Galleano Winery
The Cucamonga Valley was once one of California’s great vineyards. Galleano — est. 1927, still run by the founding family at the original ranch — is its living memory.
Drive the 15 north from Temecula and you pass, without knowing it, the ghost of a giant: the Cucamonga Valley, whose deep sand flats once carried one of the largest vineyard plantings in California. Freeways, warehouses and suburbs took nearly all of it. What remains has a keeper — Galleano, founded in 1927 by Domenico Galleano, the last Prohibition-era winery still owned and operated by its founding family at the original location. The Cantu-Galleano Ranch is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it earns the plaque.
The wine to drink here is the history itself: old-vine Zinfandel off head-trained vines planted the year the winery opened — gnarled, free-standing little trees in deep sand, farmed the way the whole valley once was. Tasting at the ranch, among the original brick and timber, is the closest Southern California gets to a time machine. A Temecula visitor will leave with a sharpened sense of how lucky their own valley is.
What to expect
| Go for | Old-vine Zinfandel from 1927 plantings — a vanished wine empire, still pouring |
|---|---|
| The house | Founded 1927 by Domenico Galleano; the last Prohibition-era winery still family-run at its original site |
| The plaque | The Cantu-Galleano Ranch is on the National Register of Historic Places |
| From the valley | An hour north of Temecula, straight up the 15 — pair it with the drive home |
Featured videos
The vanished vineyard empire and its last family house — Cucamonga on film.
More beyond the valley
Every entry here had to be worth leaving Temecula for — and worth the drive back.