Having just attended Sabor a Cabo in Club Campestre in San Jose del Cabo, we thought that it was important to have a comparison by attending the Gastrovino Festival in Todos Santos. Gastrovino is designed to bring together Mexican wineries with local restaurants to support the community and its non-profit organizations. Held over three days (December 8 – 10th, 2023), Gastrovino has two tours of participating restaurants in south Todos Santos (December 8th) and north Todos Santos (December 9th). At each restaurant, the food is paired with a wine to create a special experience. On the 10th, the restaurants and wineries came together in Santa Terra, behind Oystera to offer food, wine, music and art to the attendees from 2:00 to 6:00 pm.

Going down the hill through the gate beside Oystera, there is parking and a large beautifully landscaped area with the shell of a ship. Arriving, we presented our tickets at a table and received our free commemorative wine glass. We were told to protect our ticket as it had spaces for the seven wines and five restaurants dishes that came as part of the entry price ($1,350 mx in advance and $1,700 at the event). As we entered the area, we saw a number of artists creating paintings among the trees in a shaded area. The wineries and restaurants were set up in a large area above a grassy area – with restaurants along the back and rows of wineries throughout the graveled area. On the left a band was set up to entertain the crowd. There were high top tables set up through the area for people to enjoy their food and wine, listen to the music and talk to their friends.

There were 21 wineries offering tastes of a selection of their wines. Most of these were boutique vineyards from the Valle de Guadalupe, although there were also a few from the mainland and from Napa and Sonoma California as well. I found that tasting seven wines was more than enough for the afternoon. The people on hand provided information about their wineries, wines and had bottles for sale at the event as well. The wineries included: Aborigen, Alixima, Bruma Vinicola, Casa Anza, Casa de Piedra , Casa Jippi, Cava Maciel, Clos de Tres Cantos, Dicantos Vinicola, Desert Wine 5, Bodegas Henri Lurton, Honrama Cellars, Larkin, Lechuza Shimul Vinos, Solar Fortun, Tres de Vino, Valle Girl Vino, Vinicola Total, Vinos Cruz, and Xecué. I had experienced a number of these boutique wines at events organized by Dawn Solomon of the Baja Vine Club.