Today we woke up, docked in Ensenada. Our excursion today was a trip to wine country, 45 minutes Northeast of the city, another Carnival arranged tour. Check in time was 11:15, so we had another morning of sleeping in and not being rushed. This morning, the alarm was set for 8:30 and coffee was requested between 8:30 and 9:00. Of course, the knock on the door came at 8:15. Hey, at least it was a consistent strike zone (My obligatory baseball reference).
Today, we would grab breakfast burritos from Blue Iguana, the Imagination’s taco and burrito bar. There was no line and we settled in at a nice, shady table on the Lido Deck, with a view of Ensenada. It had been 23 years since I had seen Ensenada and I have to say the city had definitely grown! Ensenada is an industrial port and at first glance, maybe not the most scenic of stops. But, the surface is often misleading.
After our burritos, which were certainly worthy of a positive review, we headed back to the cabin to freshen up prior to heading off the ship to check in for the excursion.
Once off the ship, we quickly located our guide for the day, Irma. Irma instructed us to wait in some nearby shade until the other cruisers checked in. Irma informed us that we would be small group of six today, as most people chose the earlier excursion time to beat the heat. We’re from Phoenix, so heat be damned!
Soon Irma led us to a full sized tour bus for the trek to Valle de Guadalupe, the heart of Ensenada’s wine country. We were introduced to our driver, Felix, and we were off. Heading through the city, I was definitely impressed with how thriving the community appeared, compared to my last visit. Irma kept us engaged the entire trip and was a real delight. Again, it was abundantly clear how proud Irma was of her home. Irma made us feel like we belonged there in that moment, and that’s a good sign of great host.
Our gracious host, Irma
On the bus and ready for some wine!
Before we knew it, we were in Guadalupe. The drive was pleasant, with vineyards everywhere, mixed in with groves of olive trees. The scenery reminded me a lot of drives through central Arizona.
Our first stop was Vinos L.A. Cetto, Mexico’s second largest wine producer. The winery was thoroughly modern yet small enough to be charming and inviting. Irma introduced us to our guide for the winery tour (I believe her name was Ariceli). She soon led us to the fermentation facility and barrel room, where the wine is aged. She gave a thorough explanation of the wine making process, the winery’s different brands and how each brand and variety were made. The smell in the barrel room was absolutely decadent, with the combination of the vino and oak barrels. Shani was in heaven and was literally hugging the large oak barrels.
After the tour, we were brought into the tasting room. Officially, we were to taste six wines, 3 whites and 3 reds. The reality is we sampled a lot more. Ariceli, with Irma’s help, soon got to know each of our preferences and was bringing us each what she believed we would enjoy. Both were very knowledable and were really able to hone in on our tastes. I could go on and on with the whole experience, but it’s unlikely anyone wants to read that much detail. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and we left buying 4 bottles of premium wine, on top of the free bottle we each received. We also bought a couple of bottles of the locally produced olive oil, which we enjoyed during our tasting.
Ariceli, our awesome guide at L.A. Cetto
L.A. Cetto fermentation room
Vino L.A. Cetto
True love
Premium French Oak Barrels
Preparing for the first pour.
The next winery on our stop, was Casa Dona Lupe. This is a much smaller, boutique winery just down the road from L.A. Cetto. The initial reaction was very positive. The property is less industrial, perfectly rustic and completely charming. The property includes an outside tasting area, an Aztec cultural demonstration and a retail space inside. In addition to wine, Casa Dona Lupe produces a variety of jams and marmalades, tequila liqueurs, salsas and such. We received cards to taste 6 different wines and provided with homemade chips and a variety of salsas, as well as a flatbread pizza with a Mexican twist.
There was a significant decrease in the quality of wine tasted from L.A. Cetto. Dona Lupe is a small winery and is attempting to make the jump to a larger commercial producer. Let’s hope that they continue to hone their craft as they prepare for their next steps! I sampled four different red wines prior to resigning to the delicious edible options provided for us. The one highlight from the wines that I tried was their honey wine. It pretty much tasted like liquid honey and was of equal quality as good apple and ice wines that I’ve experienced. It is certainly a dessert wine and wouldn’t be enjoyable as a traditional 4 or 6 oz pour. It is intended to be sipped from a 1 to 2 oz serving, after a meal. Don’t try a traditional, full mouth taste of this stuff as it is super sweet. Given the sweetness, the alcohol content couldn’t have been very high either.
