On the surface...
everything in Valle de Guadalupe seemed great. I lounged in a small pool on the deck of a gorgeous villa at Bruma winery, sipping a glass of the winery’s sauvignon blanc in the intense late afternoon sun, gazing past the winery—built sustainably with reclaimed materials— out toward the arid, baked mountains in the distance. I’d spent the day sampling cabernet sauvignon, syrah, and chardonnay in modern- design tasting rooms, along with crowds of other day- tripping Americans, before dining al fresco with local, organic ingredients, overlooking a vineyard. Things are popping in Baja’s emerging wine scene. Earlier this century, there were only a dozen or so wineries. Now, there are almost 200. By all indications, Valle de Guadalupe is ready to take its place among the world-class gastronomic destinations. But, under the surface, there’s something larger lurking. “The big problem today is lack of water,” says Camillo Magoni, the 82-year-old winemaker of Casa Magoni, who’s worked 58 harvests in Baja. “We don’t have enough rain, and the water table is going down.” As moisture in Valle de Guadalupe dries up, there’s talk of winegrowers abandoning vineyards. New hotel and winery construction is pitting neighbor against neighbor, as some developers drill deeper wells, forcing others to pay higher prices for water from those who have it. As more water is extracted from the valley’s ancient ocean-bed soil, the quality of the water that remains becomes saltier and poorer in quality. Often, you can taste an odd saline, briny note in Baja’s wines, particularly curious in the reds. Some say it’s “terroir.” Others blame it on the water. “We need to solve this problem as soon as possible,” Magoni says, “Or the valley is gone.” San Diego County’s own winegrowers are also facing a water crisis. “We thought we were irrigating enough, but we’ve never been in this kind of drought,” says Alysha Stehly, enologist and co-owner (with her husband Chris Broomell) at Vesper Vineyards. Stehly says she saw a 25 percent smaller yield in her vineyards during this fall’s harvest. “Everyone needs to start thinking: How do we farm without water?” she asks.
OPENER Chris Broomell of Vesper Vineyards is dry-farming vines (relying on rain) to avoid irrigation as drought becomes the norm in SoCal. DRY WINE Vines at J. Brix in SD County. “In the next 20 years, there’s going to be a huge change in the varieties planted,” co-winemaker Emily Towe says of area vines.
46 DECEMBER 2022
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