The Most Amazing Mexican Wine You’ve Never Heard Of….
Tags: cafeteria Mi Kaza, nativo wine
Having breakfast at one of Ensenada’s premier family restaurants “Cafeteria Mi Kaza”, the owner, Lesley Starnes, came up to me to ask if our breakfast was good and if we were happy. “Of course, I replied love the homey atmosphere here” and boom, we were talking.
After several minutes, the subject turned to our wine industry and that’s when Lesley pulled out a non-descript yet unlabeled bottle of wine and asked me to take it home and give it a taste.
So the NFL Eagles were playing the Giants and I figured a good red meat fillet mignon would be perfect. And then I remememberd that bottle of red sitting on the counter, staring at me with that “who are you look”. So I opened it up and let it sit for 10 minutes just to let the air work it’s magic.
With the wine glass ready to go, I poured the red goodness and took a bit of my fillet mignon with mushroom gravy and took a sip. Niceeeeeeeee! Smoooooothhhhh! Good stuff was my first reaction.
The 2007 Nativo had a very warm fuzzy cognac type of feel to it. Even the color was slightly off red with a bit of orange and that aroma, nice and strong, just the way I like it. Perfecto with a red meat dinner and a competitive spirit.
Lesley Starnes and his partner Arq Benjamin Pena became friends at the Mi Kaza restaurant. Benjamin was the architect at Lesley ranch in the Valle de Guadalupe.
Together they entered the wine school La Escuelita de Vino en el Valle de Guadalupe in 2007. At the school they made one barrel of zinfandel wine and, at the same time, three more at Lesley’s ranch.
The 2007 won a gold meddle in the national contest sponsored in 2008 by UABC, the local university in Ensenada. Then this year the wine won third place at a Mexico City show with 42 other wines.
For 2008, they made Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Petit Sirah. In 2007 and 2008 they bought all of their grapes from other vineyards.
In 2009, Arq. Pena went to Spain and recieved a masters degree in wine making so that he could be even an better wine maker, thus for that year, no wine was made.
In 2010, the production was cabernet sauvignon and came from the vineyards of Benjamin. It was produced in a small production seller on his ranch. Lesley’s ranch is now being planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo and Petit Syrah and they are expecting their first harvest next year which will be fairly limited.
They expect that 2012 will be the first major harvest and will be Cabernet Sauvinon and Tempranillo. Their first Petit Syrah harvest will be in 2014.
The wine can be purchased at Cafeteria Mi Kaza on Av. Riveroll # 87-3, Zona Centro, Ensenada. They do not have a tasting room as such nor any tours of the winery, yet. That will start in another 3 years or so. For now the restaurant is easily accessable.
Contact Information
You can reach Lesley Starnes by phone in the USA at (619) 395-3506 or he can be contacted at the restaurant at (646) 178-82 11. Via email, contact him at mikazamx@msn.com
