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San Diego was California’s First Wine County
California’s multi-billion-dollar wine industry traces its roots to San Diego County. The Mission Fathers of Mission San Diego de Alcala (California’s first mission) began making wine in the 1700s near the mission, about 23 miles south of Orfila Vineyards.
Orfila Vineyards is a 70-acre estate that grows 40 acres of premium wine grapes in the San Pasqual Valley, located within a 10,000-acre agricultural preserve owned by the City of San Diego. The picturesque hillside estate is 15 miles from the Pacific Ocean, at an altitude of 500 feet. The cool ocean breezes and morning fog create classic wine-growing conditions.
Grapes have been grown and wine has been produced at the vineyard since 1973. The original San Pasqual Winery, the first winery on the property, was later purchased by Thomas Jaeger Winery.
Orfila Vineyards & Winery was established in 1994 when Proprietor Ambassador Alejandro Orfila purchased Thomas Jaeger. Leon Santoro, who joined Thomas Jaeger as the winemaker in 1991, agreed to stay on and continue to bring the vineyards into their full potential. At that time, the vineyard was full of Chardonnay grapes, planted in response to Chardonnay’s popularity -- not because they were an ideal expression of the terroir.
However, the question needed to be resolved as to what actually grows best on this land. For many years the vineyards underwent extensive experimentation and research to determine the answer.. Today, Orfila Vineyards features 40 acres of Syrah, Sangiovese, Viognier, Marsanne, Roussane and Merlot. Because of such attention to detail and appreciation of what this land grows well, Orfila Vineyards has astounded the wine industry with the quality of wines produced with San Diego County grapes. Winemaker, Don Reha maintains that dedication to our estate to ensure the vineyard will continue to produce wines of outstanding quality. To date, the winery has been awarded more than 1,300 medals in national and international wine competitions and favorably reviewed in many prestigious wine publications.
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