La Casa Vieja

The house

Editorial review · reviewed on October 11, 2026

The adobe you can see from the highway in San Antonio de las Minas dates from the 19th century. Four generations of the Toscano family lived there, and some Mission and Palomino vines more than a century old are still alive on the property, planted on their own roots, ungrafted.

Humberto Toscano was born and raised on this ranch. He spent years in the United States and in 2003 came back, looking for a quieter life, to revive the family vineyard, now about 7 acres (3 hectares), which he farms without chemicals and without irrigation. He runs the house with Colleen Toscano.

His winemaking is handmade from start to finish: destemmed by hand, foot-trodden, native yeasts, long macerations, old barrels, and bottling by hand, unfined, unfiltered, and with no added sulfites. Even the labels are made by hand, and the old vines are dry-farmed, meaning they get no irrigation. These wines have found an audience among importers and natural wine shops in the U.S.

Here you taste the Mission grape the missionaries brought, served at the same ranch that has tended it for generations. There is a tasting room, a small shop, and a rustic palapa for eating, about 1,600 ft (500 m) from the village gas station, at the km 93.5 marker of the Tecate to Ensenada highway. Hours are best confirmed on its Facebook page.