guadalupe de valle

LINK: guadalupe de valle

It was Teresa’s birthday and she planned everything. All we had to do was show up and pay for our drinks and food. The six of us were spending the day in Valle de Guadalupe for a winery crawl across the border in México.

We chose Otay Mesa over San Ysidro to avoid the congestion, which was the smart move because we passed through fairly quickly. I’d only crossed at San Ysidro and Calexico before so this was something new.

On the other side of the border, we had another five minute walk to Plaza California, where the driver Teresa hired was waiting for us. He was super nice and fun to talk to, sharing stories about Rosarito and Ensenada, where he’s from and mentioning that business had been slow so he was truly grateful that we booked with him.

I made the mistake though of not packing my Dramamine. The ride to our first destination was ninety minutes and I spent the first few minutes praying the roads wouldn’t be too winding. I placed myself in the middle of the front row so I could keep my eyes focused straight ahead.

Girls horseback riding on the sidewalk with their dog like it’s nothing.

Side note: I was taught caballero was like a horseback rider. I didn’t know that it also meant gentleman.

We were somewhere between Rosarito and Ensenada…

The driver pointed out the Castillo del Diablo (The Devil’s Castle). Some Californian spent four million dollars building this monstrosity, complete with mannequins, gargoyles, and a horned figure perched on top. The locals obviously weren’t thrilled about it and the drive said it creeped him out.

Our first stop was at Adobe Guadalupe winery. I had four tastings there of their wines. My favorite was the Gabriel—it’s a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Malbec.

I also learned that in México, they say “lágrimas” (tears) instead of “legs”, to describe how wine runs down the glass. Qué romántico (that’s romantic). The thicker and slower the tears, the higher the ABV.

There was a food truck on site called Adobe. This was a lifesaver. I don’t normally crave gluten-free bread but I knew that if I was going to survive this crawl, I needed something to absorb the alcohol. I ordered a veggie sammich with a small salad on the side.

Then we were whisked away to our second destination, which was about 20 minutes away.

We arrived at Decantos Vinícola for round dos. Here I got the joven, which is five tastings (two whites, 1 rosé, and two reds). I was intentionally pacing myself; we still had another winery ahead and I was already feeling the effects from the first one.

Era un día hermoso (it was a beautiful day).

They also had doggos roaming around and I was here for it. I made an effort to pet them all and secretly wondered how I could bring them all back home with me. They were all so adorable.

The driver came to pick us up shortly after we finished our tastings and took us to our next stop.

At El Cielo resort and winery, we had booked a tour of the wine cellar, where the sommelier explained to us their process for their wines and champagne through the fermentation tank and showed us the barrel areas. We were also given three different wines to taste. By this time, I was getting incredibly giggly and warm. It’s safe to say that I was in a good place at this point.

Then we were taken to an underground wine cellar where we were given five tastings of wine. I had to tell the server to give me smaller samples of the wine because I didn’t want to get completely shit-faced sloppy drunk. Since I didn’t have more bread, I asked for a bottle of water to dilute the alcohol in my system.

It was a bit embarrassing that I was the only one initially, who was tipsy. My ability to drink has diminished, but maybe that’s a good thing. The others had full-sized tastings and ordered more on top of that. Afterward, we were all zooted, our inhibitions were lowered and we couldn’t stop laughing or talking.

When I’m inebriated, I become VERY affectionate, sociable, and jovial, which is out of the ordinary when I’m sober. Luckily, we’re all very much the same in this group. I’ve had friends who become angry or begin to cry for no reason…

Anyway, my friends were contemplating on whether or not we wanted to go to another winery. I told them that I needed to eat before we go anywhere else, I was starving and if I had another drink before eating, I would probably pass out. I was happy that they agreed and they too were hungry.

The driver picked us up and drove us to our next stop, which was Bloodlust Wine Bar. It was another 15-20 minutes away from our current location.

The restaurant literally looks like a garlic. The vibe was def psychedelic, kinda outer-space-ish. It was most definitely unique, the inside was dark and almost goth-like.

There was indoor and outdoor dining. We opted for the outdoor to get fresh air. They even had a deejay playing EDM, mostly house, which I was mesmerized by. I felt like I was in a trance listening to the music and being lit outdoors with my friends.

The restaurant also served wine by the glass, I didn’t partake in that but my friends did. I ordered two cups of water and garbanzos guisados – chickpeas, okra, fresh herbs, and fish in a light broth. My food was mid at best but I was starving and ended up eating everything.

Service was painstakingly slow. It took nearly an hour for even the hummus appetizer to appear.

I was easily entertained though by the dogs. God, they were so cute. The tan doggo kept returning to me… I really wanted this one the most out of all of them.

This was the entrance to the bathroom. The bathrooms were off the side of this egg-looking structure.

The driver came to the restaurant to pick us up and asked if we wanted to continue drinking or head back. We unanimously voted to go back to the border before it got too late in the night.

While we were in the van, during the last twenty minutes, I began to get majorly nauseous and turned pale. I remembered that I had mint gum, I began chewing the gum and then asked to have the AC on higher or open the windows. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten motion sickness that I couldn’t recall if it was better to close my eyes or not. Well, I closed my eyes and that definitely made it worse. I opened my eyes, drank more water, and tried to stare ahead for the remainder of the time.

I was the first one to hop out of the car and was relieved that there was a cold breeze that helped alleviate the nausea. We walked to the border and through customs with ease and back to our cars. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to be in my own car before…

Teresa already is asking us about going to Guadalajara next…