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The valleys of Calafia, Guadalupe and San Antonio de las Minas are the heart of the wine country that extends also to the north to the Valley of the Palmas and to the south to the Valleys of St. Tomas and San Vicente Ferrer.
While Mexico's wine industry has boomed rather recently, wine making dates all the way back to the Spanish conquest, with the Spaniards surprised to find how well the vines they brought from the homeland adapted to the New World climate. In 1597, the Spaniard Don Lorenzo Garcia made the town of Santa Maria de las Parras in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila home to his Casa Madero, the oldest winery of the Americas.
The Saint Thomas Mission (Mision de Santo Tomas), founded in the northern area of Baja California Norte State by Jesuit priests in 1791, reactivated the production of wine in Mexico. The mission grape brought over and planted by the Jesuits found its perfect home in an area that compares in climate to California's Napa Valley and France's Rhone Valley. In 1834, Dominican priests began growing grapes at the nearby Northern Mission of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mision de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Norte), now known by the abbreviated name of the Guadalupe Valley (Valle de Guadalupe). The Guadalupe Valley is one of the few places in the world where premium wine grapes can be grown. 
Located in the northern part of the State of Baja California, the Guadalupe Valley enjoys of the Mediterranean weather that is ideal for the cultivating of the grapevine. There are a few micro climates in Mexico that combine these unique characteristics of altitude, land, seasons, time and temperature. Without forgetting, the love for making wine.
The Baja California white wines are made with lots of love starting with the grapes of Chenin Blanc, Colombard, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, while the red wines typically use Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, Carignanee, Barbera, Nebbiolo and Zinfandel.
Many superior wines are being created to include both white and reds.There are twenty two wineries in the Guadalupe Valley alone and the wineries range in size from small artisanal ones to large mechanized industrial spaces. L.A. Cetto Winery is the largest wine producer in Mexico and is mostly responsible for giving Mexican wines international attention through winning global awards and with aggressive, ingenious marketing tactics.
 You can enjoy a fun, active, exotic or romantic lifestyle in an interesting and secure place. The Guadalupe Valley is the ideal destiny for vacationing as a couple or with the whole family or changing your lifestyle and living the good life. Elegant B&Bs, campgrounds and RV Parks give the visitor the option of staying in the heart of it all without straying far form the Ensenada Resorts.
Properties in the valley range from small homesteads about 2.5 acres to ranchos of several thousand acres. You can live the life of the gentleman farmer and grow grapes for wine or just relax and enjoy the good life. Take this opportunity to visit out listing and see the many properties available or call and see some of the properties that haven't made it to our site yet.
La Vendimia, July 31, 2008 and August 1-17, 2008
Guadalupe-Tecate-Ensenada-Tijuana |