Slow Baja - Natalia Badan Rancho El Mogor The Soul Of Valle de Guadalupe

Episode Date: April 1, 2022

Natalia Badan has spent her life on Rancho El Mogor, the vineyard and organic farm her Swiss-French parents built nearly seven decades ago. "We are romantics and have always been a little eccentric. We were always organic, since my father's time. They called it biological agricultural, and everybody thought we were completely crazy. My father studied a lot; he had all the books from the University of California at Davis. These are my childhood memories --seeing him marking the books. Now it's common, but at the time, it seemed a little eccentric, but we were absolutely doing the right thing." When I ask her about the current state of Rancho El Mogor, she warmly tells me about all of their diversified activities. "We have the project of the vineyard; we have the winery; they go together. We have the organic garden that went for 24 years with the market, and now that goes to the restaurant. We have sheep and some cows which we need to improve the land. We move the animals from one place to another so they don't overgraze. Where they go, the soil becomes better with time. This is a very long-term project --improving soil and making a ranch like this more fertile takes many, many years --many more than I will live. But I think it is worth it, and this way, we don't put all our eggs in one basket." In addition to the winery, the farm and the animals, El Mogor is home to Deckman's Restaurant. Michelin-starred Chef, Drew Deckman, prepares hyper-locally sourced fare in an open kitchen. "Authentic, sustainable, and seasonal." Reservations required. Rancho El Mogor is Slow Baja Approved! Please email the winery to make a reservation. Follow Rancho El Mogor on Facebook Follow Rancho El Mogor on Instagram

Hello, hello, Ola K. Onda, Slobaha, amigos. My heaping dose of gratitude today goes to True Miller and her amazing assistant, Adriana, for helping me line up this interview and a few others when I was down, staying there a couple weeks ago. When True staff calls people listen, and it really helped to get to the people that I wanted to talk to quickly. So thank you. Thank you, Adriana, and thank you, True, for making your staff and your home available to me. Okay, I've got a few more thanks to get to today. Lots of tacos are flying out of here. We've got the Nora 1000 in just about a month. And some folks have dropped some tacos in the tank, and I want to say thanks. So, Andrew in Tempe.

Thanks, Amigo. Doug in San Diego, so good to see you and have a chat in person. Thanks for the support. I appreciate it. in L.A., Gracious Amigo. And yeah, I agree. More Pete Springer

conversations. That guy's the best. Michael in Maraga. Thank you. Kyle in Santa Barbara. Amy in North Carolina, you dropped an entire taco truck of tacos in the tank.

I really appreciate your support. Amy. Thank you. Todd in Indiana, man. Not only you're dropping tacos in the tank, you're coming with me on the Slow Baja Safari. It's going to be a major league adventure, Amigo, and I'm glad that you're coming with me. Andrew and Laguna Beach, thank you.

Yannick and Germany. Thank you. Jamie, I appreciate it. Steve and Clovis, yes, sir. Thank you for your support. Tim and DTLA, your support in the show, you're bringing two cars in this little Baja Safari class. How much more can you do? Andrea, I want to say thanks to you, and I also want to acknowledge that you are.

about to take your first Baja trip, which I think is so cool, and that your dad was, your dad, Irv was in the first Mexican-1000, the Nora Mexican 1000 way back in 1967. So thank you for dropping some tacos in the tank, some entire party platter, and I truly appreciate it. All right, onto the show today, folks, we have a beautiful person, a beautiful human being, Natalia Badon. She has been called the matriarch of the valley. She's been called the moral compass of the valley. She is a fierce fighter to curtail development in the Valle, and she is just, you'll hear it in her voice. She's a beautiful, serious, thoughtful woman. I'm very glad that she made some time to talk to

