At a glance
- Founded
- 1995first harvest, according to the house's website
- Winemaking
- Víctor Torres Alegre, founding winemaker
- Vineyard
- 50.7 acres (20.5 ha)
- Grapes
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Chardonnay, Grenache, Zinfandel
- Style
- Bordeaux-style blends · age-worthy reds · varietals
- Visits
- By appointment
The house
Editorial review · reviewed on October 11, 2026Château Camou looked to Bordeaux from the start. Its flagship, El Gran Vino Tinto, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot, and the house keeps older vintages of it for special tastings.
It was founded by engineer Fernando Favela Lozoya and Ernesto Álvarez Murphy, with Dr. Víctor Torres Alegre as the first winemaker. The first harvest was in 1995, and the house now counts 31 years of history in Ejido El Porvenir (an ejido is communally held farmland), in the south of Guadalupe Valley (Valle de Guadalupe).
The vineyard totals about 51 acres (20.5 hectares) with ten varieties. Besides the blends, the winery bottles single-variety wines of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, and Zinfandel.
The guided visit walks through the winemaking process and ends in a tasting. There is a base tour with seven samples, a higher-end one with regional cheeses, and the Château Experience, led by a member of the family's third generation, with the 1997 El Gran Vino Tinto. Book at least three days ahead through the house's website. The tour passes the pressing room, the fermentation tanks, and the barrel room, and ends at the tasting table. The valley, in the municipality of Ensenada, has a Mediterranean climate, with dry summers, winter rains, and cool nights from the Pacific breeze, and the house's Bordeaux grapes ripen in that climate.
The wines
The house follows the Bordeaux tradition in its blends, with El Gran Vino Tinto out front, and rounds out the catalog with varietals from French grapes and Zinfandel. It keeps older vintages of its flagship wine for special tastings.
Red
El Gran Vino Tinto
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot
The Bordeaux-style flagship blend. The house pours the 1997 vintage at its Château Experience.
Red
Château Camou Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc
Red
Château Camou Zinfandel
Zinfandel
White
Château Camou Chardonnay
Chardonnay
Grapes it works with
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Cabernet Franc
- Merlot
- Chardonnay
- Grenache
- Zinfandel
- Vineyard
- ten varieties
What to taste
El Gran Vino Tinto, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot, the label that made the house known. If the visit allows it, a sample straight from the barrel.
Why go
A tour from the press to the cellar at a winery with more than three decades of harvests, with barrel wine on the longer tours.
The visit
Receives visitors by appointment. Reservations are required.
Offers:TastingsTours
Tastings and tours
Visits are booked at least three days ahead.
Getting there
Camino a la Cañada del Trigo (the Cañada del Trigo road), Ejido El Porvenir
Camino a la Cañada del Trigo s/n, Ejido El Porvenir, 22750 Ensenada, B.C. · Get directions ↗ (opens in a new tab)
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