The Baja Brief: Exploring Baja California Sur's Best Wine, Yachting, and Lifestyle | Episode 6

welcome back to our fifth episode of the Baja brief today I'm with Tana CAD a founder of the Cabo wine club uh the oldest wine club in the Baja California Sur the Visionary behind the chu of town and you're a prominent figure in the Region's culinary and wine scene with a passion for Gastronomy but you also have countless experts to make their transition to move to Cabo in Year and happy but let's us start from the begin Tana tell me more how did everything started how did you move to Cabo first off gatsy for letting

me uh be on your podcast in your first one and congratulations on your uh newborn uh I as a newlywed visited Baja 44 years ago with my sweetheart Dan craige head his father has been coming to Cabo since Dan was 14 years of age I won't give his age up right now but do the ma so over the years we went back and forth to Cabo and we ended up here on the marina my father-in-law had a small little condo at Plaza Las glorus for those who' have been here for a long time they know

that uh that's one of the first buildings up on the marina side we were here before actually the marina was being built we saw the whole growth expansion my father-in-law bought a home in petgal which uh was lovely and my husband and I commuted back and forth because we were working raising kids and and doing life up in the north and then coming to the South for our beautiful relaxation vacation needed for four days you know how everybody does that 4 day ah four days it felt like a month fast forward as the kids went

off to school we came down more and I stayed longer and I remember going to a wine shop called toini um and I picked up a bottle of Mexican wine and I thought wow this sounds really interesting but $60 it seems a little high for Mexican wines and I say that only in retrospect that you're drinking beers back then for a dollar you know and having shooters for I mean I don't know how long here when when the roads were not even P there no paved roads there was maybe yeah I don't think so no

I don't I remember walking on dirt roads to El squid row that was the happening place well you would start out at the Rio and then from the Rio had the best happy hour they're their Tapas and happy hour was amazing and then from there you went to the gigglin Marlin where they put on a fantastic show and I hope that they rebuild and put that show back together for our community because it was amazing and then from the gigglin Marlin we would finish it off the night in at El squid row where Billy would

entertain everybody to the mints and kept us going all night long But as time went on and you get older and the kids are getting older and they're getting married and just partying yeah and uh so the wine club uh I decided that uh I wanted to educate my pallet about the different wine varietals and I started in our home in pgal and invited some of our neighbors and we had 12 guests and one of the guests uh which she just moved out of town sandre Berry a lot of uh people know her she wrote

for the Los Cabos magazine and several newspapers uh because besides that you're a very active member of the pedal community and it's also impressive how Cabo has changed because peda was one of the main and the first uh developments in OK Cabo especially for people who love fishing because I assume that your your father-in-law yes he had a fishing do you do you like fishing too oh yes I love to fish when the water's calm like a lake but no I love fishing I love what all that uh CWA has to offer and ped girl

is a great neighborhood to to live in so we are right close to town our home and uh our neighbors are you know it's great to know your neighborhood and who your neighbors are and that's why petal is so engaging because it's a community and when we first moved there there was no Community I mean there really if you know intendo espanol or didn't read it or anything you really didn't know what was happening exactly and there were a lots of things happening within the local community and I attended a lot like soric uh the

very first one was uh 16 years ago I did not go to the 16th the first one or the second one but I did go to the third one because I understood more the culture and the neighborhood and that's important when you move to a neighborhood or a community you should know what uh the community is all about and what they have to offer because right now fast forward to 2025 our local scene is amazing with the chefs we have um Michelin star chefs the Farms get out and go see our farms and here in

Los Cabos we have some beautiful Farms before it was just San Jose Santiago M Flores those were the areas that were producing this wonderful wonderful uh fruits and vegetables but now go up the coastline the Pacific you have Toto Santos pesc I mean what they're producing and the and the chefs and the the food and wine and scene is come together so beautifully here and that's why I think when I started the wine club that um I wanted to see more of that happening within our community now today uh when pedal uh we moved to

