Monday, March 3, 2008

This year the Baja California wine region is especially beautiful and enchanting, with green pastures and many high quality wines from current and past vintages. Of course, it may be somewhat muddy on the back roads this time of year, but it makes exploring this region so much more of an “off road” adventure.  Wine tasting in Guadalupe Valley is like prospecting for gold – sometimes you really have to dig into remote locations, but you are likely to find hidden treasures!

Most visitors travel from San Diego, Tijuana and Rosarito Beach via Scenic (toll) Highway One, along the beautiful coast from Playas de Tijuana towards Ensenada. The Mexican wine country is located some seventy miles south of the border, about a two hour drive from San Diego.

There is an alternative route winding thru the back country of San Diego on Highway 94, and then south through Tecate on Tecate-Ensenada Highway 3. But most travelers use the coastal toll road (Highway 1) where, before reaching Ensenada, you’ll come to the third toll station at Playa San Miguel. As you pay your toll and continue south for about 1.5 miles, look for a sign reading Tecate Highway 3 or (Wine Route) Ruta del Vino. Exit onto Highway 3 and drive eastbound up and over the foothills for seven miles, until you drop down into the wine country at San Antonio de las Minas.  I suggest that you don’t drive this route at night nor when even mildly intoxicated, as it is a narrow, winding one lane road often occupied by slow moving trucks.

Here in San Antonio de las Minas the wine country begins, and it extends along Highway 3 for about fourteen miles. Scatted about the valley and foothills are some twenty wineries, several restaurants with great food, specialty shops, and lodging.

At this point I’m going to share with readers my favorite and most popular day tour to the wine country. Some of the wineries are “user friendly,” while others don’t focus on tasting room sales or hospitality. Some of the wineries sell out their inventory each season, market their wines to commercial distributors and could care less if you visit their wineries or sample their wine.  I’m going to save you time and frustration by sending you to my friends – who love sharing their wines and hospitality.

So, let’s start in the metropolitan city of San Antonio de las Minas, at Km 94.5. As you approach this village from the coast, on Highway 3, don't blink or you’ll miss the town! Keep your eyes on the shoulder of the road and watch for mile markers (kilometer) as this will aid you in your search for those “bottled treasures of delight.”  As well, key elements of the valley are the wonderful people in the wine industry.

Look to the right side as you enter the town and you’ll see two large beer signs: Tecate Beer and Corona. You’ll turn right here onto the only paved road in town. But note that just before the signs, on the right side, there are three businesses of interest: Leonardo’s Pie Shop, where you’ll need a chain saw to cut into their eight-inch thick homemade pies; Mi Nana Restaurant; and Los Globos Creamery – where you’ll find a nice selection of local cheeses.

Turn right onto Juarez Avenue (only paved street) and drive to the third stop sign, where you’ll see a sign reading: La Hacienda Restaurant. If you’re hungry at this point, turn left onto a rough dirt road and drive about 500 yards to this amazing destination – you’ll be surprised!

Here you’ll find outdoor dining, in the midst of a retail plant nursery, with a nice selection of fresh seafood, traditional Mexican cuisine offered with good service, and a reasonable price. If you’re not ready to eat, keep going straight on the paved road to the fifth stop sign, turn left onto the dirt road and continue about 500 yards to the only stop sign. Turn right and go about 100 yards to the entrance of Vinisterra winery. It is open only on Saturdays, from 11 am to 4 pm, and on Sundays from 11 am to 3 pm.

Abelardo Rodriquez and his wife Patty host the Vinisterra tasting room – providing warm hospitality and excellent samples of wine. Their newly released Macouzet 2005 Tempranillo is an outstanding wine, aged 40 percent in new American oak with almost two years bottle aging. Dark ruby in color and with aromas of black cherry, vanilla and a hint of oak, it has flavors of black stone fruit mix with good mid-mouth mild tannins, and good acidity with a balanced finish.  A nice quality wine at a reasonable price of less than $30.00 per bottle.

As well, try their Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend if you want to enjoy samples of high quality Mexican wine, or let your palates explore their new Vinisterra premium wine, Tempranillo 40% and Grenache 60%. Their winemaker, Christoph E. Gartner, is one of Baja California’s better winemakers and he is bringing the standards of their wines to supreme levels. 

Life after Vinisterra winery should bring you back to Highway 3. Turn right and drive towards Tecate for about one mile and look for La Casa Vieja on your left, near Km 93.5.

This new addition to the Baja California wine culture is a cozy and remarkable business, hosted by an American/Mexican family with deep roots in this valley. They are fun, entertaining, speak English and are “user friendly.”

