Cavas Valmar

The house

Editorial review · reviewed on October 11, 2026

The wine at Cavas Valmar started in a house, as it did for many families in the valley, and in 1983 it became a winery. Fernando Martain and the Valentín family, his wife's, joined their two surnames to name it. More than forty years later the winery is still inside Ensenada, on Avenida Riveroll, and from there comes a short line of varietals and a line of red blends, Esferika, among them a Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

Martain comes from a family with roots in Guadalupe Valley (Valle de Guadalupe): his grandfather, Juan Martain, was already planting vines there. In the 1980s he advised other small wineries that were just getting started, and in 1985 he was a founder of the Cofradía del Vino de Baja California, the Baja California wine brotherhood.

The grapes do not grow in the city. The vineyard is in the upper part of the valley, at about 1,180 feet (360 m) of altitude, on sandy and clay soils with little granite. In the morning the Pacific breeze comes in, and in the afternoon the wind arrives from the sierra. Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Syrah, Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, and Carmenere all come from there.

If you want to get to know the house, you can ask for a tasting or a tour of the cellar, arranged ahead by phone, and hear the story of Ensenada wine from the family that has made it for more than four decades.