Baja Traveler Flor de Guadalupe World Class Wine

Château Camou

Flor de Guadalupe World Class Wines

By Sylvia Mendoza
June 2015

Nestled against picturesque mountains in Cañeda del Trigo, in the heart of the Valle de Guadalupe, Château Camou thrives as a family-owned winery. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, success stems from passion, work ethic and the idea of legacy.  “It started as the wish and dream of my father,” explains Fernando Favela Vara.  “My father created the concept of Flor de Guadalupe wines made to express the character of this land.”

Established with a vision of creating great Mexican wine, Fernando’s father also created the motto for Château Camou – “The art of creating world class wines.”

Château Camou produces age-worthy, terroir-focused wines, most notably classic Bordeaux blends, Fume Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Zinfandel. “At the start, we decided to make Bordeaux style wines because those were the ones, we liked the most,” explains Favela Vara. “If you do what you like, you will do it with passion and you will do it very well. That is the philosophy behind the Gran Vino Tinto.”

From the moment Favela Vara arrived in Ensenada as a student, he fell in love with it. Graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Fernando also earned his Master’s in Science at CICESE Research Center, where he worked in Seismic Instrumentation for over ten years. He continued working with the land, which made it easy to transition in making his father’s winery dream into a reality in Valle de Guadalupe.

In that heavenly valley, the water has fewer unwanted minerals, the temperature is a little cooler at night, allowing the vines to rest more than surrounding vineyards, and different types of soil – clay, a blend of clay and sand, and sandy – are each perfect for growing different grapes.

Traveling the world to study other wineries, the family designed the Château Camou winery building – a grand structure overlooking the vineyards and houses one of the most technologically advanced winemaking facilities in Mexico. The exhaustive maintenance of the vineyards, 6,000 plants per hectare, includes meticulous harvesting of grapes cluster by cluster, as well as implementing a sophisticated system of pressing, advanced fermentation methods and equipment.

Winemakers of international stature like Michel Rolland are part of Château Camou’s team that has produced their award-winning wines. Of more than 115 national and international awards and accolades, two stand out to Favela Vara: La Grand Madaille D’Or at the Concourse Mondial Brussels and the Best Imported Red Wine at The Atlanta Wine Summit.

The legacy of Château Camou lives on with every new wine produced, expanding its international reach and honoring Favela Vara’s deep connection to Ensenada. The solid values and hard work from his father have been passed down to a new generation – Favela Vara’s eldest son Fernando has come on board to learn the ropes. “What better way to become a native than working the land to make it produce great wines?”