Belle Marie Winery

We had family and friends visiting from New York and staying in Escondido so we took them to Belle Marie without having been before. We couldn’t have asked for a more hospitable visit. Nick and Rosie even gave us a private tour of the facilities. We continued our wine tasting in Temecula, and while the vineyards there are very scenic, the hospitality of Belle Marie could not be matched. The beautiful and fragrant orange trees that lined the entrance were an added bonus to our visit.

Just happened to drive past this and decided to stop by. Very cool location! The day was sort of overcast and gray, but I’d love to come back when it’s sunny. Looks like it would be the perfect place for a picnic and a bottle of wine.
We tried 6 wines each, and enjoyed many of them. My favorites were the Barbera and the Barolo. I’m not a big drinker of white wines, but did try both the viognier and chardonnay and liked them both. They were sort of light, buttery, and smooth.

Wine never disappoints. Great wine maker and ambiance. We joined their wine club and always look forward to pick up time

My friend and I really liked it here.
The lady who helped us was very friendly and the wine was very good.
I bought a lovely Pinot Noir.
Give it a try.

Why should you go to Belle Marie? 3 reasons: 1) great wines, definitely the best in Escondido, maybe San Diego, 2) the winemakers and staff: Mary, Jeff, Rosie, and Nick, and the guest winemakers, Jeff, Denise, and Karen, and 3) the convenience, it’s right off of I-​15. We have been members for 2 years now and have never regretted it!

Went in for information about our wedding and also to have a glass of wine. Stood at the counter for a while and the no one helped us, yet two men walked in and they were helped as soon as they came to the counter. BAD Service, not even a hello.

My husband and I stopped by after driving by a hundred times, we were so pleasantly surprised! The grounds are so pretty it’s worth buying a bottle and eating a picnic lunch there. We were greeted by nice people and loved the wines so much we became members :)
Worth a shot to stop by, small local winery, very fair prices and yummy wines!

A great local spot if you just want to stop in for a glass or… five.

Love this place it’s really great to just enjoy awesome people and great wine. They also let you bring the dog

Great place, awesome service. The staff is really friendly and since I had never been wine tasting before, they gave me good tips.

Went here on a Sunday and they had a fundraiser going on. Nice to see their going good things for our society! The castle and garden are beautiful. We had gone to a familiar winery before (just miles away) and Belle Marie Winery definitely had a much better variety and tastings of the wine! The gentleman and lovely woman working behind the counter were so welcoming and so nice! She even gave us a tour of an underground wine-​cave which is great for private parties. I added a picture so you can check it out =) There is also a great deal on Unilocal for 2 tastings for $ 10 which we used – great deal!

Saw this winery off the side of the freeway, so we stopped in on the way home last weekend.
The décor inside was cold and castle like. The people inside were nice, but it just wasn’t overly welcoming.
BF and I each did a tasting. I think we had 5 wines each? There was one red that we both loved, Late Harvest Primitivo, but other than that, we didn’t think any of the other wines were that great. I mean, they weren’t terrible, but we have had better.
It was a nice place to stop on the way home, but not one of my favorites.

When you’re in town from San Francisco (and regularly cruise up to Napa or Sonoma for wine) you’re not exactly EXPECTING to wine taste in North County. Yeah, not at all. But my in-​laws have certainly experienced the best of Napa and Santa Barbara, so I trust them when they say they found something worth checking out.
In fact, of all the little wineries I found around the area, this was the only one they felt was noteworthy. Upon arriving we were greeted right away and found the staff to be quite friendly. The grounds are a bit on the cheesy side in comparison to the older more established vineyards (the castle reminds me more of a family fun center than a winery) but they make up for it in personality. Mr Dragoo (yes really) is quite entertaining and provided us with a special pre-​release glass that was quite impressive. Too bad it’s not for sale just yet… guess i’ll have to go back.
Grapes hail from the Valle de Guadalupe and there are two labels: Belle Marie and Château Dragoo. The Dragoo appeared to be more of the favorite amoung the fam, probably because the Belle Marie is more of that new style with the malolactic fermentation. The Super Tuscan is our parents’ favs, and we enjoyed that one as well. My husband also enjoyed the Malbec and I grabbed the vintage port for a cold day! Off the tasting menu was the Montage which was probably the crowd favorite.
I found the wine prices a bit high for what they were, but for a $ 5 tasting and free glass it’s a great way to spend an afternoon.
Just beware that Mrs. Dragoo is an excellent salesperson. She talked us into buying a third bottle to waive the tasting fee (aka, I bought another $ 26 bottle to save $ 5…what a clever marketing genius!) ;)
Bonus: Dog-Friendly…Appeared to be dog friendly as there was a boxer in the tasting room.