Baja Winery Trip

On the last day of May, we decided to celebrate Tom's first day of retirement with a trip south of the border. We arrived at Balboa Park at 7:30-am, and boarded our bus to the Baja wineries located in the Guadalupe Valley 20 miles east of Ensenada. Our adventure was sponsored by the San Diego Natural History Museum under the guidance of Maria Mitrano, owner of Andiamo Tours, and her daughter Esther.

The border crossing is always easy going into Mexico, and soon we were on the toll highway skirting the Pacific. We had been on two previous trips to Ensenada, and the weather for both was dreary and overcast. But not this time—we were treated to clear blue, cloudless skies over the rolling surf—and fantastic views of the coastline—and some surrealistic views if you count the multi-colored, bizarrely-shaped Mexican hotels, condos and villas.

Along the highway we passed a towering statue of Jesus, the Fox Studios where Titanic and Master and Commander were filmed, and the Tuna pens where the fish are fattened up before being flown to Japan where they fetch a huge price as a prized delicacy.

After making a pit stop just north of Ensenada, we turned east on the winding road and drove past the tiny village of San Antonio de Las Minas, where we had been introduced two years ago to the wonders of Barbecoa—lamb cooked in the ground for 24 hours—and a lecture on the history and production of Tequila, accompanied by many tastings.

But today's trip was all about Baja's burgeoning wine industry, as we focused on three wineries. The first stop was the small, family owned and operated Liceaga Winery. We received a brief tour of the operations before adjourning to the marble-floored tasting room. It was only 10:30-am but we enjoyed five fine tastings, topped off by a tiny, but powerful portion of their Grappa, a liqueur designed to promote paralysis. We purchased a bottle of the 2006 Castillo de Las Minas, a blend of Grenache and Merlot. Our early-morning buzz had begun.

Barón Balch'é, the second winery on our tour was slightly larger in terms of acreage and production. The vintner, Jesus Salgado, led us on the tour down into the cool, dark cellars, repeatedly stressing that he was committed to quality, not quantity. His wines ranged in price from $12 to over $200. Here's a sample of his passion for his product:

The Mission of the Barón Balché Vineyard is to produce the best wines in Mexico for the discriminating palate. Each year our wines attain better quality. The Barón Balché vineyard utilizes 21 stainless steel tanks and each year we bring in 360 new barrels of French Oak and 40 American Oak for the wine production. The Barón Balché winery produces 120,000 bottles of quality wine per year.

The small tasting room featured a long table with the wines placed in a line along the center. Jesus described each wine we tasted, while young men filled our wine glasses and Maria and her son Alejandro provided bread to cleanse our palates between tastings. We were particularly impressed by a blend of Grenache and Cabernet—very smooth and mellow. We made our way upstairs and purchased a bottle, our second of the day.

We sat under a huge grape arbor and enjoyed a fine lunch of paella accompanied by very tasty sliced tomatoes marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Worcester sauce and salt & pepper. Dessert was a cake called Trés Leche, very moist and simply muy delicioso.

Full of wine and fine food, we still had one more tasting scheduled at the massive, totally commercial L.A. Cetto Vineyards. Gilberto guided the group around the huge facilities, dominated by four enormous silos.

We trekked around the pressing buildings and entered one of four aging rooms. This room alone housed over 1500 French oak barrels. Once matured, the wine is trucked to Tijuana for bottling. It's easy to see why L. A. Cetto is Mexico's largest winery. Each couple can bring across a maximum of three bottles of wine at the border, so we purchased our third—a Reserve Chardonnay.

Unfortunately, the tasting room was completely out of olive oil, and some of our fellow travelers registered their complaint. Our tour guide Maria, a resident of Ensenada, knew exactly where Cetto's retail outlet was located, so we left the Guadalupe Valley and headed west toward the coast. Many on the bus took this 30 minute detour as an opportunity to take a wine-aided nap.

The return trip to the border was quiet and uneventful, except for a stop in Tijuana to view a 60-foot high nude statue attached to the front of a dilapidated apartment building. Esther knew the sculptor and described him as kind and sensitive, but one couldn't help wondering, "What the hell was he thinking?"

Our tour bus used a special express lane at the border which allowed us to exit the bus, go through customs (they were surprisingly pleasant this time), declare our wine purchases, and re-board the bus in less than ten minutes.

Near National City, we saw a van which had overturned in the fast lane less than a minute before we arrived. As we continued on Highway 5 toward San Diego, we saw lots of emergency vehicles and police cars speeding to the crash site.

We returned to Balboa Park a little after 8:00-pm. ending a long but enjoyable day in Baja.

Click here to view all photos…