I’ve been so excited to share this post about my wine tour through Mexican wine country with you all! Especially, my wine and travel lovers! The Valle de Guadalupe, located in Baja California, just a little more 30 miles from Ensenada, Mexico, you will find what people are calling “the new Napa” with miles and miles of beautiful landscape and more than 200+ wineries. You could spend weeks visiting each winery but I will highlight a few we loved on our visit.
If you are interested in a wine tour, there are several different ways you can book a tour for your liking. If you are not willing to venture down the coast to Ensenada, there are many tours willing to pick you up at your hotel in San Diego, drive you across the border and through the Valle de Guadalupe to and back to San Diego at the end of the tour. Other options are to rent a car, make sure you get insurance to cover you across international boarders and drive the wine route on your own. You will however, have to endure the very long line of vehicle’s attempting to cross back over to the United States upon your return. So pack your patience! Every day is different and you may be sitting in line for a few hours. Lastly, you can do as we did and take the San Diego trolly to the last, most southern stop and walk across the border on your own to the ABC bus stop, less than a mile from the crossing and purchase a bus ticket for $20 down the coast to Ensenada, about a 90 minute trip. We then, with the help of our concierge at Hotel Lucerna, booked a tour with a private driver to several wineries through the Valle of Guadalupe.
Our first stop, the oldest winery in The Valley, and in my opinion, with the best tasting wine was Santo Tomas Winery. Located on a beautiful estate tucked away in the rolling hills this is what wine country looks like. Vines as long as the eye can see, beautiful green rolling hills and a colorful, welcoming space to taste and enjoy wines. Each winery has their own cost for a tasting ranging from $10-$20 per person per tasting. Such a deal! Especially, if you have traveled to Napa, you know tasting can cost more than $50 per person. Santo Tomas, had the most wines of any other winery with a typical tasting including five different types of wine.
Our next stop was the Clos de Tres Cantos Winery along the wine route. This winery was chosen by our tour guide company we booked our tour with. Of the four wineries we visited, it was one of my favorites for the establishment and the scenery. It was very unique and rustic looking, with many places to sit and enjoy our rainy wine tasting day. Even the bathroom had cute details such as the neat window made out of bottles to swivel and open.
The wine was decent and was accompanied by a little wine and cheese, which was definitely appreciated as we still had two more winery to visit, and had started with a five wine tasted at the previous winery. The landscape overlooking the vineyards was beautiful, even on a rainy day, and they were kind enough of give me a small bag of wine corks to take home with me. They are expanding the building at this winery and there will soon be more to explore and see while on the property.
Our 3rd winery, the ATP Vinos y Familia, was the smallest and one of the best experiences of the day. Family owned, ran by a husband and wife, this winery has won many awards for their wines. The wines available for tasting depend on the season and they it is well known they tend to run out of award-winning wines during the busy summer season. The wines were tasty, but more than anything, I loved the homey feel of this winery. We were allowed to walk through the vineyard, sample grapes still on the vines and see the cellar with the barrels of wine. It was spectacular and the most fun of the day! Getting to know the owners, learning about the history of the vineyard and entire Valle de Guadalupe was a great experience for the day.
The final winery on our stop is currently one of the most famous wineries in the Valle de Guadalupe, Bruma Winery. Bruma, known not only for thier wine but also for their modern casitas available and their beautiful structures and landscape. This is a great places to stay if you would like to stay in the valley and not have to travel back to Ensenada. It is a great way to travel to many more wineries during your visit! However, if you would like to stay at Bruma, you will need to email to make reservations as early as possible as the establishment is small, popular, and they book rooms quickly and months ahead. This is also one of the wineries you will need to have reservations ahead of time for a wine tasting. If you do not have a reservation you can wait up to an hour for the next available tasting. However, the wine is good and the grounds are beautiful and is worth checking out.
We finished up our day with a great dinner set up by our tour guide, lounging on hammocks, drinking more wine and enjoying the rain before our driver drove us back to Ensenada. It was a perfect end to the day. Valle de Guadalupe wine country was such as great experience and so easy to access from San Diego, we will definitely be back to explore more wineries across the valley. If you love wine or have always wanted to check out Baja California, this is a great getaway for you!
