So sad, the annual harvest festival in Mexico's Valle de Guadalupe had to be canceled this year. The culprit, of course, was Covid.
Otherwise, this wine district just outside Ensenada in Baja California would have been bustling with tastings, lunches, dinners, concerts, a paella contest and much more, from July 30 to August 23.
The annual festival, known as Fiestas de la Vendimia, was a great time to explore what is still a little known wine region. When I wrote about it for The Los Angeles Times in 1993, there were just six wineries, two of them in Ensenada. Now there are more than 200, accounting for 85% of the wine produced in Mexico.
The two wineries in Ensenada then were Bodegas de Santo Tomás, which is the oldest winery still producing, and Cavas Valmar, now relocated to the Guadalupe Valley. Pioneers in the valley were Monte Xanic, Casa Pedro Domecq, Bodegas San Antonio and L.A. Cetto. Cetto's large facility houses the wine shop above.
It was such fun to roam around during vendimia, meeting winemakers and chefs and joining other wine enthusiasts for al fresco lunches and dinners.
This was the ideal time to stock up on local cheeses and artisanal products such as nopal preserves, honey and olive oil.
You probably know the famous drinking song "Brindisi" from the opera "La Traviata." When I hear it now, I don't think of an opera stage but of Monte Xanic, where a highlight of the annual vendimia concert was a rousing performance of this duet by opera singers from Mexico. I still wave my glass to and fro as I did sitting under the stars, surrounded by dark hills and looking off toward scattered lights in the valley.
I couldn't do that this year. But I can still drink plenty of Baja wine and at least dream of the beautiful places where I used to enjoy it, including the restaurant Corazón de Tierra, above.
On my trips I could only bring one bottle home, and it was difficult to find Baja wines in Los Angeles. But now I can have all I want, delivered right to my door.
This is possible through La Mision Associates in San Diego, California, which imports and distributes more than 150 Baja wines. La Mision is owned by Yolanda Martain, daughter of Fernando Martain, who founded Cavas Valmar in 1983.
I couldn't have waded through La Mision's mind-boggling list without help from Stacie Hunt (above), sommelier and all around wine expert whose Baja knowledge runs deep.
Stacie recently gave an hour-long webinar on the Valle de Guadalupe for the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Assocation. She packed every minute with up-to-date information, so I learned that the incidence of Covid is low in the valley, and access is limited to keep it that way. Meanwhile, the virus is active in nearby Ensenada and Tijuana.
I sent Stacie a list of 16 wines, which she whittled down to 10, eliminating some of my choices and adding others that she thought I should try. I wound up with 11 bottles, because I wanted two of the 2017 Tempranillos from Cavas Valmar, above.
Tempranillo does well in Baja, and I ordered another from Vena Cava, a winery constructed from salvaged boat parts (above).
Vena Cava winemaker Phil Gregory (above) and his wife Eileen also have a boutique hotel, La Villa del Valle, a beautiful place where I've been for tastings.
One of the two white wines I bought was the 2019 Sauvignon Blanc from Viñedos Mina Penélope. This winery was founded in 2014 by Veronica Santiago, who is the winemaker, and her husband, Nathaniel Malagón. Malva, an outdoor restaurant in their vineyard, specializes in local ingredients grilled over oak or cooked in a wood-fired oven.
The other white was the 2018 Duquesa, a blend from Viñedos de la Reina. The grapes for this wine were grown in the Valle de San Vicente, another vineyard site in the region, but the label doesn't say what they are.
Here are the two white wines along with the 2019 Grenache Rosé from Vena Cava.
Nebbiolo has a long history in the Guadalupe Valley, and Stacie suggested trying the Trasiego Nebbiolo 2016. Camillo Magoni, who made this wine, left Italy for Baja and has lived there for decades, renowned for his work in developing the area.
These four red wines from my new collection are blends.
The 2018 Canto de Luna from Finca La Carrodilla, shown here in the winery tasting room, blends Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Tempranillo.
The 2016 Dominó Tinto from Vinisterra combines Grenache, Tempranillo, Mourvedre and Syrah. There's a white Dominó too, composed of 82% Chenin Blanc and 18% Chardonnay and recommended for seafood. The winemaker at this beautiful place is Christoph Gaertner.
Emevé's Armonía de Tintos 2018 blends equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Shiraz. Emevé is the way the initials of the founder, Mario Villarreal, would be pronounced in Spanish. Above is the entrance to the tasting room on a hot day in 2009.
The remaining blend is the 2014 Valle de Tintos Tempranillo, which contains 22% Carignane (Carignan in Spanish). This young winery is located in El Sauzal, the first community on the highway leading from the Pacific coast into the Valle de Guadalupe.
The highway continues on to Tecate. It's a peaceful drive through vineyards, rock-strewn hills, a few roadside eating places, an occasional market, stands displaying local products and turn-offs to the wineries.
Beyond this entrance is the winery Las Nubes.
The winery building at Finca La Carrodilla (above) blends naturally into the landscape.
During my early trips to the valley, I was lucky to spend time with industry pioneers, among them Hugo d'Acosta, who started at Santo Tomás, then opened his own winery, Casa de Piedra.
In 2004, d'Acosta founded a school for winemakers at what had been an olive oil factory. Known locally as La Escuelita, its formal name is Estación de Oficios el Porvenir (above).
Another key person was Luis Agustín Cetto, whom I interviewed in his office at Cetto's location in Tijuana. Hans Backhoff, the oenologist instrumental in founding Monte Xanic in 1987, guided me through tastings there. After one late party inside the winery, I drove away through the valley in deep night, the only car on the road.
Traffic may be just as light now, because there are few tourists, but one day we'll all be back, tasting new wines, meeting new winemakers and celebrating the vendimia.
Despite the quarantine, it's still possible to visit the Valle de Guadalupe although options are limited. Stacie Hunt advises checking first to see if tasting rooms are open and if reservations are required. Restaurants are open by reservation and with outdoor seating only.
"Mexican wine is still very much a wild frontier of wine," she says. It's just a little wilder now, thanks to Covid.
The 1993 article that I wrote about the Valle de Guadalupe, titled "The Other California Wine Country," is available online through The Los Angeles Times. It has three parts, an overview of the wine region, profiles of the wineries and an article about local food with recipes from a cooking contest at Cavas Valmar and from Ensenada restaurants Punta Morro and El Rey Sol, which was the elite place to eat in those days and is still thriving after 73 years in business.
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