Visiting Monte Xanic is a treat. No wine enthusiast visiting Baja California should miss this 200 acre vineyard in the Guadalupe Valley located 1300 feet above Ensenada, 10 miles from the Pacific coast. It is located near the town of Francisco Zarco. Here you will find amazing cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, malbec, petite verdot, and syrah blends and varietals. There are also white wines. The sauvignon blanc is good, but the reds are world class.

This peninsula’s soil is dry. The sea breeze provides the moisture grapes seek. Such a stark contrast creates rugged and versatile reds with a character unique to the region. Here the growing conditions require that volume be sacrificed for quality. “Each vine is pruned to yield a limited number of grapes, but each one of these has a high concentration of flavors and aromas which will be revealed in the wine”, states Monte Xanic’s Karola Saenger.

The valleys of Baja California produce the vast majority of Mexico’s wines. Baja’s first vines were planted in 1701 by a Jesuit missionary assigned to the Loreto mission. In 1834 Dominican friars founded the Mission of Our Lady of Guadalupe of the North, which gave the valley its name.

Monte Xanic’s first vines were planted after 1904 by a Russian religious sect called “molokans” when 100 pacifist families settled here to avoid being drafted into the Czar’s armies. They produced wine in the Guadalupe Valley for eight decades before five wine enthusiasts founded Monte Xanic in 1987. The name Monte Xanic arose while contemplating the vineyards from the peak of the property during springtime. Monte is the Spanish word for hill and Xanic is a Cora Indian word describing “the flower that blooms after the first rains”.

The current winemaker and a co-partner is Hans Backhoff. Monte Xanic produces low volume and high quality, 50,000 cases of wine annually under four labels: Monte Xanic , Calixa Gran Ricardo, Vina Kristel and Calixa. There are other vineyards in Guadalupe Valley but Monte Xanic is the heart of Mexico’s Napa Valley. Prices typically range around US$30 but these are unforgettable wines.

This winery’s philosophy is to spare no expense in applying the best technology to the vineyards to obtain the highest quality possible in their wines. Monte Xanic does not seek to imitate wines from other regions; it seeks to express the personality of the vineyard, its “terra noir” – the characteristics imparted by the soil and climate of the region. These wines are excellent with Mexican food.

Gran Ricardo de Monte Xanic is one of the vineyard’s best, priced from $50. It is an earthy Bordeaux-style blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, petit verdot, and malbec aged in new French oak for twenty-four months and another two-to- four years in the bottle. This blend is produced in honor of Richard Hojel, founder and partner of Monte Xanic.