Pedal they just had uh um the homes being built uh Monica Diaz Riviera had started uh the uh L organic market and I remember her talking to the Growers back in San Jose and stuff how to get them there to sell product as a farmer's market and they didn't really capture the concept I would go with her this is how dedicated she was to kick it off go with her to a dirt and mind you the roads were all dirt to these farms and they would have their scales hanging from the tree to weigh the

product as she took it off and then they would write it and then she would go and she would set the tables up and she would sell it and bring him back the money and they saw that hey maybe there is a need and then an expanded so has a wonderful farmers market now it's Saturdays right it's Wednesdays and Saturdays Wednesday Satur 8 till noon and it's well worth seeking Tradition now for all the P girls Community it's open to everybody every community in Los Cabos or visitors here that want wanting to get uh some

beautiful fruits right now it's a citrus season so you're going to get lots of citrus fruits how have you seen the the change of gabo and deat Community is there a change because when we are here for a long time we didn't have paved roads actually there was actually like only three spots or four spots where you can go out at night um it's Cowboys is still a one of the safest places in in all the Mexico uh country but back then have you seen uh how yes of course my goodness the mountains are Costco

condos and I guess I shouldn't call them Costas but there's so much development going on and the infrastructure is growing so rapidly that there's not I don't think they have a building I mean I would like to have asked your broker about that the building commission uh for the waters we're very limited on water here of course pedal has the beautiful part about pedal we have a diesel plant so we're our water is never turned off or we're not ve very low on water however the a lining areas of us have no water and they

turn them off uh for a week and then turn sometimes two weeks and then they rotate like there's different uh districts There's You Know A caboo District and then you have tazel district and so you I think there's like within the Cabo St Lucas Area there's 16 districts Right There are 16 yeah there's 16 districts and and it's good thing you ask me this question because Cabo has grown so much and since the pandemia all these expats from all around the world have moved here and bought homes here not just in pedo but in other

communities and that's where T of the Town came in I was talking with Nomi that uh is the expat administrator for Los Cabos whose office is in katak on located on the marina um to I worked with her to put together the Talk of the Town and so she and her team host monthly meetups the next one is February 8 18th is with the Canadian culate and it's going to talk about our expats from Canada what their benefits are here and then on top of that Naomi will talk to them about the benefits for expats

living abroad and what they you know how to obtain maybe residence uh see and stuff like that what do you think about the the fact because I have many friends that are either American or Canadian and they have moved to Cabo uh for I don't know they have been living here 40 20 years and they don't feel the need to speak Spanish right I I have I know many people have been here for a while and do not speak Spanish to the American people out there that bought homes here or wanting to buy homes here

it's important and how would you like it if our neighbors came to live in your neighborhood and you no intendo it's important to give the initiative and I learned my Spanish on the be back in the day they didn't have Spanish classes and the vendors when they were done with the selling their chinula Mula we would go into a circle I would teach them English and they would teach me Spanish and to this day there's still vendors out there that I've known for over close to 30 well something years a lot of years and they're

still there and let me tell you about the vendors on the beach they put their kids through University they've gone to work for Airlines now they're doing very successful so talk to them when you see a vendor or someone pushing a cart down the street and learn who your neighbors are because you're living in their country right it's only I think uh important to do you know to understand and I think that's why people say how did you earn learn about that event up the the road you didn't go to this event over here I

said well I went because I read in Spanish that they were having this V knew that this wine maker from Mexico City was coming and I wanted to see who where is I can never say that I love KAS Madero wines but what what can you know the old yeah Kasa Madero is the oldest Winery in the Americas did you know that no I didn't know that yes it's the oldest Winer in the America what's your favorite Mexican wine I'm not going to answer that and I'll tell you why there's different Ras in different areas

of Mexico that have different qualities of the different wine varietal so if you follow the seasons and follow the grape vine then uh you'll know that's why I did the wine club because you learn one sip at a time so what are the activities that you do with the Cavo wine club for example tell me one of your favorite activities when you know everybody does wine and food pairing or wine tastings so for instance I hosted a Hop On Hop off bus uh I mean fire truck experience where we went to three different locations it

was a progressive meal you would start out with your uh sunset with the happy hour and wine the chef would come out and pair it with a TOA and you'd have your wine then you'd hop back on the fir truck you go to the next stop and you'd have your entree and you would have the chef come out and talk about the food and the wine and then the third one would be uh dessert with food and wine and the chef would come out and talk about it all the proceeds went to the fire department

