Our story
Mexico is the first country in the Americas to grow grapes for wine; the oldest vineyards are in Parras, Coahuila, and date from 1597, but today the most important area of production is in the Guadalupe Valley of Ensenada in Baja California, where 90% of the wines consumed in the market are prepared.
Casa Xolo
Casa Itzcuintle, in the heart of Valle de Guadalupe on the wine tour of Ensenada, Baja California, under the care of its chief winemaker, Engineer Eduardo Cordoba, is inspired by Xoloitzcuintle, an icon of Mexican history and mythology.
It is a boutique winery producing the Xolo Mexican wines, seeking excellence in harmony with the environment, respecting the distinctive qualities of the terroir of Ensenada, and bringing in modern methods of winemaking to attain the best oenological expression for each of its labels.
Xoloitzcuintle is an icon of Mexican history and mythology,
a god of the underworld ruling over day and night, life and death...
a cousin of the deity Quetzalcóatl, one the oldest race of dogs in the world,
originally from Colima, with over 3000 years of history.
xoloitzcuintle
Xolotl: God of twilight, life, death and twin of Quetzalcoatl
itzcuintli: bald dog
Xolotl dog
mictlan
Miktlan: “place of the dead” (mikki, dead; -tlan, place of’) refers to the underworld of the Mexica culture.
Grapes and Vineyards
Our grapes are of the red varieties Nebbiolo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and of the white varieties Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, which have proved to be best adapted to the climate in the valleys of Ojos Negros, San Vicente, and Guadalupe. Harvesting is during the months of July through September, by hand, prior to the vinification process, the best grapes are selected for fermentation in our stainless-steel tanks with controlled temperature, and once the process is completed the wine is aged for 12 months in French Oak barrels, then held in our large repositories for 36 months in one-thousand-liter casks, and in the bottle for a year.
