Posted on August 19 2020
A Day in Guadalupe Valley
Words by Matt Martelli
Guadalupe Valley is magical. A couple weeks back I rallied some of the Dirt Co. crew including Jeff Acrea, Mike Cafro and Charlie Copelan to escape to Guadalupe Valley for a day of wine tasting and magnificent food, and really just a good excuse to visit our good friend Chef Drew Deckman. Just slightly north of Ensenada, Guadalupe Valley is exploding with wine and food culture. Accelerated by the growth of local wineries bringing in tourism, Guadalupe Valley has some of the most exciting restaurants in Baja, serving locally sourced seafood and produce.
The day started with oysters and white wine at Relieve Vinicola’s Mixtura Restaurant. The outdoor patio overlooks their vineyard and fountain pond with a bit of shade. We couldn't resist some of the other items on the menu including the scallops, the birria tacos, and even a bit of Mezcal for breakfast.
Next we headed to Castillo Ferrer where we met up with owner Marco Moreno who gave us the tour of his winery and the newly opened La Justina restaurant which overlooks his beautiful vineyard. He treated us to some of his amazing wines and we sat swapping stories about life and business.
Afterwards we headed to Charlie’s good friends, Kristin and Adam Schute at Lechuza Winery, where we tried their beautiful wines including everything from Chardonnay Roble to my favorite the “Amantes”, which is a bold blended red wine made from all local Baja grapes. It’s good to have friends in the valley.
The day ended with an epic dinner from our good friend and off-road chef Drew Deckman. His restaurant, Deckman’s at El Mogor, is a must see if you come down and visit the Valley. Nestled between a grove of massive pine trees at the base of a mountain overlooking the Mogor Badan Winery, Deckman’s is the spot for amazing sunset dinners wrapped in the warm breeze of the Guadalupe Valley. It is my favorite restaurant in the whole world.
We stayed at Drew’s family ranch and woke up to his Mother in Law Guadalupe’s amazing desayuno. Drew grows most of the produce he uses at his restaurant on this ranch as well as the flowers that adorn his tables.
Guadalupe Valley is open and they need your business!
Head down and check out these amazing wineries and restaurants:
Mixtura at Relieve Winery
Calle Granate S/N San Antonio de las Minas, 22766 Ensenada, B.C., Mexico
http://www.relievevinicola.com/
Castillo Ferrer Winery
Carretera ensenada-tecate km86.3, 22750 Valle de Guadalupe, B.C., Mexico
https://castilloferrer.com/
La Justina
(Located at Castillo Ferrer)
Lechuza Winery
Carretera Tecate-Ensenda Km 82.5, Valle de Guadalupe, B.C., Mexico
http://vinoslechuza.com/
Deckman’s
Carretera Ensenada-Tecate Km. 85.5 San Antonio de Las Minas, 22766 Valle de Guadalupe, B.C., Mexico
https://www.deckmans.com