FLAVOR OF THE MONTH

While I write this column, I am gazing at a vineyard in the heart of Valle de Guadalupe from a beautiful terrace while enjoying a glass of Cenzontle, an incredible wine awarded the Grand Gold Medal in the White Wine International Revelation category by the Concourse Mondial Bruxelles (Brussels World Championship). As I finish my wine, I can´t help wondering, how did Baja California achieve this level of winemaking? 

I lost my grandmother and confidant Beatriz this July.She was a Mexican woman that, like Nebbiolo, migrated from the land where she was born and arrived at a place that would give her an unexpected strength. She was popular like a Cabernet, as she was well-liked everywhere she went, but she also reminded me of Mission Grapes for her resilience.

There´s a lot of her in me. Although I´m not sure exactly how much, I at least know some of her is in there. I guess neither wine nor people can be apart from their roots.

And then I think about those roots. In those who first came to Baja California, a desert region I have heard, so many times, referred to as “the Old West”, “wild” or “untamable” by visitors. If that’s how people still perceive it, I can´t imagine what they would have called it 500 years ago.