Slobaha. She spent her entire life as a steward of this property that her mother and father built. Her father was of Swiss descent and her mother was from France and they got themselves to Mexico and built it in a stunning, exquisite, small winery, organic farm, beautiful place in harmony with the land. They have about four acres of wine and you can visit Elmogorra. by appointment and the details will be in the show notes but um i think you can hear it i'm smitten just just sitting there in her presence was a beautiful uh experience for me so i hope you enjoy the show um i'll be back with something fun next week and without further ado natalia badan of el magor hey this is michael emery thanks for tuning into the slow baha this podcast is powered by

by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches, and hands down, my favorite tequila. Hey, I want to tell you about your new must-have accessory for your next Baja trip. Benchmark Maps has released a beautiful, beautiful Baja California Road and Recreation Atlas. It's a 72-page, large format book of detailed maps and recreation guides that makes the perfect planning tool for exploring Baja. Pick yours up at Benchmarkmaps.com. Well, hello. Hello, Michael. Natalia Baddan, El Morgor.

I am so delighted to be here. Thank you for making some time for Slow Baja. Oh, thank you for, thank you. So how do I begin? You're the Grand Dame of the Valley. You grew up on this property, yeah? Yes. I arrived when I was six months old.

From Switzerland? Was it from Switzerland? originally? No, I was born in Mexico City. Okay, but tell me about your parents. They did come from France and Switzerland? Yes, my parents came from my father from Switzerland, my mother from France,

although they were already Mexicans when I was born. Okay. Which at that time it wasn't so easy. I wonder how they did it. But they came in 50 because of the wars. They didn't want to go through another war. And they wanted Latin America. So they went through Guatemala, through Cuba,

and through Mexico City, which at that moment was a paradise, I think. It was a small city. They used to have dinner with ciceros, with the intellectuals of Mexico, and they had a great time. How did we end here? It's probably what you would ask.

Eventually. Yes. We have plenty of time. Well, my father was a great romantic and a great idealistic man. And he was older than my mother and much older than me. He was 52 when I was born. And he had some friends that told him about the... the valley of Guadalupe and they invited him to come to plant an olive grove.

And my father had traveled a lot and he had lived in many countries and in particular many of the Mediterranean countries. So when he arrived here he just fell in love with like the Mediterranean light, light climate. And he decided, which was kind of foolish, if I think about it, to come and stay here. And my mother, who was a Parisian, was quite shocked, I believe. But anyway, we ended here in a valley where there was no road,

almost no electricity. There was almost nothing. They were vineyards, though, but not in this side. Well, that's their story. My story begins there. So this is my land. This is my latest souvenirs are from here. My first souvenirs, excuse me.

And I'm very fond of this place. It's a beautiful place. It is. So I don't know where the flattery should begin. I spoke with Leta yesterday at Adobe Food Truck, and she said, you are her pillar. You're her pillar of wisdom. You're her pillar of integrity. You're her pillar of morality.

You're the center of the Valle. You're blushing. But tell me, that is high praise from a beautiful, beautiful person who does amazing work. Well, I think later is very, very kind. I don't know what to answer. As I'm very fond of this place, and of the vocation we've given to this place because altogether we have given the vocation of the wine country

and we did it all together, working very hard, looking towards the future, promoting the culture of wine, as we thought of it in a very elegant way, as a civilisatory thing or concept. So I think Leda has seen me fighting. Yes. For keeping... I have fight a lot and I still do. Because I fight for the environment,

for ecology, ecological agriculture, the soil, the good wines, the vocation of agriculture, of the valley. And, well,

this has happened lately, I think, has happened about from 10 years to now. So I think Leda sees me like that. Well, as I understand it, You've been making wine here since, what, 1980? Is that?

Yes, yes, yes. Or making and selling, I should say. You've probably been making wine here a long time before that. No, we used to grow the vines, harvest the grape, and sell them to the big wineries who didn't make so much wine at that time. They used to make brandy. But we all did that. cultivate the vines, pick the grapes

and sell them to them. And was that to Santo Tomas primarily? I don't remember a lot in the early 80s of wineries here. I don't remember much. No, no. They would make Randy. Okay. There were some Spaniards over there

who made a little wine, a very good little wine, but it was mostly for them. But to all of us, And there were many, many, many vineyards at that time. There were more vineyards at that time than now. Can you believe it? No, I can't. There's 300-something vineyards now, seemingly.

