It’s always great to visit the Valle; it’s even nicer to stay in the Valle. I highly recommend Casa Mayoral as your base camp for explorations. Casa’s four modern-yet-rustic cabins/casitas are about a mile off Highway 3, so it’s uber quiet and ultra comfortable. It’s also perfectly situated, near Clos de Tres Cantos, El Mogor, Deckman’s, Tres Mujeres, and not far from Laja and the road to Finca Altozano.

We loved our delicious breakfast of chilaquiles, and enjoyed chatting with Casa’s only other guests, Devin and Beth from Colorado. We told them about the Mercado Orgánico on Saturday mornings at El Mogor. By the time we made it to the Mercado, we weren’t surprised to see them there!

The Mercado Orgánico runs from 11am to 1pm Wednesdays and Saturdays. Not a traditional farmers market, wonderful merchandise is displayed on a variety of baskets and tables. We admired fresh greens and veggies, cheeses, olives, salsas, eggs, honey, olive oil, Mexican vanilla and Viniphera bath/body products. But the piece d’resistance? The super-fresh, still-warm bread that arrived from Laja. The Mercado is a great experience; don’t miss it if you’re in the Valle Wednesday or Saturday.

Our good fortune continued as we caught Natalia Badan ready to pour at El Mogor’s outdoor tasting room. Again, the only customers (Super Bowl weekend ROCKS!) we bantered with this Valle matriarch and enjoyed hearing tales of then vs. now. It seems like Saturdays are the best time to catch El Mogor open – Natalia shared that at least 50% of her wine sales are to fancy restaurants in Mexico City, so she doesn’t rely too heavily on tastings by visitors like us.

We felt very special when Natalia invited us to their the barrel room. We bought the top-of-the-line Mogor-Badan 2012, which Natalia called a “Sunday wine” – not an everyday bottle, bound to get better with age (but can we resist consuming it sooner?)

We continued to Tres Mujeres, tasting in the artsy cave and chatting with Yvette, one of the tres mujeres (three women owners/winemakers). I tried to visit Tres Mujeres about four years ago but they were closed; we really enjoyed our visit, and their wines, especially their Merlot.

Next we dropped in on one of the newer Hwy 3 wineries. Viñas de Garza was a culture shock; it’s one of the few wineries in the Valle I consider to be “Temeculized.” The grounds are big and manicured; there’s room to park a number of buses; you gotta to pay at the register before they drop the velvet rope to let you into the tasting area, and they mark off every tasting. I’m sorry, the vibe at Viñas de Garza is NOT why I come to the Valle.

We shot over to my fave, Finca Altozano, for a some tasty snacks and sips; our food was delicious and La Finca was doing boom business on Saturday afternoon.

Then we jetted down to La Esperanza to check them out; we were fortunate to meet the father and mother of Chef Miguel Angel Guerrero’s wife, Judith, in the process! Hopefully, I’ll be able to sample La Esperanza’s cuisine soon; we love Chef Miguel’s La Querencia in Tijuana.

To be continued soon! In Part III, read about dinner at Deckman’s and visits to Clos de Tres Cantos, Finca La Divina, Vinicola Retorno, Los Globos and Malva. Stay tuned.

Photos by Patti Anderson & Carole Ravago