to help them with their programs that they have which is great that's the other thing I mean go to the fire department talk to them and see not just the fire department we have the Los n capan that's like a it's a no it's a daycare for workers for their children to be in a safe environment to why mom or dad are working doing construction or housework or whatever cooking in restaurants and uh it was put together uh by a woman that uh wanted the kids without running through the you know streets all day long

or the what were the what was the woman going to do to go because when Cabo was built they built it in 14 years the guys came from all over they met some girls some of them stayed and kept the family some of them left the women course and then so they needed to learn how to work and make money to feed their children and that's also where swara can I say that did I say it right SW no SW it's an association here it's you never heard of it no oh that's as that's as

old as a cobble wine club or older you heard yeah SWAT oh my god well shout out I how do you say the the cactus SWAT how do you say it's the cactus it's that's card no oh I hope I'm saying it right you guys losos deos losos cap suara and then San Miguel aella Center the senior center for this if you haven't been out there I brought my girlfriend uh Edie I met her at a wine tasting in California and I I didn't know how old she was but she says oh what did I

do and I took her to a couple trade shows with me and we became girlfriends we went all over at 100 three she came to Cabo to visit she loved Cabo San Lucas she loved what the people she loved the food she love the atmosphere and then I took her to the senior center at San Miguel AB the ABA Center she was blown away she said that the seniors here had more activities and more things to do and put their senior center to shame up in the north they were learning English they were dancing they

were making pinatas cooking um just so full of life and that's what Edie was 103 she lived to be 116 by the way the oldest person in the Americas and the second oldest in the world and it's it's awesome H actually to know that there are these kind of places that help women because we never talk about that we never talk about the fact that it's a destination where people come and go right they go and we don't see that well because of that many people uh come have kids and some of them as you

said stay but some others leave and they never come back so what it's a it's a problem it's a society situation that it's nice to know that someone and people that is coming to and moving from other countries is coming and it's aware of the situation and is helping the community I don't think that uh the EXP should move in and say here we are to save the day I really don't think you should do I think that you should just guide and teach because they learn and they're going to continue so I think that

it's good to go in and give them knowledge of the knowledge you have because after all don't isn't that how we all learn is from other people's knowledge like we were talking with the wine you ask me my favorite wine how can I tell you the nebiolo in Baja California Norte is as good as the nebiolo in Italy it's all I mean they're all fantastic but the neolo grape it's very difficult to get it's only uh well Mexico is one of the few countries that actually produce and I love Manolo it's one of my favorites

and actually one of my favorite wines is from deaja that produces the neolo oh nice so yes it's very interesting how would you compare for example a the the Baha wine experience with other for example Napa or other countries that are very big with wine do you think that Mexico is competing out there oh definitely in in valid Guadalupe definitely yes that is the Napa of Mexico that's they all everybody writes about it and the food scene's amazing uh you know you've got uh Drew uh deckman that's out there he's doing a fantastic job he

was in San Jose but he packed his bags and went North you know it's not just about wine here there's so many things that are produced here cheese meal honey craft breweries popping up all over a brand new one right behind City Club go explore go support those guys they're doing a bang up job and what they put what's the name of it we all should go yeah we should all go it's called yaka I'm sorry guys I see the name there it's like yaka something Jan kamu Janet kamu shout out it's a brand new

Brewery that just popped up uh also you know I think that we have to give a lot of homage to Baja Brewery uh Jason and he he came to town and him and his father and they put up started Baja Brewery Grassroots and now look at how well they're doing and a and a shout out to rob you know he he did all the food for Baja Brewery everybody here so now you know who to look if you're moving to Cabo please contact us we are going to direct you with her no no no please

because you know everybody you have been here since Tabo started actually pretty much the beginning of time yeah I guess so kind of sounds weird but um but I'm excited for what's happening but I'm also a little frustrated about the infrastructure not keeping up with the growth and why the city allows the growth to grow without the infrastructure in place first such as water sewage electricity we're getting brownouts come on everybody they don't talk about it in the news how many of you lost a tire or swerved and they hit a car you know that's

the most dangerous patch between Walmart and unbelievable and just to okay it's going to be four o'clock we got to leave at two to get to town by 4 or vice versa so those are the only downfalls if you live in the golden Zone and you only are in that area you don't see a lot of the things that are happening behind the scene in town you know such as these issues what makes me feel happy or relaxed about all this situation that of course they are let's say crisis or situations that need to be