Yeah, but I'm talking about the fields, really the grape, the grape growing. Now we're about probably 300 wine makers. Yes, excuse me, yes, correct. But at a time, we didn't talk a lot about wine. It was like growing grapes, trying. to have the biggest harvest so it would wait more and they would pay us more and I'm talking about Cheto and Domek mainly who got together I don't know exactly how this is part of their story of their history and and suddenly we got tired we

didn't like it anymore to do that. So it was my brother who said in the 80s, let's do the wine ourselves and let's do great wines. You know, he was a badon, so he was also idealistic and romantic, you know, always like thinking of great things to do. And he did. So he went to Bordeaux and he went to the nicest wineries over there, all the chateaus and he came very enthusiastically say we are going to do a great wine for Mexico. And I think it was a very nice declaration now. So he began and he grafted my parents vineyard with Bordeaux varieties and he made his first wine in 87 and it was a very good wine. So after that came next year came Monteshanik with exactly the same declaration.

We're going to make very good wines for Mexico. Of course they were very big and they were very rich and they were very beautiful people. they did also and that is how it all began because Santo Tomas which is older was more in the south in the Santo Tomas Valley and in Ensenada it was they weren't so much here so that that is how it all began then came Hugo da Costa who's a very important person. He came to work in Santo Tomas and he had also this vision of this has to be a wine valley. This has to be the main wine valley of Mexico.

And he is an inologist, a professional analogies. So we all learned a lot with him. He is a very generous person in the way that he, thought anyone who would approach to us for counseling or he would just, he even did a little school. For many years we called it like squelita, where he taught how to make wine. So many of the wineries now are issued from the Esquilita, which is really nice. their origin. They were born there.

Yes, they were born there. You know, you make your first barrel and you get caught. And then you say, well, it was very good. Let's make a second one. And there you are, like, involved in this very nice world that is wine-making and grape-growing.

Yes. And you've taken that a little bit past that. Organic farm? We were always organic. Since my father's time, they called it at that time biological, biological agriculture. And everybody thought we were completely crazy. But my father was, he studied a lot. So he had all the, I remember having all the books, he issued from the University of California Davis. You know, it's from my childhood remembering

him studying and marking all the books. So we were biological. Now it's common. It's in fashion. We talk more about it. I think it is very important to talk about it because we have the climate change and it has to do

with that. It's an enormous challenge that we have. But at that time it seemed a little eccentric. Because we were very near the Green Revolution. And the Green Revolution, which is a term that I also heard as a child, was using chemicals to produce a lot and to eradicate hunger in the world.

And we were very near. So being biological at that time was like Centric. You were out doing your own thing. Yes. But you were doing the right thing. I'm absolutely sure we're doing the right thing in that sense. Yes.

So when I said you have an organic farm, but you're providing the food for this valley as well. With these restaurants, you're selling the lettuces and you're selling the produce here. Yes. It's a, you're just not feeding yourself as what I can get to. No, no, no, no. You have a farmer's market here.

Yeah, well, I don't have it anymore, unfortunately, because I don't have enough water, but I have a garden because, of course, I couldn't live without a garden. And, yeah, I share it with Deckmans and some very close friends, but I had a farmer's market for 24 years. and it was a very beautiful experience you know like making the soil produce very good food and sharing it with people was very very very satisfying

and I regret not doing it anymore but water has become very scarce so I have to adjust my projects to the water I have to be coherent with what I say. And your water comes from the mountain behind us. Yes. So tell me about it.

Tell me about how your water is different or better. Well, I'm simply very lucky because water in the river of Guadalupe in the bottom of Guadalupe has become salty because of over-exploitation. And I have this beautiful water that comes from the mountain that is extremely good. It's not very much. I would need much more, but it has a very good quality.

