In 2009, Tom Plant was a residential real estate salesperson working in the Wildomar office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. The son of a San Francisco hotelier, he had grown up around wine, but never dreamed of pursuing a career in the field.
After a weekend visit to Paso Robles, his friend Denny opened his eyes to new possibilities. “Wine is clearly your passion,” said Denny. “You need to figure it out!” Having experience both as a blogger and a photographer, Plant put his career in real estate in the rear view mirror and set his sets on wine.
He decided there were enough people doing wine reviews and believed there were stories to tell about people in the wine industry. He came up with the name WINEormous, launched www.wineormous.com, and set out to meet as many winemakers and winery owners in Temecula he could. He began to tell their tales.
Later that year, he was invited to a luncheon at Thornton Winery with a group from the International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association and joined the organization then and there. He now sits on their Board of Directors.
Although still based in the Temecula Valley, Plant travels extensively and this year alone has visited both Rioja, Spain and Sardinia, Italy as well as Lodi, Napa, Paso Robles, Santa Ynez and Carmel Valley.
He felt offering winery tours simply made good sense and has been taking guests on tours of Temecula wineries since 2010. “Tom was very helpful and knowledgeable and he was well respected by the wineries we visited… Thanks Tom for a great time.” “ I highly recommend this tour if you are visiting Temecula and looking for a good wine tour to venture on! I will definitely book this tour when I return to Temecula!” Those are just a few comments from guests who have taken his winery tour.
Packages start at $99 per person for a tour of four wineries. He’ll also pack a picnic lunch for you for a nominal fee. Email tom@wineormous.com or call him at 951 907-9701 to book your tour.