attended is that the federal government our actual Claudia Shen bound president she is very focused on giving attention to the Baja California Sur and especially Los Cabos so that's one of like a peace of mind because we live here we love well at least I love Los Cabos I love my well now it's my estate because I have been here for for so long this is very important what will be the piece of advice that you will share or you will leave to all the expat community that is trying to move to Los Cabos and

what would be that important well Naomi Romero goodsman with uh katak she is our administrator for expats and her office is there and I helped with we worked together on uh putting a platform together for expats called Talk of the Town which is now being implemented throughout the government for all of the the different districts to use that platform which is fantastic she is a contact ing uh foreign uh consulates uh the US Consulate came and spoke at one of the talk of the towns the Canadian uh consulate is coming to speak at the next

Talk of the Town the British Consulate will be coming to speak at one of the talk of the towns The Talk of the Town is a platform for expats to come and see what other platforms there are out there for them to utilize uh in case of emergencies or or things like that and uh and keep them informed on what is happening and those are a lot of the information is because uh a lot of the expats like you say don't understand Spanish or speak it it's difficult for them or they're older community we have

a huge older community here too what would you should suggest because people uh well there are some some people that it doesn't matter they move even if they don't speak their language and they feel because they have been coming for for a certain amount of years and they are familiarized with with all the destination but what about these people that do not speak Spanish and they feel afraid of the change uh what would you suggest to them who they can reach out to I suggest Naomi Naomi she'll help you with everything with uh sat sat

with your uh understanding what CFE is Isa uh and just yeah RFC getting your residence your residency card uh um and what to expect and what is expected of you as an expat living in Mexico There Are Rules uh it's not a freefor all so and to understand your community and the people that live in it that are wonderful that's why we love it here there everybody is so down to earth and and invi and engaging and always uh smiling you know Mexico they're always so inviting and engaging they don't rush you out of the

restaurants everything is uh it just makes you feel welcome and then that boils down to the community and that's what Cabo's about and that's what everybody loves no matter what side of the uh Street you're from you're always open up they always have open arms for you from your experience is it difficult to get a residency or a temporary permit is it difficult now remember I had mine for many many years there are certain programs out there that you can learn by going to T of the town where you can expedite your residency it's amazing

I have somebody here a friend that uh got his in no time at all by learning the codes and what they meant when I heard of talk of town and I saw all this uh topics that you talk about to the expat Community I felt very interested good because it's incredible how you help others to make this transition to be easy and smooth and they not only are being helped they also feel that someone uh that they are connecting with is there for you know to engage with the community and become part of the community

which is awesome part well all I could say is that uh I always wanted to know my neighborhood and the neighbors and the people around it and and where they ate and where they bought their fish where did they go shopping and you know all the questions I just I just wanted to know and then Naomi as far as uh the business sector such as residency and F kisos and all these other things uh she can guide everybody in that you know I'm like a lazy leaz on leaz on that you say yeah to the

xack community but as far as running meetings and putting those things together that's not me I just put the platform together and then they take it off they they go what about the Cabo wine club let's say that someone is out there and want to join the events or what is coming how do we know about it because there's people out there that don't even know that there's a Cabo wine club they can Google the Cabo wine club and then there'll be little links or they can find us on Instagram Facebook we have a website

the website is just generic telling you to go to those other venues but look if you're a wine lover or let's say you're a retired wine maker or wine industry professional and want to host your own events hit me up I'll let be more than happy to show you the ropes because uh we have several suier here that are doing tastings daily they have wine tastings um Montage I mean I started with um Fabian 2006 oh I have to give a couple shout outs to some of these guys rilio he opened up a fantastic wine

shop in San Jose they speak Spanish English French uh he has a weekly tastings it's called Fine Wine Company uh and uh I've been working with him from day one I mean Hector with Baja wines uh his group of team they do several tastings throughout uh Baja California sir and uh and do a fantastic job and it's not just Cabo we're talking tastings in from here laaz Loretto all Baja California serve pretty much they're having a wine festival in St Carlos nice do you know about that I didn't know March it's coming up get your

