Summer is a good time to plan your Valle de Guadalupe winery tour. Different people have different ideas about when summer starts and ends, however, for our purposes, let’s call summer June, July and August. June is when the country restaurants, also known as campestre, start to open, so it’s a perfect time to visit if you have food on your mind. And the annual vendimia, or wine harvest festival, comes around in August. If you’re like most people and worried about it being too darn hot, don’t be. While the sun shines bright, daytime temperatures only reach sunbathing levels and nights in Guadalupe are always cool.
The Vineyards in Summer
Summer is flowering time for vines so, although the harvest won’t begin until Fall is either upon us or just round the corner, you’ll be assured of whole hillsides covered in flowers, which can be a wonderful sight. A wine grower is a gardener at heart, though she or he practices the art on a grand scale, and all gardeners love to be busy. They also like to know that people are watching what they do. And they’ll be doing a lot because summer is a busy time in the vineyard. Pruning was over some time ago and the harvest is when things will really heat up but there’s plenty going on.
The Valle de Guadalupe experience, though, isn’t just about Mexico wine tours, as delightful as they are. It’s also, among other things, for the birds: the gray thrasher, which is the endemic bird of the Baja, is found here, as are California thrashers, California gnatcatchers and lots of different kinds of hummingbirds. If you’re a serious birder, you might want to take some extra time after the tour to head for the coast, where you will see in a day more ducks than most people can even think of, as well as long-billed curlews, falcons and if you’re lucky, an albatross or two.
What You’ll Eat – and Drink
Hummingbirds, of course, mean flowers and you won’t look at the borage and nasturtium flowers for long without realising that they are in your salads. There are so many vineyards, wineries and restaurants in Valle de Guadalupe that we like to change things up regularly, which means if you join us on three different Valle de Guadalupe winery tours, chances are you’ll see different places each time. It’s a treat for the eyes and the scents are so heavenly you’ll think you’ve found paradise. At the end of the day, however, rest assured that we never forget the main purpose of the vine, which is to produce the perfect foil for a good meal. And we know exactly where to take you for something delicious to eat.
You’ll choose the dishes and the wine, of course, because choosing what you’re going to eat and drink is a big part of the pleasure of eating out, but if it were us we’d probably be going in high summer for a chilled white wine like a local Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon and, to eat, something fairly light. Maybe a selection of tapas, a frittata or even a pizza. Whatever you do, don’t miss out on the salads; a fresh winery tour salad is a delight many of our customers have raved about.
Summer Will Be Here Soon
People have been making wine in Mexico for more than 500 years, so it’s not surprising that they know how to get things right. If you’re a wine lover – or just someone who likes a glass of something good now and again, and would like to see where and how it’s made, contact us today and book your tour.
