By KATY MCLAUGHLIN
![[image]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OD-AS887_MEXWIN_OZ_20120809133105.jpg)
Luis Garcia for The Wall Street Journal
SOUTHERN COMFORTS | A view of vineyards at Adobe Guadalupe
WE WERE WATCHING the kids swim in his
backyard pool in Los Angeles when my friend Juan Carlos, who grew up in
Tijuana, began raving about a life-altering bowl of chicken soup he'd
recently eaten.
"It was at the Mexican version of the
French Laundry," he said. "You know—a fancy, farm-to-table place in the
middle of Mexican wine country."
I had no idea, I sheepishly admitted,
there was wine country in Mexico, nor anything resembling the French
Laundry. But Valle de Guadalupe is a Mediterranean microclimate in Baja
California where wine has been produced for more than a century, and
it's in the midst of the kind of winemaking and tourism renaissance that
Napa Valley experienced in the 1970s.
![[image]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OD-AS888_MEXWIN_DV_20120809132930.jpg)
Luis Garcia for The Wall Street Journal
Tuna sashimi at Almazara
A decade
ago, the area was mostly known in the wine scene for being home to L.A.
Cetto, a huge maker of mid-market wines—the Mexican version of E. &
J. Gallo. Today Valle de Guadalupe boasts scores of artisanal wineries;
the region's wine has improved and become trendy enough to be served in
fashionable Mexico City restaurants. Top chefs are opening eateries in
the area, and several stylish boutique hotels have been built in the
past few years.
It sounded irresistible, so a few
months later, I found myself caravanning, with Juan Carlos, his wife and
my husband in one car, another couple of friends in theirs, across the
Mexican border and south on the Tijuana-Ensenada Cuota toward Valle de
Guadalupe, a 3½-hour ride from L.A.
We ditched our plan to drive directly
to the valley when Juan Carlos pointed out Bar Villa Ortega, his
favorite spot in Puerto Nuevo, for Pacific lobster, placemat-size flour
tortillas and micheladas—pressed lemon over ice with beer in a
salt-rimmed glass. We sat on a spacious covered patio built on a bluff,
making us feel like we were eating on the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
“If it hadn't been for the dirt roads, I would have thought I was in Sonoma.”
We arrived
in the valley with our bellies full of lobster and ears full of
mariachi music. Flanked by low sierras, a carpet of glimmering green
vines heavy with fruit stretched over the valley, interrupted by the
occasional winery. These varied in style from sleek, modern structures
to rustic haciendas. If it hadn't been for the dirt roads and the lack
of a chic town square, I would have thought I was in Sonoma.
![[image]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OD-AS889_MEXWIN_DV_20120809133159.jpg)
Luis Garcia for The Wall Street Journal
Grapes on the vine at Adobe Guadalupe
We pulled
into Adobe Guadalupe, a six-room bed-and-breakfast I had chosen for its
website photos of a pretty hacienda with a pool—an undersell, we
realized as we gaped at our surroundings. Don and Tru Miller, a retired
American banker and his Dutch-born wife, finished building their
retirement dream in 1999. It fulfilled his lifelong ambition to make
wine, with a 60-acre vineyard, winery and cave, and hers to breed Azteca
horses, with a stable and dressage court. The home is decorated with
Ms. Miller's European crystal collection, local art and a subtle angel
motif.
We hurried down to the wine cave for the
tasting that came with our stay, and Mr. Miller plunged a glass thief
into oak barrels of his red blends.
"When we got here 14 years ago, there
were a dozen wineries, no bed-and-breakfasts, no restaurants," he said.
Today, there are some 50 wineries, a couple of
internationally-recognized eateries and, by my count, at least 10
attractive small hotels. Though American tourism dwindled in the past
three years amid Mexico's drug war, well-heeled domestic tourists have
made up the difference, Mr. Miller said. And this summer, several
sources told us, U.S. visitors are trickling back.
"Our biggest obstacle to growth is
restricted water," said Mr. Miller, the first of many winemakers who
would describe the trouble securing well permits, the cost of water and
the salinity that affects some wines.
Photos: The Wine Treasury
Luis García for The Wall Street Journal
Click to view the slideshow
That night, we
supped in the Millers' dining room on rock cod, produce from their
garden and a magnum of their excellent Kerubiel, a
Syrah-Cinsault-Mourvèdre-Grenache blend. Later, we spotted stars from
the outdoor Jacuzzi; Baja's night skies are considered among the
clearest in the world.
The next day, we checked off wineries
on my itinerary, as well as several that Mr. Miller insisted we visit.
We were fascinated by La Lomita, completed in 2009. It was conceived by
the scion of a Mexicali family, with help from a childhood friend who
studied winemaking in La Rioja, Spain. The tour showed off ultramodern
equipment and the circular structure built around it that allowed grapes
to be crushed on the top floor, poured into fermenting tanks on the
level below and naturally cooled between thick stone walls. (The winery
is also famous in Mexico as a location in a popular telenovela, "Cuando
Me Enamoro.")
