Temecula Wine Country

Drive east past Old Town and the rooftops thin out, the road climbs, and suddenly you're in it. See rolling hills stitched with vineyards and citrus groves, oak canopy, white horse fences, and the occasional hot-air balloon drifting over your morning coffee. 

This isn't one neighborhood; it's a constellation of rural estate enclaves scattered along Rancho California and De Portola Roads, from the gated five-acre vineyard estates of Camino Del Vino to the sprawling groves of Glen Oak Hills and the equestrian tracts named, fittingly, for horses. Out here land is measured in acres, not square feet. It draws vintners and hobby farmers, equestrians, remote executives trading density for a view, and — more than anywhere else in the valley — the nature people: birders and aviary owners especially, because oak woodland, grove, and vineyard sitting squarely on the Pacific Flyway is about as good as inland Southern California gets for both keeping birds and watching them.