This historical adobe home, olive orchard and ranch was established in the 1850’s. Today, their relaxing and tranquil ranch features a wine bar, information center, art gallery, handmade crafts, picnic area, restrooms and old vine wines. In addition, several regional wines are offered by the glass or bottle. The atmosphere is a country setting where individuals and families can relax and enjoy the natural surroundings with friendly and hospitable hosts.

According to the owners, Humberto and Colleen Toscano, “we wanted to create an environment where guests can feel at home, relax, walk around the ranch, vineyard and orchard, reunite with family, friends, nature, and enjoy the country life in San Antonio de las Minas.”

La Casa Vieja is open daily from 9 am until sunset, and closed on Mondays. This ranch is a wonderful spot to taste wine, enjoy a culinary delight from the deli, browse through the gallery or simply relax in an intimate and rural setting among a group of friendly local folks.

If by chance you leave La Casa Vieja, drive onto Highway 3 (left) towards Tecate and go about 1/2 mile to Vina de Liceaga winery. You can’t miss the bright yellow building on the right. Generally they’re open daily from 10-5, and they are known for their Reserva Merlot. In addition, they have a wonderful Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Grappa. Tasting fees here are $5.00 a person.

Vina de Liceaga has been producing award-winning wines for several years. In fact, in 2002 this winery was selected as the Best of Nation (Mexico) by the “world’s biggest wine competition at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. Numerous other awards include: gold medals from Brussels, Austria and Mexico; and silver medals from San Francisco, Israel, Los Angeles, Orange County and Mexico City.  Their Gran Reserva Merlot has been the focus of much attention and appreciation from global wine enthusiasts. This marvelous 2004 Merlot is a blend of ninety percent Merlot and ten percent Cabernet Franc. 

Today lucky guests can expose their wine-loving palates to a nice Merlot Reserva, or a Vino Tinto Castillo de las Minas, which is a pleasant blend of Merlot and Grenache. Liceaga’s wonderful Castillo de las Minas Chenin Blanc 2005 is a dry table wine made with grapes from Valle de las Palmas. It has intense tropical fruity aromas of peach, pear, guava, apple, jasmine and citrus fruit. In addition to indulging in superior wine, guests are offered the rare opportunity to taste Liceaga’s amazing selection of Grappa called Aqua de Vid. Viña de Liceaga is the only winery in Mexico to make and sell Grappa commercially. Grappa is a colorless distilled spirit from black grape pomage fermented and gently pressed from several wine varieties. 

Now, if you’re ready for lunch or want to venture further into the wine country, turn right back onto the Highway and head towards Tecate. Just about 100 yards on your left is Mustafa’s Moroccan Restaurant.

This is one of my favorite spots, however I am not sure if I love the food as much as I admire his beautiful daughter – at any rate it’s all very good!  You might never make it to Casa Blanca in Morocco, but you do have the opportunity to experience fine Moroccan food right here in Guadalupe Valley. Mustafa’s is open every day of the week from 8 am to 6 pm.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are available from a menu offering selections of Moroccan and Mexican dishes. Try the yummy Borrego Estilo Marruecos and Pollo Mustafa. Borrego Estilo Marruecos is oven baked lamb, vegetables, fried mushroom sauce, honey, almonds and local raisins. Pollo Mustafa is delicious breaded breast of chicken, filled with spinach and cheese, topped with fresh mushroom sauce and served with mashed potatoes. Mustafa’s artisan house white wine compliments the chicken, and his organic red wine blend pairs with the lamb.

One awesome and unique artisan winery is called Three Women Winery, a bit of a challenge to find but well worth the effort. As you head towards Tecate look for Km 88, a cell phone tower on the right and continue around the curve in the road for about one mile near Km 87, there you’ll see a blue sign reading: Ruta de Vino. Just past the sign, you’ll see two rock columns at an entrance to a dirt road. Follow the road towards the foothills for about 1/2 mile (it is NOT the winery on the hill to the right as you enter) and follow the hand-painted tile signs.

Three women, Ivette Vaillard, Eva Cotero Actanirano and Laura Mac Gregor Garcia, have teamed up in a cooperative manner to create three interesting and unique styles of winemaking.  These wine artisans pool their energy, talent and vision into perfecting the art of handmade wines. This communal effort has built a dedicated family of friends and visitors who seem to embrace the idea of “cooperation can achieve anything.”

Quite often visitors and wine drinkers to this winery are touched by “the spirit of it all,” and find themselves jumping into action. Total strangers who happen along have been known to help with harvesting, bottling, moving barrels, cracking walnuts, gathering fresh eggs or whatever else seems to be happening at the time.  Three Women and their friends are a prime example of people working together in harmony and having fun, while improving the quality of life for all involved. 

