BajaNomad

Home wine makers out there?

Reinventwen - 10-13-2010 at 09:04 PM

I googled wine-making in Mexico and found nothing. Does anyone know where one can get the juice, or a kit, to make wine? Will I have to go to San Diego? And if so, is there any law against bringing the juice back to Baja?

capt. mike - 10-14-2010 at 03:00 AM

kits are avail by mail order if you can't find one locally.
there is a good one on west side of phx and when i worked in SD there was a good one there too.

bajaguy - 10-14-2010 at 07:03 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Reinventwen
I googled wine-making in Mexico and found nothing. Does anyone know where one can get the juice, or a kit, to make wine? Will I have to go to San Diego? And if so, is there any law against bringing the juice back to Baja?





Where in Baja are you located???

Martyman - 10-14-2010 at 07:52 AM

Can't answer yer question... but I do have 65 gallons of chardonnay fermenting as we speak! Good luck! Maybe you could find some grapes in Guadalupe Valle?

DENNIS - 10-14-2010 at 07:54 AM

You'll have the same restrictions reentering the states as you would with store bought wine.

thanks to all who replied

Reinventwen - 10-14-2010 at 10:22 AM

Baja guy and Dennis:

We are still in Canada. Will be in Baja mid to late January in Rosarito area. So if we have to buy the juice in San Diego to bring down to Rosarito will we have restrictions enterig Mexico (not US)?

Capt Mike:

Where is (what is) west side of phx?

Martyman:

How did you get your chardonnay started?

http://forums.bajanomad.com/images/smilies/puzzled.gif

kits are avail by mail order if you can't find one locally.

Reinventwen - 10-14-2010 at 11:02 AM

Capt Mike:

I'm happy to do it by mailorder but I've heard the mail is "problematic".

DENNIS - 10-14-2010 at 11:17 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Reinventwen
We are still in Canada. Will be in Baja mid to late January in Rosarito area. So if we have to buy the juice in San Diego to bring down to Rosarito will we have restrictions enterig Mexico (not US)?



I guess that would depend on the volume. How much do you plan on bringing?

bajaguy - 10-14-2010 at 12:47 PM

I think juice is ok, just like food......but wine is another thing altogether

DENNIS - 10-14-2010 at 12:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajaguy
I think juice is ok, just like food......but wine is another thing altogether


Sure. Enough for what would be considered personal use. Fifty gallons may raise a red flag.
If I were going to go to the trouble to make wine, I'd make a bunch of it.

bajaguy - 10-14-2010 at 01:00 PM

Maybe he needs to contact Jay D or Charlie G in Punta Banda????

DENNIS - 10-14-2010 at 01:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajaguy
Maybe he needs to contact Jay D or Charlie G in Punta Banda????


Funny....really funny...you should mention that. I saw a couple of bottles of their product the other day and on the label..the label on the bottle...is a picture of Jay and his wife at a dinner table.
Don't ever accuse him of modesty. :lol::lol:

The Former Winemaker at Monte Xanic

Gypsy Jan - 10-14-2010 at 01:21 PM

In the Guadalupe Valley opened his own place down the road from his former employer. When we visited him a couple of years ago, he told us that he was getting his grapes trucked in to his winery from Mexicali.

Don't have a clue where you can get the necessary hardware, though.

Reinventwen - 10-14-2010 at 02:48 PM

Thanks Jan, I'll see what I can find out. In the meantime, what about the couple with their own label in Punta Banda? They must be making their own wine. I wonder how.

DENNIS - 10-14-2010 at 03:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Reinventwen
Thanks Jan, I'll see what I can find out. In the meantime, what about the couple with their own label in Punta Banda? They must be making their own wine. I wonder how.


There are small, private labels in the Guadalupe Valley and obviously they don't all make their own. They belong to Co-ops and are probably growing their own grapes, but send them off to be processed with their labels.
The two aforementioned gentlemen are for sure doing that and more/less. Perhaps they have leased a plot of vinyard, but they don't have one of their own. Both of them live in Punta Banda and are accessable although I don't know how forthcoming they will be with info. There's a bit of snobbery that comes with their territory.....corks in the bottles and that kind of stuff, ya know.

Martyman - 10-14-2010 at 03:30 PM

I live in Sonoma County in California so lots of home and commercial winemakers. I used M2 (or is it M4?) yeast for this batch. Will be bottling my '09 primativo soon (80 gallons).

Reinventwen - 10-14-2010 at 03:48 PM

I've never made wine from "scratch".

We buy the juice and mix it with yeast and leave it in a big jug at Wine Kitz (Canadian franchise) for the fermentation process. Usually 30 days to 45 days. Then we bottle it and bring it home for further fermentation. 30 days for white, sometimes sooner; and 60+ days for red. The longer the better for the reds. Some of the results are astoundingly good! Some are as expected.

bajaguy - 10-14-2010 at 07:01 PM

Sign up for the Punta Banda newsletter and ask your question......add that you understand there are people in the area that are vinting (???)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/puntabandanewsletter/

Reinventwen - 10-14-2010 at 10:22 PM

Thanks, I will.