Tickets for Sale for Conchas y el Vino Nuevo
The 21st edition of Ensenada’s Festival de las Conchas y el Vino Nuevo (Shellfish & New Wine Festival) will take place this year, but in a smaller more intimate format. The festival will still feature a few days of educational seafood workshops, but the large shellfish and wine tasting event will be replaced by a smaller event called Mesas Marinas on April 17th. There will be 15 tables of 10 people and each table will be hosted by one of the region’s top chefs, a winemaker, and a shellfish producer. The experts will walk you through the gastronomic experience of the four courses with a wine pairing. Host chefs include big names such as Javier Plascencia, Diego Hernandez, and Drew Deckman who will be joined by top winemakers from Valle de Guadalupe. There will be two seatings for the event, one at 1pm and another at 5pm. You can learn more about the event on the Provino website or purchase tickets for the Mesas Marinas at the link here.
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Baja California is The Most-Awarded Wine Region at Brussels World Contest
The prestigious Concours Mondial de Bruxelles is an international competition where thousands of wines are judged by a panel of experts. The 2021 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles took place in March where Mexico won a total of 140 awards with wines from Baja California taking 67 of those awards. Baja wines were awarded 8 Great Gold medals, 29 Gold medals and 30 Silver medals. The Baja wines that took the top awards were the following:
• “Luna del Valle Sombra” (2016) from Cavas Valmar
• “Eclipse Tinto” (2018) from El Cielo Winery
• “Corona Merlot Reserva” (2015) from Bodega Corona del Valle
• “Monte Xanic Selección” (2019) from Monte Xanic
• “Mundano Reserva Merlot” (2015) from Vinícola Mundano
• “Enoteca Rocha Zazueta Mezcla Bordelesa Gran Reserva” (2012) from Viñas de la Erre
• “Chateau Camou Merlot” (2017) from Chateau Camou
• “Tinto de la Hacienda” (2016) from Hacienda La Lomita
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Chef Roberto Alcocer Opens New Baja Eatery in Oceanside
Chef Roberto Alcocer from Valle de Guadalupe’s exquisite Malva restaurant is opening up a new restaurant in Oceanside, CA at the Hyatt’s new Mission Pacific Hotel. Alcocer is hoping to recreate the experience of dining at Malva and some of Malva’s best-selling dishes will be on the menu, but made with local San Diego produce and seafood. Wine and beer will be sourced from Valle de Guadalupe and Ensenada. Alcocer is also overseeing a poolside rooftop eatery that will be serving up Ensenada-inspired street food such as ceviche to tostadas and tacos. The restaurant is slated to open in July 2021. For more information, see the Mission Pacific website.
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Baja Restaurants Recognized at Mexico Guide Awards
Since 2016, Culinaria Mexicana, through the Guía México Gastronómico (Mexico Gastronomic Guide), has chosen the 120 best restaurants in Mexico. This year, 278 restaurants were named, recognizing the great effort and challenges of restaurants during the COVID pandemic. Restaurants are not ranked, but are included on the list as a guide for lovers of good food.
In addition to the restaurants being awarded a position on the list, a few other awards were presented including a prestigious “Chef of the Year” award that was given to six chefs in Mexico including Benito Molina and Solange Muris from Manzanilla restaurant in Ensenada.
The Baja restaurants in alphabetical order are:
Animalón (Valle de Guadalupe, BC)
Caesar’s (Tijuana, BC)
Carbón Cabrón (Los Cabos, BCS)
Casa Tijuana (Tijuana, BC)
Comal (San José del Cabo, BCS)
Deckman’s en el Mogor (Valle de Guadalupe, BC)
Fauna (Valle de Guadalupe, BC)
Finca Altozano (Valle de Guadalupe, BC)
Georgina (Tijuana, BC)
Jazamango (Todos Santos, BCS)
La Revolución Comedor (San José del Cabo, BCS)
Madre (Ensenada, BC)
Manta (Los Cabos, BCS)
Manzanilla (Ensenada, BC)
Misión 19 (Tijuana, BC)
Nemi (La Paz, BCS)
Panazia (Cabo San Lucas, BCS)
Sabina Restaurante (Ensenada, BC)
Sunset Monalisa (Cabo San Lucas, BCS)
Tatanka Baja Fish & Steak House (La Paz, BCS)
Villa Torél (Valle de Guadalupe, BC)