Get to know Valle de Guadalupe

The wine vocation of the northern zone of the Baja California peninsula began more than two centuries ago. The first person to notice that the climate of the Valle de Guadalupe had great similarities with that of the wine producing areas around the Mediterranean Sea was Ensign Ildefonso Bernal, a pioneer in the Spanish exploration of this territory at the end of the 18th century.

 

But the Jesuit and Dominican monks, took care of planting the first vines. In 1834, an order of Dominicans founded the mission Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Norte (Our Lady of Guadalupe of the North) with the aim of evangelizing the local population. However, a few years later, they had to abandon their installations, which were attacked by indigenous people from the area who opposed forced baptisms.

 

More than 50 years later, in 1905, a Russian religious community of Molokan Christians bought a score of hectares of land in the Valle de Guadalupe to establish vineyards, and their enterprise quickly became a resounding success. Word soon spread, and during World War II, more Russian families moved into the area to devote themselves to wine production.

 

Thus, the industry grew and the place began to attract the attention of tourism. El Museo Comunitario Ruso (Russian Community Museum), in the town of Francisco Zarco, tells the story of these immigrants who started what today is a thriving wine and tourism industry.

 

Today, more than 70 wineries of different sizes (from the largest for family ventures to the smallest for boutique wineries) produce 90% of Mexico's wine and are located in the Valle de Guadalupe as well as in the neighboring valleys of San Antonio, Ojos Negros, Santo Tomás, San Vicente, La Grulla, Tanamá, Las Palmas and San Valentín. In this way, the Mexican Wine Route became an irresistible magnet for travelers from all over the world.

 

The cities of Tijuana and Ensenada serve as the gateway to this wine route.