Temecula Wine Country / About Wine, Food, and and Wine Country Living

Posted February 2006

The Tasting Room Sommelier

TEMECULA—Educating just about anyone who looks interested, George Myers has been the in-house sommelier for Falkner Winery for the last six years. As a professionally-trained wine taster, Myers is in the unique position of helping guests not only pick out hints of clove, currant or cinnamon in the Temecula tasting room wines, but also identifying the basic differences between, say, Cabernet and Pinot Noir. Falkner even gets down really basic questions like how to swirl--and when to spit—without condescension.

For tasters who may have had little interaction with the wine world—not to mention a sommelier—Myers’ approachability as both convivial tasting room staff and wine expert makes for a surprisingly uninhibited wine tasting experience. In Myers’ tasting room, just about any question is a good one.

That’s why winery owner, Ray Falkner, says Myers is such a unique asset: he’s wiling to explain wine in simple terms to both customers and employees. “He’s just an unpretentious individual…and that’s something unusual in the sommelier business,” Falkner says.

Myers, who has been a sommelier since 1988, works in the tasting room and as assistant winemaker at the winery.

If you go: In addition to his job in the tasting room, George teaches two classes, Introduction to Wine and Advanced Wine tasting at the winery each month. You can find out how to attend by calling 909-676-6741 or at the website: www.falknerwinery.com. Falkner Winery, 40620 Calle Contento, Temecula, 951.676.8231