The trip

Valle de Guadalupe is a wine producing area in Baja California. There are 150 wineries there. Forbes magazine calls it the Napa valley of Mexico.  It was an easy drive from Tijuana on scenic roads by the ocean. We stopped in Ensenada. It has dramatically changed since the last time I (Al) was there 55 years ago. We had a great seafood meal (ceviche, grilled yellowtail, and clams) on the malecon at a small restaurant called Muelle 3. There are many hotels to stay at in the wine region so we picked one before we left. The Boutique hotel was very nice, even if it’s a bit rough around the edges and still a work in progress. It has a good location and its restaurant Fuego is pretty good, too. The pictures show the swimming pool, stables and restaurant. It was a very cold night so they had fire pits and heaters going full blast. We struck a conversation with 3 young people at the next table. They were from Paradise and their homes were destroyed by fire so they were driving down to Cabo to stay in a friend’s house. The next morning we decided to walk around – first we wandered into a small wine-producing ranch called Finca de Monasterio – very charming, but empty because all the wineries here open after 11 am. Then we came across a bunch of brand new cabins in the hills, and the owner of this new hotel Valentino showed us around the property. She is originally from Guadalajara, but now lives in San Diego. Like many wealthy Mexicans, she decided to invest in this region. We were a bit surprised to find out that many vineyard owner live in Tijuana.

We hired a driver with a van for a wine tour, which we started at noon. He took us to 7 wineries (la Reina,  Magona, Sol y Barro, Vina de Frannes, Adobe Guadalupe (which we left without tasting because they were rude), Nubles and Cielo). Several were luxurious complexes of wine tasting, restaurant, and wine producing.  There are vineyards everywhere. We sampled a lot of wine, bought several bottles and ended the day at a first class restaurant. Overall, it’s a charming and interesting area. It only has 2 main paved road, and the rest is a network of small dirt roads with wineries sprinkled all over the area. The wineries vary from small and intimate, like Sol y Barro or Monasterio to big, fabulously designed complexes that can host hundreds if not thousands (like La Reina). There is obviously lots and lots of money invested here. We were really surprised by the stunning modern architecture, landscape design, sophisticated restaurants and food and general attention to detail on one hand, and the resolve to keep this area pretty rural, informal and low key. Granted that this is low season, but in most wineries we were the only customers. They told us their high season is in August, especially during the wine festival, and  during the food festival in October.