tickets they sell out every year but see these are hidden secrets because it's only in espanol but they speak English when you get there don't worry folks bu the hotel room travel up to Baja check it out it's amazing make a road trip or fly to lareno I think you can get Carlos this s Carlos and I think that March we still have whales yes so if you are planning and if you decide to go to this uh event you can just take the opportunity get in your cart or take an airplane go and enjoy

besides the wine this well experience that is one of the most impressive ones at least for me to go and see where the baby the baby whales are worn actually Loretto is beautiful because of its nature and now that we know that there's going to be Wine and Food let's go yes it's wonderful yes I think I will I think it's the seventh so I think I'm available I went a couple years back but this is the thing that's why there's so many wonderful things that are happening here not only in Cabo but around our

areas that is just amazing um and of course you know you've got the yachting um look at all the super Yachts we have out in the marina now I mean you can rent those folks those are impressive right oh my we we lately have many amazing Yachts you know we've got uh Tiffany and Mark they came from Vegas and they started Vegas to Cabo yacht One yacht now they have three but the reason why they have three was the the beautiful Adventures that they put together for their client base and I'm not just going to

shot them out I mean I have to go way back to the beginning because you have um oh my gosh I got to go because we will need to invite every single person that you're mentioning right now yes you should well the first one you should should invite because he came with his uh he's in where they built the new terminal for the cruise ships to come in oh Su X it's uh he took it over Justin yeah so Justin escapes B escapes wild sorry it's wild wild wild no no no no Justin came here

and he bought one boat a Canan and then he fell in love and then they you know they grew the company grew the company uh Baja XX oh sorry Jason oh here better look it up it's Escape uh right Cabo Escape Cabo Escape that's it so he started out with Cabo escape and now he has several boats he's doing a fantastic job so I would highly recommend uh interviewing Justin because he was here to before as the as the marina was developing he was growing with the marina and with the client base coming in also

I have to mention La Isla oh laa yeah Carlos and Gabby have again and pppy I mean an amazing experience they started out with one La Isla this is before this is before all the other guys came down here I don't know their names but it don't matter I highly recommend you to reach out to these people they were the beginners so Mexicano and Mexicana businesses uh they started here in the marina before it became a mega destination for super Yachts like the French Riviera um which is why we're having ter that's why we're having

these multi multi million doll homes being built my neighbor's home he spent $10 million it's a beautiful home but anyway it's impressive impressive the homes that with the wine s built movie theaters oh beautiful because let me tell you something when we well at least when I first moved here there was nothing like it was so hard to go out and find these kind of communities or activities to just to meet people and have fun and enjoy what Cabo has to offer right and we should mention the pickle ball Community there's a there's it just

endless we used to have bowling alleys here but didn't take over but pickle ball is huge so much so that in elel there's a pickle ball uh Court there I don't know if you know knew that or not has one we have a pickle we have two pickle ball courts a bu ball court a a new gym that just opened up that has two pools a spa and a beautiful Michelin star restaurant and the restaurant and the restaurant really nice for the evening to watch sunsets I highly recommend it it's great and then we have

Courtside Cafe which which is amazing fresh juices breakfast uh Irma's Cafe she does such a great job uh we have several uh uh catering services within pedal you've probably heard of the very first ones Denny's catering course the lazy Gourmet Tracy I mean they're all there and of course our our very famous edep uh restaurants uh tour which I don't even I lost count I don't have enough fingers for all that she has but talk about precise preciseness and the quality that you get at these locations is just amazing so anyways with that I'm going

to have to say goodbye I think that if you do make the journey South of the Border and you do come to Cabo that uh you're going to find the xack community is uh thriving so it used to be just uh seasonally but not anymore there's no Seasons here anymore they live here full-time they're opening businesses they're back backing businesses and uh it's a beautiful Community to live in it's relaxing from uh I have to do a shout out to modu too because we used to be a beer slug in Tequila shooting Community before modu

moved in the neighborhood and made us we are a wellness destination thank you modu thank you because he has and since he brought amazing and he gives back to the community and that's what it's about is giving back with your hard labor so at that I I bid you all goodbye because I have to go thank you T thank you it was fun yes we hope I hope you got something we hope to to do it again because there's so much to talk about yeah I've been asked to be on a show and they're going

to be filming the show here in Cabo oh really yes and it'll be SE on uh Roku I guess I don't know I'm not a very good in front of the person well thank you okay thank you