2021 Casa Magoni Sangiovese Cabernet Valle de Guadalupe 750 ml

Camillo Magoni’s friends must’ve thought he’d lost it.

Born in Italy, the alum of Piedmont’s prestigious Enologica a Di Alba had no prior connections to Mexico. Yet, after working a few years in his home nation, he accepted a new job, packed up, and moved to Baja.

It was 1965, and Mexico’s Valle de Guadalupe had very few wineries. Fifty years later, this coastal paradise has evolved into one of the West Coast’s hottest up-and-coming regions—and that’s thanks in part to Magoni’s long career at Baja’s L.A. Cetto winery. A few years after that, the godfather of Baja wine crafted this 2021 Sangiovese-Cabernet from his family-run Casa Magoni, and it boasts a plush boldness that proves he made the right move all those years ago.

Bursts of red fruit, spice, and flowers define the nose, and a sip confirms the wine’s stellar balance, letting Cabernet’s rich fruit and Sangiovese’s well-integrated tannins play off each other like Ellington and Coltrane. Vinified in stainless steel, its refreshing acidity nicely complements its seamless complexity.

Valle de Guadalupe’s sun-blanketed landscape is ideal for almost any grape, and Magoni farms 70 different varieties. A slightly warmer cross between the Southern Rhône and Tuscany, it’s cooled by Pacific breezes and rich in rocky soils that challenge the vines—the ingredients of a world-class winegrowing area.

In fact, when Spanish missionaries first began making wine in Mexico, specifically Baja, the government banned it, fearing its quality would jeopardize the nation’s own imports. But by the early 21st century, that immense potential started drawing winemakers from across the globe.

This bottling represents decades spent studying that exquisite terroir, and a chance to taste the work of a regional icon.