The highlight of this stop was definitely the atmosphere and the food element. We tried a pineapple/coconut marmalade that was absolutely delicious and we ended up buying a jar of that. We also picked up a couple bottles of Mexican vanilla for Shani’s baking exploits. Before leaving, Irma arranged for us to also sample two tequila liqueurs. The first was a macadamia nut tequila liqueur and the second was a tequila creme liqueur. Both were absolutely delicious. We were tempted to buy a bottle, but we just couldn’t nail down a practical use for it in our house. It was certainly purchase quality though if you appreciate liqueurs.
Soon we were back on the bus with Felix and Irma, headed back to the city. The trip back involved less interaction with Irma, but that was just right. Everyone had sampled a good bit of wine, been out in the heat of the day and probably stayed up a bit too late the night before. We sat back and enjoyed the ride through the Baja California countryside on the way back to Ensenada. As we got back to town, we had the option of being dropped off at a local marketplace or be returned to the ship. One couple decided to be dropped of in town. By this point, we had a near full box of wine along with bottles of olive oil and vanilla. Irma assured us that we could check our box in at the Marketplace where they would hold it while we shopped, but ultimately we decided to head back to the ship to drop the off the loot. We could then walk back down to town and search for my main objective of the Ensenada stop…a carne asada street taco. Well, we got on the ship, in the air conditioning, and that was all she wrote. It was back to the cabin for a nap before tonight’s festivities.
Casa Dona Lupe
After a good, uninterrupted nap, we got ready for dinner and headed back to the Pride Dining Room. As we had become accustomed, we were eagerly greeted by Camilo and seated in his section. Tonight’s appetizer for Shani was the beef and barley soup while I chose the smoked chicken quesadilla. We decided to forgo wine tonight, in favor of lighter cocktails, as consecutive days of red wine consumption at our age can get a little heavy on the digestive system. Here, I discovered, that you cannot order a double cocktail with the Cheers program. You have to wait 5 minutes after your last drink order to be served an additional shot. I thought it may not be possible, but I gave it a shot anyway. Shani is infinitely smarter than I am and suggested I sip a little off the top of my cocktail and wait 5 minutes before ordering an additional shot of liquor. Brilliant I tell you. I definitely married up.
Appetizers were delivered. My wife’s soup was set before her and Camilo set a bowl of the soup in front of me as well. As he did, I could see the acknowledgement in his eyes…I didn’t order the soup. Quick witted and without skipping a beat he said, “Your appetizer will be right up, please enjoy this soup to warm up your stomach.” Smooth. I didn’t even know I needed to have my stomach warmed up. All these years of what I thought was successful eating and I’ve been doing it wrong! The soup was decent, though Shani noted that she suspected the beef was last night’s prime rib. Hey, we can appreciate frugality. My quesadilla arrived. It was more chicken and black beans between the grilled tortilla and not much queso…but it was still pretty tasty.
Shani ordered the roasted loin dish for dinner while I went with the veal parmesan. The entrees arrived and we dug in. This is when we hit our first and only real food snafu. The beef loin was just not good. It had an unrecognizable taste and texture. I tasted it and concurred. She decided to ask Camilo for something different. Nothing else on the menu jumped out at her, but the port of call selection that night was street tacos. Well, who doesn’t love a taco. Camilo was awesome and made Shani feel good about her decision. In no time, she had tacos in front of her. I even gave a thumbs up for the carne asada in the taco, as it was better than I expected it to be. Again, the service from Camilo and his team made dinner one of the highlights of the day, even with the food challenge.
After dinner, we decided to catch the PG version of the other comedian on the ship, Lowell Sanders. We didn’t specifically choose the PG version, but that’s what was scheduled for the 8:30 time slot. Lowell’s show was more traditional stand up than Stanely Ullman’s and we both enjoyed his material. It was relevant and not as PG as I anticipated it was going to be, though it certainly wasn’t obscene.
The piano bar wasn’t open tonight for some reason, so our go to spot for the later night wasn’t available. We walked the promenade after the comedy show, noticed the karaoke lounge was full and roaring, but it didn’t really catch our fancy this night. We hit the fun shops, caught a couple minutes of the Hasbro game show and decided to act our age and get an earlier jump on sleep. Tomorrow was our sea day and we planned on sleeping in, without an alarm.
Next up, At Sea Day!
Have Wife, Will Travel 