So we try to use it as wisely as possible and really to make water management something very important. something very important. Water management and, you know, key lines and harvesting rain water and all these hippy things that are very important. Well, we had quite a bit of rain here recently. Well, we had one inch, yes, but we've been through a very severe drought for two years. Now it's nice and green, but, well, hopefully we'll have a little more rain this weekend. But, but. Yes, it has become skills. So we really have to work on another model of agriculture. And I think it is extremely fascinating.

I am fascinated with it, you know, creating soil, not tilling anymore, being, of course, strictly organic. I wouldn't be able to be another thing because I don't know. I mean, it's like natural and normal for me. You know, sometimes they ask me, Why don't you put in your labels? And I say, because it is not a commercial concept. It is because I believe in it, so I won't put it.

It's probably foolish, but... But it's honest and from the heart. Yes. With a large smile. I wish you were here, folks, to see this. Just a beautiful, beautiful, honest smile. Well, tell me more about the property. How many...

Can you talk about what's here and where... We're at your home? Are we sitting on the... round of your home? This is my home. So you have your home here. Yes. There's a famous chef who seems to do wonderful things under a tree somewhere over there. Yes, yes. Let me tell you, this is an enormous property that I inherited. It's about 1,000 hectares, which when I inherited, I thought it was completely crazy. You know, I remember walking in the mountain, of course, there's a lot of mountain.

And, you know, I would think, why do I have so much and what am I going to do with it? I am so grateful now because I feel it protects me against, well, many aggressive things that are happening in the valley that shouldn't be happening, I think. And I'm working this year on making it a protected area. like a certified protected area. So now I'm grateful it is big and it has mountains and a lot of chaparral. What do we do? Well we do what we call diversified activities.

So we have several little projects that interact, one with the other other. So of course I would say that we have the project of the vineyard. We have the project with the winery that goes together. We have the organic garden that went for 24 years with the market. But well now it goes like more like to the restaurant. We have sheep and we have some cows because we believe we we need it for improving the land. So we make this technique of moving the animals from one place to another so they don't overgraze.

And where they go through the soil becomes better with the time. This is a very long-term project. And I was interested when they told me slow Baja, and I said, well, okay, yes, it does make sense for me. Because improving soiling and making a ranch like this more fertile? Yes, fertile. takes many, many, many, many years, much, many more than what I will live. But I think it is worse.

So we have the sheep and we have the cow and we have the garden and we have the carob grove which dates from my father because my father planted carob trees because some person at the University of California told him that it was a good tree for this region so I'm trying to make them flourish again and well

all these melts one with the other helps one with the other and this way we don't put all the eggs in the same basket. Do you have that expression? Yes, we do. Yes. And finally we have Mr. Deckmans, who arrived 10 years ago and who asked me to put a restaurant.

And I told him, well, there's no place to put a restaurant here. And he said, yes, yes, yes, under a tree. And, well, what he told me seemed interesting. So he began under a tree and it was very charming. It was very charming and he's a very good chef. It has grown now. I can of regret it. Because it was more bucolic, you know, it was really...

But well, the valley has changed also. And for people like me, it's like sometimes it's hard to understand or accept changes that are so strong. Aggressive maybe. Yes. But Drew Dechmann is there and we think he makes food with local produce which is great. He defends the ocean as a warrior which is great. He's good with his people, which is great.

So we get along well. We get along well. And of course, I sell him my wines and my lambs and my veggies. So it's part of the whole thing. That is, yeah, that is El Morgon now. Hey, do you wish you had joined us on the Nora 500? Well, here is your chance. It's double the mileage, double the fun, double the parties, double the dirt. It is the Nora Mexican 1000. We're going to drive by day. We're going to party by night. I'm pouring Fortaleza tequila. April 30th through May 6th, 2022. We're driving the entire peninsula. You don't want to miss out on this one. Again, if I can do it in my 1971, Toyota Land Cruiser, totally stock. You can do it in any modern 4x4.

