Bordeaux
in Baja - Chateaux Camou
How
many people in their 40s dream about what they would like to do when
they retire (@ 65+/-) and pull it off right on schedule? Ernesto Alvarez-Morphy
did just that, promising to fulfill a life-long dream, when, in his
mid-forties, he determined that upon retirement, he would own a winery.
In 1986 he made his move on time. Combining forces with several Mexican
businessmen, he purchased an existing vineyard in the Baja’s
Valle de Guadalupe which had been planted in 1937.
The goal?
Nothing less than world class wine! Anything less was not an option.
Now the
hard work began. Six months later, a winery in the California mission
style architecture was built overlooking the vineyards. After studying
the soils and vines, the plan became to graft 60 acres and to reseed
another 30 acres with the so-called “noble” French varietals
such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc.
The area
was settled by Russian immigrants early in the 19th century, who dry
farmed wheat and some still call the area “Valle de Trigo”,
or Valley of Wheat. We didn’t see any wheat, but there are a
lot of Russian surnames about.
Ch. Camou
sits in what is called Canada del Trigo, surrounded by about 95 acres
of Bordeaux style grape vines. Production is in the hands of winemaker
Victor Manuel Torres Alegre, who trained at the University of Bordeaux.
Michel Rolland, a Bordeaux winemaker, has been a consultant at the
winery since 1995.
There
are three levels of wine at Camou. Leading off at the top is the El
Gran Vino Tinto, a classic Bordeaux/Meritage blend of Cab, Merlot,
and Cab Franc. After fermentation, it spends about three months in
used oak barrels, then into new French oak for about 15 months. The
Vinas de Camou line includes a “Fume” blanc (Sauvignon
Blanc) and a Chardonnay. The Flor de Guadalupe is the “value”
line, and includes a Zinfandel, a Blanc de Blanc, and a “Clarete”
(a Bordeaux blend). The Zin is from purchased grapes, and is blended
with a tad of Cab, and a smidgen of Cab Franc. Bordeaux-heads will
love these wines, with their complexity, restraint, balance, and power.
Alvarez-Morphy
feels he has achieved his dream of world class wines. With gold medals
from the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles in 2000, highest honors in
“Wines of the Americas”, and “Challenge International
de Vin”, Camou is hitting on all cylinders!
The history
of Ch. Camou shows how small-to-medium producers are taking the wine
making art in Mexico to new levels.
Federico
Valentine had no idea what awaiting him when, clutching his 1874 edition
of “Traite Sur Le Vin” (Treatise on Wine), he fled post
war France in 1919 to seek his fortune in the New World. Arriving
first in New York, he later got a job on the railroads in Mexicali,
Mexico. Moving to Tijuana, he met and married the comely Guadalupe.
With
her family’s help, the newlyweds bought a small ranch near Ensenada.
No High Chaparral, it had no electricity, water, or paved roads. It
had “honeymoon” written all over it! Undaunted, they began
raising vegetables and cattle. He sold his wares from a small cart
door-to-door. Behind the little ranch house, and being ever the good
Frenchman, Federico planted a small vineyard, and, using his handbook
as a guide, he made the good juice for his family’s use. He
had a small wooden vat in which he pressed the grapes with his own
feet.
Volume
increased and so did the family. Federico’s sons Hector and
Gontran opened a general store in Ensenada, selling all sorts of vegetables.
Years later, Federico’s daughter married Fernando Martain, who
happened to be the head of production at Bodegas de Santo Tomas, another
up and coming winery in the Valle (we’ll have a look at Santo
Tomas in a future article).
The family
had been discussing the idea of creating a family winery, so they
decided to “take the plunge”. Things began slowly and
very low-tech. Wine was produced in an old garage with rustic, manually
operated equipment. The whole family pitched in. Cavas Valmar was
born, and off and, if not running, walking. The first production came
in 1985 with a whopping 350 cases of a wide scope of varietals: Barbera,
Muscatel, Lambrusco, and Nebbiolo, to name a few. With the profits,
they began to upgrade the equipment and expand production. Today,
production has hit about 2000 cases coming out of about 50 acres of
vineyards.
Cavas
Valmar is dedicated to pushing the envelope on winemaking in Mexico.
They take pride in the fact that their wines reflect the “terroir”
(the unique characteristics that the soil in which the grape vines
are grown impart to the grapes) of the Valle and have minimal human
intervention. In this way they avoid standardization of their production
and allow Mother Nature to express herself through each vintage.
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