Monday, February 16, 2009

Plan Now for Baja California's 2009 'Fiestas de la Vendimia'

'Vino-Tourism' by Steve Dryden

·   Mexico's annual grape harvest and wine and food festivities in northwestern Baja California

The 2009 annual Fiestas de la Vendimia, Mexico's grape harvest and wine festivities in northwestern Baja California, will be held from August 7th through August 23rd. And, each year everyone seems to cry and scream “I couldn’t get tickets or find lodging in the valley.” Well folks, please stop “wine-ing” and plan today if you really want to enjoy another great summer celebration in Mexico’s premier wine country or other regional communities. Operators are standing by to reserve your tickets or put you on a waiting list at [52] 646-178-3038; fiestasvendimia@hotmail.com; or www.fiestasdelavendimia.com.

Remember, mañana may be too late for this fiesta – even in Mexico!

My favorite event is the Cofradia experience that takes place near the cruise ship terminal in Ensenada. This location looks like the Embarcadero or Seaport Village in San Diego, with the scenic Ensenada harbor and the mountains near Punta Banda as backdrops. The event is sponsored and hosted by La Cofradia, a dedicated group of food and wine lovers who formed an association 22 years ago to further enhance their knowledge of high quality wine and gourmet food.

Their annual “Noche de Cofradía en Ensenada” event pairs up wine from 30 area wineries with gourmet samples of culinary delights from 30 restaurants in the region, from Tijuana, Rosarito Beach, Ensenada and Tecate. Local chefs and winemakers meet before the event, pick partners during a random drawing, carefully sample food and wine, and then match their favorites for the event competition. This event allows you to sample Baja California’s premier wines and the best gourmet entrees from top culinary wizards in our region. They make enough samples for 600 to 1000 people.

During the event international judges pick the three best matches (food and wine), and also allow the public (People’s Choice) to pick their three favorite matches. This is a great event that shouldn’t be missed because it gives you an opportunity to discover Mexico’s best food and wine at one single event! The cost is usually about US$50.00.

Liceaga Winery presents awesome wine country picnic events each year at their winery in San Antonio de las Minas. This is a popular venue because of the tasteful lamb, live music and the abundance of Liceaga’s premier wines. Tickets are usually about US$60.00 at [52] 646-178-2922.

Rancho Malagon, in the village of Francisco Zarco, will host another dynamic event this year. Tickets are still available at http://www.vinedosmalagon.com/.

The Cetto family will present another “phenomenal” concert, dinner and more on Saturday, August 15th. For information and reservations call [52] 664-685-3031, or go to www.cettowines.com. Prior to that event, the renowned Mariachi Vargas with Carlos Culvar will entertain lucky guests at the valley winery on June 13th. Tickets are extremely limited for both events, so move fast to secure tickets attend these fun productions. I’ve had good luck getting tickets from the valley winery at valle@gpocetto.com.

There will be more than thirty diverse and interesting events to attend this year over a sixteen day period during August. Everyone has their favorite events and wineries, and if you’ve never attended before, now is a great time to plan. I suggest that you spend the night near the location of the event, if possible. Never drink, party and then attempt to drive out of the area!

For Ensenada events, I suggest lodging at Costa Baja Hotel, which is near the opening day festivities and the Cofradia.

Lodging in the valley fills up fast – in fact many venues are already booked during August. Some rooms are still available at Hotel Fatima, Hacienda Guadalupe Hotel, Rancho Malagon, and Adobe Guadalupe Vineyards/Inn, and at Costa Baja in Ensenada. Book your rooms now, or bring a tent. Actually, for those who love camping, you might consider the campground in San Antonio Necua, near the L.A. Cetto Winery. The native Kumiai (Kumeyaay) people offer camping for US$6.00 per night, with hot showers, BBQ's, water and picnic tables in a remote and peaceful ancient oak grove.

Once I receive the actual events schedule, pricing, times and dates for 2009, I’ll post that information in this column. Until then, remember that there are two kinds of guests for Fiestas de la Vendimia, “the quick and the left-out.”

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