The Nora Mexican 1000 is the happiest race on earth. Check it out at nora.com, n-r-R-R-A-com, or on Slow Baja. Here at Slow Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruisers south of the border. When we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at Bajabound.com. That's Bajabound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. Let's talk about your fight.

You're fighting to keep this valley from becoming Wine Disneyland. Yes. Well, I think it was Wine Disneyland and now I think it's even worse because some opportunistic entrepreneurs, and I'm not afraid of calling them like that. just saw our work that took generations and began to attract tourism but not

exactly the tourism we want for the activities we want so now they're installing a lot of I don't know how you say anthros in English like bars and places to have a lot of fun, which is fine. Don't think I'm... You don't look like you're against fun. No, of course not.

But I think what they're doing is very urban, and it should be in the city. Which is not very far from here. No. You can have both... Of course. Both things. Of course. But don't ruin this thing.

Well, it's very aggressive with what we do. We would like to keep rurality. Because I think there are a lot of people living in very big cities and they appreciate rurality. You know, we have a very simple place where we receive people. It's under a tree. And always the visitors say, oh, you know, it reminds me my grandmother's house.

It has always something, you know, it has a repercussion on people. And it's simply a tree and some chairs. So I think we should go in that way. And that goes very well along with, keeping a vineyard, making wine. But when you begin with very heavy music all night long, lights everywhere, and it simply doesn't go that long.

It's not against it. No, it's not for here, though. It simply is not for here. And it's very menacing because it's a very good business, by the way. Very good business. So there are more and more and more. And I think it is a grat... I think it can destroy the valley

if you see it in, I don't know, 10 years, very soon. So there we have to be, you know, like trying to fight, yes, to fight frontly, but also like to create a certain sensibility of what we have and we could lose forever. So we need nature, we need valleys, we need agricultural plays,

we need calm, we need silence, we need listening to the birds. Beautiful. And at night we need watching the stars and hearing and listening to the coyotes. So this type of development that they're thinking about in like, okay, it is a lot of money, but we're going to pay it very, very, very, very heavily.

Because it's one place and another and another and another. And what are we living for for next generations? So, yes, I do fight sometimes I'm tired because I've been fighting for 30 years. and fortunately there are younger people now that are that are doing it but well I'm still there well let's change the channel a little bit

and tell me a little bit about your friends here in the Valle and the places that you love and the things that are doing it people that if you're leaving your ranch here there are many there many there many I have a lot of friends, other the winery, the wine people, most of them are very very solidarity. We help each other. We laugh together.

We work a lot together. We exchange. We're very happy when somebody makes a great wine. And this is very important. It gives us a great quality of life. At your heart, you're all farmers. Yes. This is an agricultural business.

Yes, it is. It's an elegant product sometimes. Yes. But it's not a sophisticated process. No, no, no. No, no. It's dirty hands. We have to be very close to nature.

Very close. And we're sensitive to it. So we're very happy when it rains, even if it's muddy. We're happy when it is cold because we always think about our little plants that need the cold. It was frost on the ground today as I was walking through the vineyards at Adobe Guadalupe. You know, you could see the sparkle of the frost. Yes. Yes.

which is nice now. We need it. Grapes like cold and when we have these warm winters we worry. So we're very, very, very close to nature and I think that gives us an enormous strength and we are a very nice and solidarity group, which is extraordinary. And, well, that is a particular pleasure. More and more people are going organic and interested in alternative ways of doing it. And, well, that gives me a lot of satisfaction because I think we were the only ones for many, many years. Do you still have your father's books from UC Davis? Of course.

It's not so far from where I live, you know, just an hour and a half. Of course I have them. Their treasures. Yeah, and they're all marked, you know, underlined. So, yeah, those are the family treasures, you know, that give us the way, where to go. Your guiding light. So let's go back to your father's arrival here. As I was walking over to your veranda, we passed a large rock in your yard.

And there's the worn places there that the ancient people, ground their their grains there yes yes Baja California has have had human inhabitants for thousands of years they were they would go from the mountain to the sea back and forth within the seasons and they were hunters and fishermen, but there were nomads.

