Mexico's Valley of Wine - Accommodations, Restaurants, Wineries, and More Information
 Mike Dunne - Sacramento Bee
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January 07, 2010
| | A boulder-strewn vineyard dominates the tasting-room view at Casa Pedro Domecq, a winery in Mexico's Valle de Guadalupe. (Mike Dunne/The Bee) | |
Accommodations
• Hacienda Guadalupe Hotel, perched on a rocky slope along the south side of the valley, provides the most expansive view of vineyards. $139 weekdays, $150 weekends. www.haciendaguadalupehotel.com.
• Adobe Guadalupe, with six posh rooms, is a secluded and romantic bed, breakfast and dinner inn complete with stables, a working winery and tasting room. $168 for room and breakfast for two, $70 additional per person for dinner. www.adobeguadalupe.com.
• La Villa del Valle, atop a small knoll in the middle of the valley, is a six-room bed-and-breakfast where the morning omelets are prepared with eggs from the resident chickens. $175 weekdays, $195 weekends, when a two-night minimum is requested. www.lavilladelvalle.com.
• Rancho Maria Teresa, nestled in an oasis of orange and palm trees on the valley floor, has two swimming pools, a family atmosphere, its own line of wines and one of the more popular restaurants in the area, Restaurante.
• Campestre Los Naranjos, where the pancake syrup is made from wine grapes. $80 to $180. www.ranchomariateresa.com.
• Vinedos Malagon, an isolated self-contained ranch up against the region's northern hills, includes four rooms, a central kitchen, a fire pit, a 36-inch plasma-screen TV, and access to a network of trails. This is the ideal party pad for a large family or small group of friends. $75 to $130 Sunday through Thursday, $100 to $150 weekends. www.vinedosmalagon.com.
Restaurants
• Restaurante Laja is Valle de Guadalupe's version of Napa Valley's The French Laundry, notable for the intricacy and artfulness of its modern, seasonal, locally inspired cuisine, fixed-price menus, and polished service. www.lajamexico.com.
• Tacos y Tortas del Valle is a simple, open-air, one-woman stall at the northern entrance to the settlement of Francisco Zarco, across the street from the Pemex gas station. This was our first mealtime stop in the valley, and I'm still kicking myself for not returning for another of its fat, rich and juicy beef tortas.
• La Cabana, tucked into the far reaches of a small but perpetually busy shopping plaza in the heart of Francisco Zarco, serves no beer or wine but draws a loyal clientele, in large part for its hamburgers, though we opted for the garlic-fried fish and the carne arrachera, both flavorful, fresh and large in portion.
Wineries
Given the largely casual attitude of vintners in Valle de Guadalupe, call ahead to make sure wineries you hope to visit are open. Most have someone on the tasting-room staff who speaks English. Tasting fees generally are in the $4 to $10 range.
We found the most extensive and consistent lineups of wines at these wineries:
• Adobe Guadalupe releases its wines as proprietary blends named after angels – the 2005 Miguel is a rich, fleshy and aromatic tempranillo tempered with grenache and cabernet sauvignon, while the 2006 Kerubiel is a hearty yet graceful mix of six Rhone Valley varieties. They also produce a smoky and bracing mezcal from Oaxaca, aptly named Lucifer. (646) 155-2094. www.adobeguadalupe.com.
• L.A. Cetto, one of the larger, more historic and more varied wineries in the valley, is recognized for such high-value releases as petite sirah, viognier and nebbiolo. (646) 155-2179 or (646) 155-2264. www.cettowines.com.
• Monte Xanic, overlooking a small lake that draws local fishers, is likely to be the only Valle de Guadalupe brand to be recognized in California, given that its wines are distributed in the United States. (646) 174-6155 or (646) 174-7055. www.montexanic.com.
• Vinedos Malagon, which occupies a ranch first farmed by Russian settlers more than a century ago, serves such elegant yet conservatively priced wines as their proprietary 2007 Equua Cosecha, a smooth and spicy grenache-based blend more refined and complex than its $20 price (in the U.S.) would suggest.
• Vinisterra, occupying a handsome red-brick building on the edge of a small vineyard populated with chickens, specializes in Mediterranean varieties like sangiovese and tempranillo, producing a series of wines that combine intensity with friendliness. (646) 178-3350 or (646) 178-3310. www.vinisterra.com.
Information please
• Ralph Amey's "Wines of Baja California" (Wine Appreciation Guild, 178 pages, $19.95), though dated by the addition of several wineries since its publication in 2003, nonetheless is comprehensive in its history of the development of vineyards and wineries in Valle de Guadalupe.
• Fiestas de la Vendimia, an annual wine festival in and about Valle de Guadalupe, occurs in August. Events typically include food-and-wine pairings, special tastings and concerts. Check out www.fiestasdelavendimia.com.
• Valle de Guadalupe resident wine writer Steve Dryden offers individual and small-group tours from San Diego and Ensenada that customarily include stops at four wineries and lunch. Price depends on the size of the group and the pick-up and drop-off location. |
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