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Recommended Reviews - Rancho Cortés
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9 years ago
We laughed when we read the previous yelper's advice to "follow your instincts" but he ended up being totally right! Actually it was my bf's instincts that we should have followed bc he pointed at a small dirt road and said "I think we're supposed to turn there" and I suggested driving around more after looking dubiously at it. Whoops! Turned out he was right! After we drove around for 30+ minutes zig zagging back and forth, we finally asked the right person for directions and it turned out that was exactly the road we should have gone down haha :) So here's how we got here: If you're driving NE on Hwy 3 (from Ensenada), drive past the small town of San Antonio de las Minas, and after a minute or two, take the first U-turn, then make a right at the first paved road after the U-turn. Follow the paved road for 5ish minutes, then cross the street at the intersection where it hits "Carretera el Tigre" and then keep going straight on the dirt road. Follow the dirt road and you'll almost immediately start seeing signs for Rancho Cortes. Stay right on the fork that has no signs, and you'll find it after a few minutes. Hard earned directions! I uploaded a google map snapshot of exactly where the dirt road starts, hope that helps! The cheese cave was way more low key than I had expected, but it was still a fun quick pitstop. The boy manning the desk was shy but showed us around and we generally got the gist of what he was saying between his limited English, our limited Spanish, and a lot of gesturing. He charged us 35 pesos total to take the two of us to the cave and gave us each tastings of five cheeses. The cheeses were good but overwhelmingly strong so I was craving wine or anything to cut the taste of the strong cheese by the last tasting. Good luck finding it! read more
10 years ago
Hard to find, but tasty cheeses and the most wonderful olive oil I have ever tasted. You can really taste the terrior and uniqueness. They make the most fruit-driven olive oil I have ever experienced. We are bringing home several liters! There were some severe language barriers, as even my Spanglish is lacking but the young man tending to the tastings was ready and willing with his phone translation app. We even managed to get a tour where they make the cheeses which was attached to the milking area, which was directly adjacent to where the cows live.Talk about farm fresh!!! He served us 6 different cheeses, each very enjoyable. The light Valle was fresh and clean, there was a rather soft gouda, an aromatic chipotle, one with chopped olives, and a parmesan style which was not quite as dry and nutty as one would expect, but very nice too. We dipped the cheeses in the olive oil....ahhhhh bliss. The signage to get there is sorely lacking...you need to look VERY carefully and trust your instincts to actually get there. It is a long way on a very unlikely road. I included a photo of the intersection from which you begin the off-road journey to hopefully help a few cheese-heads find the destination. We wandered up and down the highway quite a bit before actually finding the right road. And once you get there, you still may have questions because the tasting room is a very tiny little building which looks rather unlikely. read more
7 years ago
7 years ago
10 years ago
Although not as nice as La Cava de Marcelo in Ojos Negros, Rancho Cortés is a good option for a change of pace from wine tasting in Valle de Guadalupe. Follow the signs (some of which are small) along dirt roads leading NW from the El Tigre-El Porvenir junction with the signed road to Ensenada. The farm itself has no sign when you arrive, but there is a small shop on your left. For 40 pesos apiece, we got a tour of the facility and a tasting of five different cheeses. read more
8 years ago
This place is about 30-40 min from downtown Ensenada and every review that says this place is hard to find is accurate. It's hard to find partly because maps doesn't take you to the right entrance to the Ranch and it doesn't always recognize dirt roads. What you should do is follow google maps all the way until you see a bright blue winery. The entrance to the ranch is a dirt road directly next to the winery. If you're looking at the winery straight on from the front it's directly to the left. When we went there was a little food stand by the dirt road. If you start driving down the dirt road for 20 seconds you'll see a rickety wooden sign that signs 'Rancho CorteS' written on it in white paint. From there you'll take a right and follow the road until you hit the ranch. At one point you'll hit a fork in the road...go right (or keep going the way you're going). I believe it was about a 3 min drive from when we turned onto the dirt road to hitting the ranch. I think maybe we went on an off day, as nobody else was there and there wasn't a tour. Instead, one of the workers gave us a tasting of about 4 cheeses that were made at the ranch. We paid him $2, but he spoke very little English and we had trouble asking him questions about the ranch. The ranch itself is fairly small with some livestock. I would definitely only visit this place if you're in the area looking at wineries and want to see something a little different. It was fun though and nice for us to get out of Ensenada and visit a farm. There's also a chicken stand on the main road that you must visit if you pass! read more
More info about Rancho Cortés
Carretera El Tigre- El Porvenir Km 15.5
Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California
Mexico
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646 208 4749
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