Written By: Omar Millán Gonález
It’s wine festival time on La Ruta del Vino
VALLE DE GUADALUPE, Baja California — One hour south of Tijuana, there’s a magical place that for 120 years has captured the flavor of this land.
It’s called La Ruta del Vino (The Wine Route), a road that starts in El Sauzal, outside of Ensenada, and connects to the valleys of Guadalupe, San Antonio de las Minas and Calafia, wine-producing regions where almost 250 producers grow grapes.
In these valleys, and in San Vicente and the Valley of Santo Tomás, 27 miles south of Ensenada, 126 million liters of wine are produced every year. They represent 90 percent of the table wines produced in Mexico, according to Sistema Producto Vid, an association of wine producers in the region.
The bucolic landscape is beautiful year-round, but in August, the grape harvest begins and all the local producers stage their harvest festivals. The area becomes a constant party, revolving around wine. There are wine contests, dancing, grand banquets, concerts, bullfights and guide tours of the wineries the vineyards.
Santo Tomás, founded in 1888, and LA Cetto, founded in 1930, are the oldest vineyards in the region, and their wines have reached countries with long oenological traditions, including France and Italy. read more »
