TEMECULA, Calif., Nov. 17, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Keyways Vineyard & Winery and Ponte Family Estate Winery are helping to brighten up everyone's holidays.
Starting Nov. 29 the wineries will host the Temeculights Holiday Festival, a spectacular month-long celebration that includes more than 200,000 LED (light emitting diode) lights that stretch over rooftops and vineyards and provide more than 14 miles of low-wattage visual excitement.
Open every evening from 6 to 9 p.m., Keyways Winery will host a Cowboy Christmas with hay rides through the vineyards, shopping, music, dessert, coffee, cocoa, Christmas card crafts for the kids and Keyways award-winning wine.
Ponte Winery will be open for the event every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 6 to 9 p.m. including the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas Eve. It will offer hay rides through the vineyards, a buffet dinner at the Smokehouse Restaurant, holiday music, wine tasting, holiday shopping, hot cider, coffee, cocoa and complimentary cookie decorating for the kids. The dinner buffet will be available all night and is $15 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under, children 3 and under are free.
Hay rides at both wineries are $10 per person and $5 for children 12 and under. Lap riders are free. Families get 10 percent off hay rides on Fridays, seniors get 10 percent off hay rides on Sundays and all adults get 25 percent off hay ride tickets at the second winery if you visit both wineries and present a receipt.
Both wineries hope all of Wine Country will embrace Temeculights in the years to come as an eco-friendly holiday event that promotes awareness about alternative lighting methods.
To make Temeculights possible, Keyways and Ponte have partnered with The Green Lights Project, an Arizona-based firm that put on Red Rock Fantasy, a two-month-long, nationally recognized holiday festival of lights that attracted more than 250,000 people each year to Sedona.
Keyways Vineyard & Winery sits on about 13 acres at the confluence of the 2,000-acre Valle de los Caballos -- Valley of the Horses -- and the southern tier of Temecula's Wine Country at 37338 DePortola Road. From the 15 freeway, head out Highway 79 South/Temecula Parkway toward Indio, turn left on Anza Road and right on DePortola Road for about 2 miles. The tasting room is open daily 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. during December. For more information call (951) 302-7888 or go to www.KeywaysWine.com
Ponte Winery is located at 35053 Rancho California Road and is open for tastings daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Restaurant service is offered daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and for brunch on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with lunch from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information call (951) 694-8855 or go to www.pontewinery.com
Editor's note: High- and low-resolution photos of the lighted vineyards are available.