A Merlot festival under the oak canopy
at Viña de Liceaga winery offered a lot of too-warm Merlot offset by a
to-die-for spit-roasted lamb taco. We sampled local aged cheese and
snapped up artisanal bread and cookies. The loft-like tasting room at
Monte Xanic felt like a speak-easy, with tables of stylish Mexicans
sipping refreshing unoaked Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc.
That night, we rattled down bumpy dirt
roads to Laja, the restaurant several food blogs have dubbed Mexico's
French Laundry. One look at its rustic wooden dining room, linen-free
tables and lack of personnel belied the comparison. We ambled to the
back patio, overlooking a garden and vineyard, unmet by staff. The
laid-back service would never cut it with Thomas Keller, but it didn't
feel neglectful, simply relaxed.
![[image]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OD-AS890_MEXWIN_DV_20120809133236.jpg)
Luis Garcia for The Wall Street Journal
The dining room at Laja
The meal
consisted of perfectly cooked kohlrabi ravioli in beef essence, Baja sea
bass and braised Wagyu beef with zucchini, butternut squash, and leeks
that tasted as though they had been harvested hours before. After sorbet
with plum granita and lemon foam, and a fruit salad in orange liqueur
for dessert, we decided to test a line on the menu that appeared to
indicate we could order seconds for free.
"It's true!" our waiter said gleefully
before bringing us refills. The four-course menu (five, if you count the
two desserts) with plentiful wine, tax and tip, came to $67 a person.
Laja, I decided, had little in common with the French Laundry other than
complete loveliness, in its own way.
The next day, our group divided between
horseback riders, who rented Ms. Miller's Aztecas for a guided tour to a
mountain view of the valley, and visitors to Tres Mujeres, a
hobbit-size winery where Ivette Vaillard and two colleagues make wine
with equipment owned by a small cooperative. Ms. Vaillard has been
slowly building up the little winery for 30 years, demonstrating how it
can be done without millions of dollars. When we bought an unlabeled
bottle of the women's rich six-grape blend, she signed the bottle.
For lunch, we steered into Almazara, a
new restaurant from Tijuana-based celebrity chef Miguel Ángel Guerrero
Yagües, deep in what was once Latin America's largest olive grove. We
nibbled on inventively-sauced sashimi and marlin tacos, while the chef,
in his trademark camouflage chef coat, described how the grove will be
thinned to make way for a boutique hotel, spa, wine club headquarters
and a golf course.
I could picture his vision: The boom in
this valley will mean more restaurants, wineries and hotels, and more
people like the Millers or Ms. Vaillard who will see the potential of
this pocket of Latin America. As long as the water issues are mitigated,
Mexican wine will continue improving, and sophisticated global
investors, artists and tourists will discover the region.
I want to come back to see how the
future unfolds. But that hot afternoon, as the silvery grove of
centenarian olive trees shook in a welcome breeze, I felt grateful to
have discovered it now.
The Lowdown: Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico
Getting there: Fly into Mexico's
coastal city of Ensenada and drive 15 minutes northeast, or drive about
70 miles south from the San Diego/Tijuana border.
Where to stay: Adobe Guadalupe offers
six comfortable guest rooms in a hacienda-style mansion with vineyard
views. There is no restaurant, but a four-course dinner can be arranged
for $75 per person (from $193 per night, including a winery tour, wine tasting and breakfast, Col. Rusa de Guadalupe, adobeguadalupe.com).
Where to eat: The don't-miss
destination is Laja, where just-picked vegetables, homemade bread and
local olive oil, meat and seafood are creatively and expertly cooked.
Four courses costs about $46 (Km. 83, Carretera Tecate-Ensenada, lajamexico.com). Almazara chef Miguel Ángel Guerrero Yagües hunts and fishes many ingredients. Entrees run about $17 (Km. 85, Carretera Tecate-Ensenada).
![[image]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OD-AS891_MEXWIN_DV_20120809133321.jpg)
Luis Garcia for The Wall Street Journal
Adobe Guadalupe
Where to drink: Ask your hotel to
recommend wineries holding special events and to check whether
reservations are required. Wineries often lack specific addresses; pull
up a map at
provinoac.org/mapas.php
or pick one up at hotels, stores and wineries. We enjoyed La Lomita (Fraccionamiento 13, San Antonio de las Minas, 646-156-8459) for its ultramodern facility; rustic Tres Mujeres Km. 87, Carretera Tecate-Ensenada; ask your hotel to make an appointment with owner Ivette Vaillard; and Monte Xanic, for some nice whites and a gorgeous valley view (Francisco Zarco, 646-155-2080). Most charge $3 to $5 for tastings.
Other activities: Several hotels can
arrange horseback riding; at Adobe Guadalupe, guided rides are $80 per
hour. Visit the little Russian Community Museum (Calle Principal 276, 646-155-2030), which focuses on 100 Jewish Russian families who settled in the area in 1905.
Tips: Avoid driving across the border
on Sunday afternoons or evenings, which can be busy. U.S. passport card
holders can use faster-moving Ready Lanes at the Tijuana and Tecate
borders. There are frequent military stop points throughout Baja
California; your car may be searched and you may be questioned about
your activities.