Wine Tasting in the Guadalupe Valley

Tuesday, May 23, Guadalupe Valley Wine Tasting and Border Crossing at Tecate.

A family style breakfast is served at 7:30 A.M. in the large dining hall. The self serve coffee is weak but the omelet’s are loaded with bacon, vegetables and ample cheese. When I’m in the U.S.A. I avoid red meat and pork, but am not a fussy traveler and I enjoy the hearty morning fare. A serving bowl of cubed watermelon and plates of toast are passed around the table. 

Marty on the Porch of the Original Meling Ranch Farmhouse

Horned Lizard, Meling Ranch

Closeup of Horned Lizard

While Art packs, I settle the very reasonable bill. Our room was $66 dollars, lunch $2 each, dinner $15 each and breakfast $8 each. The tequila shots were $3 each, the beer $1 and the half bottle of wine free. I leave a generous tip in the community tip can and Art takes photos of me on the front porch of the original Meling Ranch house. He calls attention to a horned lizard warming itself in the morning sun and I tiptoe close so as not to frighten it and take many photos, moving closer with each shot. As a young girl, camping and living with my parents in the California deserts, my father would frequently bring me a transient horned lizard as a pet. The rules that were we never kept these wild creatures more than a day or two but I could be entertained for hours with a horned toad lizard as my companion. I would sit in the dirt, cradle the lizard upside down in the palm of my small hand and stroke it’s belly.  There are not many things softer or plumper than a lizard belly and horned lizards are extremely docile and will fall asleep in this position. Feeding time was another favorite activity of mine, although, the ants certainly did not feel the same way. I would crouch in the dirt near an ant hill, lizard in one hand and tweezers in the other and snatch ants from the army and offer the wiggling insect to the lizard. The lizards would chow down greedily and consume dozens of ants at each feeding. 

The drive back down the mountain to the main highway takes an hour. We pass a snake in the road and stop to investigate. It is not injured but warming itself on the pavement and we encourage it to move to a safer basking ground. We pass several other snakes, also basking on the pavement and I want to rescue them all but Art is anxious to get mileage traction and there is virtually no traffic on this mountain road. We presume that just as we see the snakes far in advance and swerve to avoid them, others will do so too. When we reach Highway 1, we drive North towards Ensenada. In the sprawling outskirts of Ensenada, we look for the turn off to Highway 3 North towards Tecate but get confused and mistakingly follow signs for Highway 3 South. After much confusion and some disharmony, we get back on route, pass through the heart of the Ensenada tourist district and find the correct Highway 3 turn junction on the Northern side of Ensenada. 

Within a few minutes we are in the heart of the Guadalupe Valley. At almost every dirt road and intersection there are uniform blue signs pointing to the wineries along the road. We do not have a wine guide or map and are clueless about which ones to visit. After our unplanned Ensenada detour we are both feeling annoyed and  frustrated but before we blow past all of the wineries, I insist that Art pull over. He turns off onto a dirt road with several blue signs and “suggests” that I drive. I head back along the highway about a mile and randomly choose a road with an abundance of blue signs pointing to various wineries. We park in the vacant parking lot of one and stroll from the parking lot along the edge of a picturesque vineyard and into their upscale tasting room. It is nearly 3:00 P.M. and we want lunch as well as wine tastings but their restaurant is closed during the week. The woman directs us to the Finca Altozano winery and restaurant a mile back on Highway 3 and gives me, what will prove to be a rare wine guide and map.  We retrace our route and spot the blue sign at the dirt road where Art pulled off earlier. A mile down the dirt road we arrive at the restaurant. 

Finca Altozano Restaurant and Vineyard

Finca Altozano Restaurant

The moment we walk into the stylish open air restaurant overlooking acres of vineyards, our aggravations over missed turns and with each other, abate. It is after 3:00 P.M. and there are a dozen patrons enjoying good food and the ambience of this casual open air restaurant.

Finca Altozano Kitchen

We are handed weighty menus and an extensive wine list and peruse our options carefully. The caramelized brussels sprouts, field green salad with local goat cheese and the house made sausage call to us. Art adds a fresh pasta dish to our order and I choose a glass of Torres Alegre French Colombard- Chenin Blanc. Since Art is designated driver, i am designated wine drinker, but he shares sips of the Colombard and my subsequent glass of Guadalupe Valley Pinot Noir. The meal is extraordinary and the wine paring perfect and our afternoon blissful. 

Field Greens and Goat Cheese

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts 

Although we can buy the Torres Alegre wine here, we set out in search of the vineyard, stopping at two other tasting rooms along the way.  At Torres Alegre, we share in a wine tasting and purchase two  bottles of the Colombard to take home. The Vintner seems only slightly disappointed that he doesn't sell us higher end bottles but we are both smitten with this crisp sweet wine and there is a 1000 ml. limit on Alcohol brought from Mexico into the U.S.A. 

Torres Alegre Vineyard

Torres Alegre Wine Tasting Room

We pass through Tecate shortly after 6:00 P.M. The border crossing is a breeze and we wait less than 10 minutes to pass. We declare our two bottles of wine and are waved through. An hour later we reach San Diego and check into a budget hotel along the Hotel Circle Drive. 

We take two more days to drive between San Diego and Santa Cruz. We spend one afternoon visiting a friend in Tustin and an evening with friends in Victorville. Our final day driving between Victorville and up interstate 5 is long and tedious and in spite of the wide highway, I find sharing the road with endless rushing semi-trucks stressful. We  arrive home safely, Thursday evening at 7:00 P.M.