Kirk Whalum & Andrea Lisa with Rebecca Jade - Champagne Jazz at Thornton Winery

Somewhere in your phone is a playlist you reach for when the week finally lets go of your shoulders, and Kirk Whalum's tenor is probably on it whether you know his name or not. That is his saxophone on Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' -- the one solo that made a generation cry at weddings. On the first Saturday of August he brings that gospel-warm sound to Thornton's outdoor terrace, with Andrea Lisa and vocalist Rebecca Jade beside him and the Temecula vineyard rows going gold behind the stage. The winery pours the sparkling wine it makes on-site by the same method as Champagne, which is the whole reason the series carries that name. Come early for the dinner service, stay for the last light over the vines. This is a Saturday you drive twenty minutes for and remember for a year.