How UnWined Came to Be

UnWined didn’t start with a business plan. It actually started with a really bad wine tour that turned into a really good afternoon.

A few years ago, we had friends visiting from Arizona. Like a lot of people who live in Temecula, we’d done the wineries before, but this time we thought we’d make it easy on ourselves and book a wine tour. Someone else would handle the driving, the planning, the pacing. All we had to do was show up.

It was…not great.

The shuttle was run down. The radio didn’t work. The air conditioning barely did. Instead of being taken through the heart of Temecula wine country, we found ourselves driving forty minutes out to Aguanga—far past where anyone thought we were going. The wineries were small and interesting, but no one had expected that kind of detour. The whole day felt disjointed. Technically fine, but missing something essential.

At the second stop, everything changed.

We struck up a conversation with the owner, John, and it was one of those easy, human conversations that doesn’t feel transactional. He liked our group and told us to meet him in the kitchen. The winery itself was a home with a vineyard attached, and in that kitchen he opened a large box filled with homemade hooch he and his neighbors make together every year. He grows the grapes. Others grow different fruits. They bring it all together, ferment it, share it.

We ditched the rest of the wine tour and spent the afternoon there instead, listening to stories, tasting things we didn’t expect, laughing, feeling like we’d stumbled into something special we never could have planned. The pictures at the end of this post are from that very day (and even includes one of us with John!)

That afternoon stayed with us.

On the way back, we started talking; not just about how strange the tour had been, but about what wine experiences could be. How different the day felt when it was grounded in story, generosity, and surprise. How much Temecula had to offer that most people never see. How wine didn’t feel intimidating in that kitchen…for the first time for us, it felt alive.

We joked at first about starting our own wine tour. Then, like most things we can’t do halfway, the joke turned into real conversations. What would it look like to do this well? What would it look like to center people instead of efficiency? What would it look like to create something locals actually wanted, not just something designed for quick, forgettable weekends?

That’s when UnWined began to take shape.

We noticed there wasn’t much space in wine tour culture for people who didn’t already feel like they belonged. There also wasn’t much room for nuance, for honoring the traditions of viticulture while allowing culture to evolve. We didn’t want to strip wine of its history or meaning. We wanted to translate it. To hold what’s sacred about it while making space for new kinds of community to form around it.

Temecula is full of people like us, transplants from nearby cities who moved here for family, for pace, for possibility. Many of us are winery members. Many of us love the region but haven’t had a chance to explore it deeply or intentionally. We wanted UnWined to be a way for locals to rediscover where they live, and for visitors to experience Temecula as more than a checklist.

So instead of a shuttle, we found a bus that we could turn into what felt like your lowkey bougie friend’s living room (see her “before” picture below). We renovated it. We learned a lot the hard way. We built something slower, more thoughtful, and more human than the tours we’d experienced before. Along the way, Anisas and Tiffany— the friends that had been visiting from Arizona turned partners who believed in the vision from the beginning—helped us get it off the ground.

UnWined exists to curate the kind of moments you can’t schedule but always remember. The unexpected conversations. The off-the-beaten-path places. The feeling of being guided without being rushed, welcomed without being judged, and invited into a culture without needing to perform for it.

We’re not here to tell you how to drink wine (unless you want us to). We’re here to help you experience it—fully, comfortably, and in good company.

Reflection:
When was the last time you stumbled into an experience that stayed with you longer than you expected?