Jo Ann Knox Martino was one of the organizers of our recent Wine and Whales trip to San Ignacio. I had to opportunity to talk with her on our 45 minute trip from San Ignacio to Laguna de San Ignacio, where we would board pangas to pet the grey whales. I asked Jo Ann how she had started her life as a wine maker. After a career as a special effects producer in Los Angeles, Jo Ann said that she was helping a friend plant grapes in the Valle de Guadalupe and decided that she should make some wine. With her first planting, as the harvest was coming up on Monday, on Friday they put up blankets to scare off the birds from the ripe fruit. Unfortunately, by Monday all of the grapes had been eaten or destroyed by the birds. Undaunted, however, Jo Ann bought some Zinfandel grapes and made her first barrel of wine. Like many of the boutique winemakers in the Valle de Guadalupe, Jo Ann studied with Hugo Acosta at La Escuelita.

This started VinTango. The winery, named after her love of the Tango was started in 2012 with the cave actually being completed in 2013. Baja Blog describes the construction of the Cava as “made from natural materials occurring on the property, such as the granite inside walls that were discovered when digging into the hill for the structure containing grays and pale reds. The façade is made up of softball sized balls of sandstone to give it texture, with large wooden doors and wrought iron handles. A deep sink carved out of stone is in the enclosure that is a work of art itself. She picked out antique light fixtures to hang from the ceiling. Cases of wine line the back with barrels of wine in progress on the sides.”

For the Wine and Whales excursion, Jo Ann brought three of her wines – a Nebbiolo, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Two 2 Tango, a blend of Cabernet (60%) and Nebbiolo (40%). The artwork on the labels is created by local artists and demonstrates her love of the Tango. She introduced each of these wines with a different dinner so that the attendees had the opportunity to experience the wine with different foods. There were raves about the wine and several people were especially intrigued by the Nebbiolo.