Bodega Bibayoff

I had a most spectacular weekend.  With the recent unpleasantness at home, I knew I wanted to get out of there and thus started on Tuesday planning a trip to Mexico.  The first thought was to go down to Ensenada.  Then, I started reading about the wine growing area north and east of there.  Some of the students in my Wednesday night Spanish class had been there and raved.  One, in particular, stressed going to the Bibayoff Winery for a special experience. 

I was able to leave around 2pm on Friday and took Hwy 94 South and West from San Diego.  When the road turns to two lanes and the shopping centers disappear, this is a magnificent drive, one of the most beautiful in southern California.  It's mostly open land, rolling hills, occasional ranches and a little settlement or two.  About 40 miles later, you come to Hwy. 188 which takes you the remaining few miles to the Border.

The crossing at Tecate is unusual in that there is no town on the north side of the border.  As soon as you cross into Mexico you are in the middle of downtown Tecate, but north of the garita there is nothing.  Tecate itself is probably the most authentic Mexican town in north Baja.  It's close proximity to the border has not disrupted the quaint chaos that dominates there.  I'd planned to hang out for awhile on the way down, but my late start forced me to drive on.  I wanted to get down Mex 3, through the Guadalupe Valle and to Ensenada before dark. 

Once out of Tecate, the road returned to the wide open beauty I'd seen north of the border.  If anything, the scenery in Mexico is even more dramatic.  This is a trip to take for no other reason than the views:  high vistas looking down on valleys and across to dark mountains reaching up to a golden sky; horses, goats, children and tiny houses.  It's beautiful.  20 miles later I reached the Guadalupe Valle and the first two wineries:  L.A.Cetto and Casa Pedro Domenq.  I passed making note that tomorrow I'd come back and start my visits here, at the north end of the valley. 

I'd chosen Hotel Del Valle as my base in Ensenada because of the price ($45 a night) and the positive reviews I read on tripadvisor.com.  It turned out to be as advertised:  clean, modern and comfortable, though it is about three blocks off the beaten path, down a very dark sidewalk that might leave a less bold person to be nervous.  It was no problem for me, though . . . those kinds of things never are. 

Immediately I set out to locate one of the two gay bars I'd scoped out online:  Ola Verde and Club 74.  I walked and looked and walked and looked and never found either.  I passed the old reliables:  Hussongs Cantina and Papas & Beer, both of which were roaring with the college crowd on Spring Break.  I kept walking . . .

And a couple of blocks form the hotel, came across Playa Azul, a restaurante de mariscos.  It looked authentic enough, so I went in and had one of the best meals I can remember.  it was a mixed grill:  fish, shrimp and octopus, in a spicy red soupy sauce.  I've never had such tender pulpo.  Outstanding! 

The next morning I made my way back up to La Ruta Del Vinocolas and to Casa Pedro Domenq.  I wanted to start there because I am a big fan of the Domenq brandies:  Presidente, Fundador and Azteca del Oro.  What I found was a big wine 'factory.'  It's impressive, I guess . . . would probably fit in right next to the wine plants of Napa, but hardly the experience I was looking for.  I did buy two bottles of wine and one brandy, all of which are readily available in most Southern California super markets for less.

Then, it was across the street to L.A. Cetto, probably the most famous local winery.  On the way, I started seeing signs for another place, Casa de Dona Lupe and as I approached Cetto and saw tour buses parked outside, I made the decision to skip it an go on to the other place.  What I found was a delight. 

Dona Lupe is 74, wears a wonderful bonnet and holds forth with her assistant, Angelica in their little shop.  The wines are nice, especially the Port, called 'Milagro' (miracle).  And there are many other estate made goodies there:  hot hot sauce, marmalades, local olive oil and so on.  Dona Lupe does not sell wines anywhere but here and the labels are all the same, with the specific varietals written by hand on each one.  She insists that hers are the only true 'organic' wines in the valley, and the easy smoothness of them attests to that.  I bought a port and a Merlot. 

