Southern California

Southern California’s wine country hides in the gaps — Temecula’s granite benches, Malibu’s Santa Monica ridges, Ramona’s valley oaks, the back roads of Ojai. Marine layer rolls in most mornings and burns off by noon. The freeways fill up; the tasting rooms don’t. Most pour under umbrellas on patios built for dogs, with water bowls at the door and shade leashes at the rail. Dog beaches run from Coronado north to Leo Carrillo. You can taste syrah at 1,500 feet and walk a leash on sand by sunset. Plan the drive around the wind and the heat, and the coast does the rest.