And this house where we are is where I came with my four children when my mother got old, and she was tired of viewing such a noisy family, but I used to live over there near where Deckman is. That is my infancy home. and this little house this house was a little adobe house that my father built like for the man in charge

so I told my husband let's rearrange it and make it a little bigger for our family so that's what we did but suddenly I realized that I don't know how many years ago

probably thousands or hundreds years, there were just here families that were living. Yes. And it is probably, you know, I've always felt in El Morgor like a very nice

atmosphere. I know it sounds a little hippie, but like good vibrations. You know, it's a nice place. So probably the fact that they were living here has left that. So I just treasure my Molcahetes in the granite rocks.

And you have three quite clear. Malkajete is three. I wonder how many else are around. Oh, there are in the ranch. There are more. Amazing. So they used to grind the fruits of the oak, which I like. Yes, the acorns.

Acorns. Acorns. Yeah, and make an atolle with them. And your father, did he build most of this with his hands or oversee it? Is it all of his vision? Absolutely. Amazing. Yeah, absolutely.

Yes. I'm just continuing. I'm just continuing. Yes. And is there somebody to come after you? I have four children, so hopefully, yes. I won't force anything, but three of them are here. now.

Your eyes are twinkling. Well. It's a lot of work, though. It is a lot of work. It is. All the time. And it's like almost every day and almost all the year. There is a little place in November where you can go.

You know, once you finish the wine, you finish the harvest, the grapes are just like beginning. to rest and you go elsewhere to see the world and to take a rest. But it's the only part of the year where you can do that. All the rest, you just grab my nature and you have to follow it because timing is very important in agriculture. Well, you just took a look at your rosemary, which is blooming and swarming with bees. Yes.

And you said, aloud, I have to plant more roses. Rosemary. Yes. Immediately. Like, yes. Yes, we have to plant rosemary. Plant more rosemary. Keep more bees. Feed more bees. Yes. They're having a tough time. Yes. The products that are here that go to Deckmans, fruits, vegetables, your trees are laden with citrus right now. Just stunning, beautiful lemons. You've put two stunning oranges on the table, but it looks like you have grapefruit and other things as well. Oh, yes, I have apricots. I have, well, yeah, cum quads. I have persimones. I have apples. And I do, I preserve all that. Yeah, I do jams. And baking as well?

Not so much because I have a bad oven and I haven't changed it. How many things can you do? But I, yeah, but I had in the garden, you know, in summer I just make. like a rattatooie and keep it and tomatoes. Yes, yes, yes. I learned that from my mother. She was extremely good doing and I just saw her all my childhood, so I just make the same.

Having good food is very important. And when you grow your own things, it's so satisfying. So we, yes, we do have honey also. And the vegetable, just the season ones. So when it's summer, it's tomatoes and eggplants and chilies and in winter it's cauliflower and cabbage and lettuce. Root vegetables. And root vegetables, exactly. So I just go with nature.

I don't force anything. But there's a big greenhouse here. There is a big green. Yeah, it's just to elongate a little bit of shorten, but I don't heat it or I don't do artificial things. I wouldn't think so. So tell me about your sheep. How come?

Oh, that's a very nice story. Oh, that's, yes, it is a very nice story. Let me tell you about it. There is a ranch up there. and there used to be a ranchero with his wife, and they had a baby. And that baby grew up, and he needed to go to school.

But it was very hard for them to drive to Encenaura with a little boy and then coming back. And at that time, my children were going every day to Ensenada to school. So he came here and he said, could you take him? And I said, well, of course I can take him. So we would go with a little child and leave him at his school and then my kids would go to another school and bring him back. And one day, after a few months, he came with the sheep.

And he said, well, I want to thank you, so I brought your sheep and I said, what? And he was very funny. So he told me, yes, now it's one, but then you'll have many. you can make a Birria place near the road, and you will become very rich. And I really didn't know what to do with the sheep. Quite a gift, quite a responsibility. So I made a little, um, an uncle, how do you say?

