drunken Goat. There were a few other options on the menu, but overall these paired very well with the ham, grapes, and crostini’s!
The Entree
After sitting out on the patio, smelling the skillets passing us by, we realized the best choice was the Paella for two.
We ordered the Mixed Seafood & Spanish Chorizo Paella and split it. It was the perfect amount of food, paired with the appetizers!
Aside from it being a pretty decent size, it also came with a lot of goodies. With shrimp, scallops, mussels and white fish; then paired with saffron infused bomba rice, piquilla peppers and sweet peas — it was the perfect amount of seafood to rice ratio, that filled us up very quickly.
If you’re coming with a bigger party, they also have an option that serves 4. Not into seafood? Don’t worry, they also have traditional paella loaded with meat!
The Service
Overall, we were very pleased with the service at Bolero. To begin, we were sat very quickly, despite the very packed patio.
We brought our own bottle from home and the sommelier quickly corked it and poured it into the decanter. The team was also very quick to replenish our wine glasses, whenever they were looking low.
The food came out pretty quickly, but we highly recommend ordering apps as several entree items are expected to take extra time. With apps, we were presently surprised on the speediness of each dish.
Ashley’s Bathroom Corner
A new section! My girlfriend, Ashley, always walks straight to the bathroom when we enter any room. As some of you are familiar, the bathroom is a very important part of a hotel room. The room could be beautiful, but if the bathroom is bland or dirty—- the whole ambiance is thrown off.
My girlfriend is very particular when it comes to Bathrooms — and she was very pleased with the Bolero Casita. The shower was probably the best part - a beautiful walk in that was SPOTLESS and offered wonderful Shampoo/Conditioner/Body Wash options.
With beautiful his and hers copper finish sinks, we even took some design notes for our own home.
Summary
Overall Review: 8/10
Europa Village & Bolero Restaurant is a great spot to getaway. Bringing you back to Europe, with only a 45 minute drive, we highly recommend a visit if you’re in the Temecula area!
Room Review: 8/10
The room is very spacious, with a great outdoor patio. Our only concern is during the hotter months, it would be tough to enjoy. A nice water fixture would help!
Wine Review: 7/10
Although we don’t prefer sweeter wines, we really appreciated all the options that they had to offer — both estate and non estate!
Restaurant Review: 9/10
The service and food was wonderful at Bolero Restaurant. Very affordable with several wine options, for any taste palette.
Ashley’s Bathroom Corner Review 7/10
The bathroom was beautiful and clean, but it would be great if there was a tub option! A tub sounds like quite the relaxing option after a long day wine tasting.