A rosé from Baja,
made for the long afternoon.
Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico
MONSE was born in Mexico City, but it's made in Valle de Guadalupe, the wine region two hours south of San Diego that nobody talks about loudly enough.
The valley sits at 1,000 feet, ringed by granite hills, cooled by the Pacific, and warmed by the same Mediterranean light that touches Provence and the Italian coast. The conditions for rosé are almost suspiciously perfect.
We've been quietly producing wine here for over a century. The rest of the world is only just starting to notice.
The wine.
We work with a small family producer in the Ejido El Porvenir to make our wine the way we want to drink it. Grenache and Mourvèdre. Hand-harvested. Pressed slowly. Bottled in tall, slender glass with a hand-dipped wax seal that matches the color of the wine inside.
The label is silver, embossed directly into the glass. No paper. No vintage on the front. No noise.
Pale peach in the glass. Dry on the palate. Notes of white peach, wild strawberry, and a soft mineral finish from the granite soils. Best served cold, in a casual glass, somewhere with good light.
We're not trying to make the most important wine in the room. We're trying to make the wine you reach for when the room doesn't matter.
— André, founder
Valle de Guadalupe.
Two hours south of San Diego. Two thousand feet of elevation. One hundred and fifty wineries, most of them family-run, most of them under twenty years old. The Mexicans call it “the Napa of Baja.” We call it home.
The valley has been growing grapes since the 1500s, when Cortez ordered vines planted to sustain his soldiers. The modern wine industry started here in the 1970s. The boutique movement, the design-led producers, the international attention, that's all from the last decade.
We were lucky to find a producer willing to make rosé the way we wanted it. Most of the valley is focused on red varietals. The few who make rosé do it as an afterthought. Ours is the whole point.
Small batches.
Slow afternoons.
Long memories.
The afternoon, bottled.
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