To keep him inside. A little corral. A little corral near the house. Of course, my kids were very happy with it. And suddenly there was a little baby, a little lamb. Well, that's the beginning. And I'm talking about more than 20 years ago. So then, and that's another very nice story, my kids went all away.

When they were 18, they didn't want to know anything about the ranch, anything about my little things and my little town, and they wanted the big city. So I said, all right, and I sent them all to Mexico. city. So you want the big city? Go to the big city. So they went and they studied and they made their thing. And at the same time, one of my best friend, boy, was also in Mexico City at the university, but he really didn't like it at all. And his parents were desperate because they have, you know, PhDs, they are academics. It's et cetera, Pablo. And once he just told his parents, I don't want this anymore, I don't want to study, I hate school, and his father particularly was really, really very upset.

So I told him, because he was one of my kids' friend, I told, Pablo, why do you come to the ranch? Why don't you come to the ranch? And work a little bit here. and for him it was a revelation he just loved it and he said

this is what I want to be so he became like a cowboy and he loves animals so he took care of the he took the the sheep in hands he studied a lot

about how to raise them and how to feed them and everything and that's how it grew and that is how we began to sell the lambs to to Drew Deckman and then he went away because he got he he he he was in love with a spaniard girl and she took him to Spain and there he is over there raising horses or something like that. But

the sheep, the herd, you say a herd. The herd stayed. And it is here.

And we take care of it. And is there cheese at all with the sheep? No. No. No. No.

That was our project with Pablo. And I was very excited with it. But that's really another complex project

and no we're not working on it. You're keeping it simple. Yes. Terrific. Because it's quite complex as it is already. So if someone would say, okay, I'm going to make

it, okay, fine, but not myself. That's a story. It's a beautiful story. And the cows? And the cows? Those were my brothers. my brothers passed away in 2008 and I just kept them and then I gave them to Pablo and he took very good care of them and then he went away so there they are and now

we're taking care of them and they're just they're mostly for working the ground much more than anything else and they're so happy and they're so gentle, you know? If they're on the road, they won't move. I have like to push them. Yes, we learn to manage with non-stress, which is very nice. And very important.

And very important. Yeah, so very unfortunately, sometimes we have to sacrifice some. It's very sad for me, but we have to shorten the hurt. I cannot leave it grow. Because when droughts come, it becomes hard. But they have a very, very good life.

They do, and it looks like you have a very good life. Can people visit you here? Sure. They can try the wine? Oh, yes. Tell me a little bit about that. Yes, well, yes, that's another nice story. When we began, my brother,

didn't want to receive like tourists. So he would receive people, but it was like his friends and so. He died and I decided to open the winery on weekends, Saturday and Sunday. So to share with visitors. There weren't many at the time. And we would give the wine. It would be free. To taste.

Yeah. and it was so nice they would just come and you would pour oh it's nice but do you think and blah blah blah and they would go and then well people came more and more

so we did more we began to make it pay and I was there myself for about three years I was the only one pouring wine

and it was a very nice experience strong experience because each visitor has a different personality and you have like to but it was very I would give a lot of energy but I would receive a lot also from people but then I got a little tired of it and I said well so my kids began to do it my daughter told me clearly, Mama, I'm not going to do it like you. And I said, well, that's fine.

Everybody, each one has its own style. And then the pandemic made us close for several months. And then we reopened it. So now we receive much less people because it was beginning to be like too much. So we didn't have like the attention. attention we wanted, like more personal attention. So now we make it by appointment, very few people,

and we really work so they have a great time. They can stay as long as they want. And we don't have like a speech. We go and see what there is. see what they're interested are or is and we just talk with them as long as they want us to talk with them and if they just want to stay there with a bottle so it's nice it's a very nice experience and can you tell me a little bit about the wines that you make here yes sure sure so the first one was the the result from that that trip to bordeaux so it's a bordeaux so it's a bordeaux

de lae. It's Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. It's very nice. With the eyes twinkling, folks. And a smile straight from the heart. And it was born in 87, so we've gone a long way with it. And it's our most famous one, the most known. and then in 2000 my brother Antoine went to Switzerland where my father was born

and there are grapes they are white grapes they make a wine that is called fendon and the Swiss love it and drink it all you can almost you don't find it in stores because they just drink it and he brought some little sticks

inside his coat. A smuggler. Yeah. Yeah. He smuggled some plants. And when he arrived, I said, you're completely crazy. Those graves like cold. But they did it beautiful.