While at Lupe's I learned that the limit of two liters of booze at the border crossing applied to wine as well.  Now I had four bottles (including the brandy) and had only hit two wineries.  What to do?  what to do?  what the hell!  I'll just be a smuggler, that's all.  If I'm caught I'll just plead ignorance and the worst that'll happen is they'll take some away from me.  Nonetheless, my idea of hitting as many vinicolas as possible faded with the realization that getting back to the USA with too much wine could be a problem. 

One of the guys in my Spanish class is an American, married to a Mexican and living in Tijuana.  He insisted that I not miss the one winery owned by Russian descendants, the Bodega de Bibayoff.  I made the decision to skip the others for now and head straight there. 

'There' took me over a dirt road for nearly ten miles -- which would normally not be a problem except for the heavy rains we've had lately.  The road was a mess of holes that made travel at much more than a couple of miles per hour impossible.  In addition there were plentiful mud puddles, some stretching from one side of the road to the other.  I stopped several times to debate whether to go on or not.   

(by the way, I discovered later that the way in from the Ensenada side --as opposed to the Tecate side -- was a bit shorter and in better shape.  Traveling north and east on Mex 3 from Ensenada, turn left down a dirt road just beyond Mustafa Restaurante.  At the dead end, take a right and you'll come upon Bibayoff in a couple of miles.) 

Finally, way way down the road, I came to it.  It looked like nobody was there . .  I wondered if perhaps they weren't doing tastings today.  But as I got out of my car I was met by a gentleman who led me into a tasting room and poured a glass of Cabernet.  We were quickly joined by another man, very good looking in a robust, graying sixty-ish kinda way.  This was David Bibayoff, patriarch of this family operation.  He graciously welcomed me and invited me to join him back in the warehouse where a group of distant relatives were waiting for him to do a barrel tasting.  We climbed into his pickup truck for the drive across the vinyard to a pre-fab building filled with oak casks.

Bibayoff is descended from a group of Russian refugees, the Molokans, who, with the intervention and assistance of Leo Tolstoy, gained permission from Tsar Nicholas to emigrate to the new world where they hoped to practice their own brand of Christianity unmolested.  After a false start in LA, they group settled into the Guadalupe Valle and   took to doing what they did best:  farming.  The Valle flourished.

As the 20th Century ground on, most of the young people of the group moved on to America and cities in Mexico in search of education and greater opportunity.  The numbers dwindled.  Now, there are a few families left and Bibayoff holds forth with his son, Abel, running their vinyard.

What makes Bibayoff special -- aside from the wonderful spirit and hospitality of it's master -- is the fact that the vineyard makes money by selling grapes to other wineries.  The wine that is produced here is strictly for family, guests, festivals and occasional restaurants.  The wine is a labor of love.  And it shows. 

When we got to the warehouse there were a dozen folks from suburban LA waiting for us.  They were nieces and cousins of Bibayoff who had never met him before.  They'd discovered him and the vineyard through some Internet work and, after an email contact, decided to come have a look.  They'd been tasting with Abel for some time when we arrived and were especially warm and friendly in their afternoon buzz. 

David took us from barrel to barrel with a turkey baster, giving each of us a splash of this and a splash of that.  He drank along with us and by then end of the hour we were all comfortably tipsy.  First we tried the Port which was delicious and dry.  Then there was a Zinfandel, a Neibollo and a Cabernet.  The Cabernet was especially good, causing everyone to sigh in delight.  There seemed to be only a dozen barrels of it and David shared that his daughter was pleading with him to bottle it all exclusively for her.  When pressed, he told us that 'this wine is not for sale.' 

Finally we had a French Columbard, the only white wine of the day.  It was more full bodied than most white wines, almost a little thicker, syrupy . . .and, like all of the wines, very good. 

We all walked . . . floated would probably be a more descriptive word . . . back to the tasting room and to our cars.  It had been a very special afternoon sharing wines and laughs and stories with this newly discovered family.  I felt as if I'd been given honored access to this vineyard and its proprietor, much as I did years ago at the Cliurzo Winery in Temecula.  It's a treasured sensation. 

This is what you do wine tours for, and I'm so happy that there are still a few places where it can happen.  At the risk of turning this Mexican gem into another Napa, I have to urge you to go and experience it yourself.  You'll be glad you did. 

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