In addition to making wine, Ivette Vaillard is a skilled and talented ceramic tile artist. She creates individual tiles and designs unique custom tile work for stairways, walls, bathrooms, murals, walkways and more.  Her ceramic tile work can be found in galleries and homes from Ensenada to San Diego. She began her courses on ceramics in 1985 at UCSD, studying with French artist Irene de Waterville, and continuing art classes at the Rhode Island School of Design. Hand-painted tiles have been her major interest since 1989, allowing her to develop a variety of Mediterranean, surrealistic and medieval designs, and more recently focusing on the flora and fauna of Mexico’s premier wine producing region of Guadalupe Valley.

Now get ready to drive (turn right onto Highway 3 from Three Women) about ten miles towards Tecate to the end of Valle de Guadalupe. You’ll drive over a bridge (dry riverbed) and past the village of Francisco Zarco, and continue along Highway 3 for five miles.

Near Km 73.5 you’ll see a large billboard reading L.A. Cetto winery. Turn right and follow this well-maintained dirt road for two miles.

Seventy-eight years of hard work and dedication by the Cetto family and Camillo Magoni (forty years) have resulted in over a hundred awards for quality and excellence in both regional and international markets. L.A. Cetto makes an outstanding Petite Sarah, which has received eight gold medals and many other awards throughout the world.  Their Cabernet Sauvignon has won nearly twenty international awards; Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve gained thirteen awards; and Zinfandel six awards.

They also produce an award-winning classic Bordeaux style red wine, Terra, blended with 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 10% Malbec and 10% Petite Verdot. This wine is from their Don Luis Cetto line of premium wines, made from very select grapes grown with the highest possible standards and daily management.

L.A. Cetto is the largest producer of Nebbiolo wines in the world outside of Italy. The red Nebbiolo grape is often found in Piedmont, Italy, and is known to produce some of the finest Italian wines such as Barolo and Barbaresco.  L.A. Cetto’s Nebbiolo has won twenty-one international medals, including a recent gold medal from the Winemakers Association of France and their trophy for “the best red wine of the year.”  This private reserve wine is aged in French oak for 14 months and bottle aged two years, with an alcohol content of 13-14%. It has an intense ruby red color with flashes of garnet, concentrated red and black fruits with undertones of prune, vanilla, spices and wood, mature tannins, velvety, dry and well rounded.

This wonderful Baja California wine compliments red meat dishes, tomato sauce based entries and strong cheeses, and it is a “Baja Best Value Wine” with a retail price of about $15. This Nebbiolo is probably the best value for any red wine in Mexico – an absolute steal! Wine tasting here is FREE, they make over twenty different wines, tequila, and excellent olive oil at $6 a liter or $25 per gallon.

As you leave the parking lot of L.A. Cetto, turn left on the dirt road and drive about 500 yards to Doña Lupe Organic winery and bakery. This is a very popular destination and you’re always greeted with “first class hospitality” by a friendly staff, including their bilingual parrot, Baby. Doña Lupe greets all of her guests with an open heart and open arms. She puts loving and creative energy into all her natural and organic  jams, jellies, salsas, cookies, pies and wines.  She planted the vineyard herself over thirty years ago, and has practiced organic and natural farming for several years. Her end of the valley still has some of the purest water in the region, and combined with rich riverbed soil her vineyard produces high quality organic grapes.  

Doña Lupe’s son, Daniel Yi, creates some unique and interesting wines.  He lets the grapes hang longer than most others vintners in the region and benefits from the extra natural sugars in the grape.  His wines are pure, organic and fantastic!  Try his Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Grenache, Merlot and others.

Don’t miss this beautiful boutique winery. Doña Lupe’s daughter, Shirley, is baking some amazing pastries, as well as expanding the organic food selection and gift shop. Open daily from 9 am to 5 pm.

Hopefully at this point in your day you are safe and sober. If you need or want to spend the night, I suggest Hotel El Mezon del Vino.

From L.A. Cetto winery drive back on Highway 3 towards Ensenada and watch for mile maker Km 88 (near a sharp curve) and a sign reading El Porvenir. Turn right and follow the dirt road for 1/2 mile, take the first left and the hotel is there for about $60 night. It’s nice, cozy, clean and always an adventure. And Benny, the owner, makes good wine.

This is a wonderful day trip that I’ve developed over the last five years. It’s simple and to the point: “I want wine and I want it now!”

But it can really take several days to explore the unspoiled region, get to know the people and experience the many high quality wines. I’ve exposed you to several wineries, ranging from the largest in Latin America (L.A. Cetto) to some amazing and intimate artisan winemakers. This is a well-rounded tour that offers visitors the opportunity to discover why so many wine lovers from around the world are excited about the emerging Mexican wine industry and the area.

Have fun, be safe and drive carefully.

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Steve Dryden, a MexiData.info guest columnist, writes about wine, food, travel, Native Peoples, and history.  He lives in the Guadalupe Valley of Baja California, Mexico.