Valle’s Power Trio Reside at Villa del Valle

The name says it all: just when you thought you had to go all the way to Tuscany to experience great food and unmistakably good wine, there’s La Villa del Valle in Guadalupe Valley, Mexico.

Located in the heart of Mexican Wine Country, La Villa del Valle is a hilltop organic farm and hacienda whose six rooms overlook the breathtaking valley’s olive groves and lavender fields. The property, owned by Eileen and Phil Gregory, is also home to renowned Vena Cava organic wines and acclaimed restaurant Corazon de Tierra, where you can see its chef, Diego Hernandez Baquedano, and his staff plucking fresh ingredients from the garden to prepare your meal.

“La Villa del Valle for us is a conscious way of living—organic, sustainable, fresh and very local. We want to inspire others to live the same way—organically and sustainably,” said Eileen. “We found our paradise and we want to share it.”

La Villa del Valle’s romantic Mediterranean-Mexican style hacienda is an homage to this paradise. Built with a nature first concept in mind, its indoor temperature levels naturally and its walls are painted with a very particular mix of algae and eggs. Its success – in 2013, La Villa del Valle won Travel+Leisure’s Best Concept award – is a testament to its beauty and inspiration.

But while they are flattered by the praise, the Gregorys admit it was not part of their plan. “We weren’t expecting it at all, needless to say it wasn’t our goal either,” Eileen said. “Success for us is not about money. It goes beyond any recognition and accolade. It’s about doing what makes us happy and what makes others happy.”

It all started in 2002 when the Gregorys bought the land. “It began very slowly, without pretensions, there was nothing here, we built everything you see,” said Eileen. “It was all about doing what we love and sharing it with others.”

Next, Vena Cava is born…

Ask how Vena Cava, the private organic winery of La Villa del Valle, started, and the couple will tell you the same thing.

“Making wine is my passion, and we had the land,” Phil said. “The idea was to make only one or two barrels just for us and to share, but it grew by itself from there.” Inspired and supported by Mexican oenologist and winemaker Hugo D’Acosta, in their first year (2005) Vena Cava produced 500 bottles of Grenache. Last year, it produced 30,000.

Vena Cava organic wines are created respecting the nature of the grapes. “I make every effort to respect the land,” Phil said. “All grapes are grown without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers… and the concept of the winery is to produce the highest quality wines from the very best grapes in the valley.”

Today, Vena Cava produces numerous wines. Among these are Tempranillo; Cabernet Sauvignon; Sauvignon Blanc; Big Blend, which is composed of Shiraz, Cabernet, Petite Shiraz, Zinfandel, and Grenache; and a renowned and complex, all handcrafted Espumoso that takes a minimum of two years to make.

Not only do Vena Cava wines dominate the Mexican market (the winery makes the house wines for exclusive Mexico City restaurant Pujol), they are establishing the groundwork for a solid presence in the United States as well.

“We now hope to expand to markets on the East Coast like New York,” said Eileen, who is herself a New York native. “We are thrilled with the opportunity to bring Vena Cava to my native town both at Baja Meets NYC and with the opportunity of making the house wine for Enrique Olvera’s first new restaurant in New York.”

With a luxury B&B retreat, a private winery, Baja Botánica (a toiletries line), and a small garden that renders fresh produce to serve daily, one might have assumed the Gregorys to be sufficiently busy. But there was still something missing; namely, a restaurant that fully embodied and expressed the essence of La Villa del Valle and the valley itself.

Next, charting the success of Corazon de Tierra…

Thus Corazon de Tierra opened its doors. Last year, it was named one of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants. “We never thought that Corazon de Tierra would get here,” said Eileen. “[Chef Diego Hernandez Baquedano] saw it from the beginning. He is more confident… It’s great, but it’s scary, too. Being recognized comes with a challenge – people now expect more. They come with high expectations and you have to fulfill them.”

Though Hernandez Baquedano says that he “feels very comfortable with the all the praise and recognitions,” he adds that “pleasing customers is always the priority.”

“It’s not only Corazon de Tierra that gets the laurels, but the region, the land, Baja California. We are still very new and not well known and recognized. There’s plenty of work ahead of us,” he said.

Eileen and Phil met Hernandez Badequano when he was a chef-owner at Uno, in Tijuana. “I remember eating there and telling Phil, ‘I want him to work for us!’”

Years went by and the Gregorys learned that Hernandez-Baquedano was in Ensenada, and that he and his partner had closed UNO.

“I actually didn’t know he was from Ensenada,” said Eileen. “We were so excited that he was here, so we asked him to work for us even though we didn’t have a separate building for what today is Corazon de Tierra.”

Today Hernandez Baquedano is not only the chef at Corazon de Tierra but he is part of the Gregorys’ group partnership as well. “We all blended immediately. It was instant chemistry,” Eileen said. “We all are on the same page, we strive for the same.”

In 2001, Hernandez Baquedano was studying Business Administration when he decided to leave school to train with pioneering chef Benito Molina at Manzanilla Restaurant in Ensenada, Mexico. While there, a new world of flavors and textures blossomed before him, and following his mentor’s advice, he went to work with chef Guillermo Gonzalez of Pangea in Monterrey. After three years, he left to Mexico City to train and work at Pujol with Enrique Olvera. Eventually, Hernandez Baquedano opened UNO, after which he moved to Corazon del Tierra.

Hernandez Baquedano joins the Gregorys…

When the Gregorys say that they are all on the same page, they mean it. Hernandez Baquedano’s relationship with the product and the land is fundamental. “Everything changes. It changes the way you are. It changes the way you cook,” he said. “It is a dream come true, working and sharing the same ideals…we complement each other, we respect each other, we work together very well…it’s like a perfect ‘maridaje’!”

As for other kinds of maridaje, Hernandez Baquedano believes “there’s no better way to pair food and wine than doing it accordingly with the flavors of the land.”

Eileen agrees, noting that “La Villa del Valle, Vena Cava, and Corazon de Tierra are not separated form each other, but part of a whole.”

That whole (Villa-Vena Cava-Corazon de Tierra) will soon be in New York to participate in the first ever Baja Meets NYC, a food and wine festival celebrating all that is Baja. There, the Gregorys and Hernandez Baquedano will share their sustainable lifestyle and their profound passion for Baja – its land and its fresh local and organic ingredients.

“I have big expectations about this trip to New York…I am very happy and touched,” said the chef. “It is one more step.”

Though the menu he will serve alongside chef Danny Mena is not yet final, Hernandez Baquedano says there will be chiles, of course, but “nothing crazy spicy, and not the usual sauces that people might expect from a Mexican dish either.”

“I want people to experience and taste a side of Mexico they don’t know; I want to surprise them with flavors they never tried before; I want to inspire them to come visit us in the valley,” said Hernandez Baquedano.

Chef Diego will be participating in two Baja Meets NYC events: a paired wine dinner at Danny Mena’s Hecho en Dumbo, and an 8-course paired wine dinner at Hotel Americano featuring all Baja chefs and winemakers.  The Gregorys and Vena Cava will also be featured at the Hecho en Dumbo dinner, as well as two dedicated wine tastings at Casa Mezcal and the Octavio Paz gallery at the Mexican Cultural Institute.  For tickets click here.