So that is our white wine. It's called Chasla del Mogor. And so after that, We stayed a long time with one white and one red. Of course, our project is very small. And then one summer I was under the pepper tree and it was so warm. And I said, oh, my goodness, how nice it would be to have a nice cold Jose. So I went to Hugo da Costa.

And I said, oh, I would like to make a Jose. Of course, he told me. With what grapes? And I said, well, I don't know. Well, try many and you'll tell me. So we did our first Jose. And it's called Arrevol. Arebole, my daughter named it.

And it's the colors of the clouds at the sunset. It's very nice. It's a 100% grenage. It's very nice. And then we made this completely foolish adventure, buying, All vineyards in France that were being pulled out because nobody wanted them. And we got together 20. Hugo da Costa got us together and said, let's buy these dinners because they're destroying them.

And well, another story about romanticism. Yes, let's save the vineyards in the long dogs. So I bought a hectare of Syrah. We make the wine over there in a very little village, small, the smallest village you've ever seen. We bring it by boat, imagine. And then here we put it in barrels. We let it recuperate from the long trip,

and we blend it with grapes from here. So I make my French. Mexican wine. Beautiful. Yeah. Which is very good. A little bit of work though to save one hectare of but enough people saved enough of it that it's... completely foolish. Well it's good to be foolish. Yes it is. Well I appreciate you making some time for Slow Baja and I'd like to stay and just keep talking to you about your beautiful world here. I'll have your information for people to make an appointment and I hope that the slow Baja world will come in and enjoy this beautiful, beautiful world you've created.

Thank you. Thank you very much for sure. So thank you for sharing. Thank you for coming and thank you for being slow. It's good to be slow. All right, thanks. Hey, I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Antalya Badon. What a beautiful human being.

Elmigore is just an exquisite property. Strong, strong, strong, slow Baja approved. Make the effort, make an appointment, get down there, hang around for the afternoon, and make sure you have a reservation to eat under the big tree with Drew Deckman and get all those beautiful organic vegetables that are coming right from that farm. And the little lambs too. All right.

Well, on to nuts and bolts for the first time in well over a year. The modern trucker is back in all styles, all flavor. is green and white, gray and white, black and black. Dad hats are in. The old school trucker is also in. So if there is a hat that you've been coveting, they are back. If you need to replace your old grubby hat, get it now while they last. Don't know how much longer they're going to be in or how soon I'll be able to get them redone. But please, if you want one, slowbaha.com is your place to get them. Last item on the agenda reviews, folks, we could use a few reviews, haven't had a review this entire year. Am I whining?

Man, it's April. But it really does help. It helps people find the show. There's an algorithm out there that when people are leaving reviews, it seems like more people are listening. And, you know, I'd appreciate anything you can do on that front five-star on iTunes or Spotify. Thank you very much. And as Steve McQueen once said, Baja's life, everything that comes before or after is just waiting. Have I told you about my friend True Miller?

You've probably heard the podcast, but let me tell you, her vineyard, Adobe Guadalupe Winery is spectacular. From the breakfast at her communal table, bookended to an intimate dinner at night. Their house bred Azteca horses, Solomon, the horseman will get you on a ride that'll just change your life. The food, the setting, the pool, it's all spectacular. AdobeGuadalupe.com. For appearing on Slow Baja today, our guests will receive the beautiful benchmark map 72-page

Baja Road and Recreation Atlas. Do not go to Baja without this, folks. You never know when your GPS is going to crap out, and you're going to want a great map in your lap. Trust me.