(TheDailyBeast) - The adventurous wine-lover should head to Baja California, Mexico's pre-eminent wine-making region.

There's something about watching tumbleweeds roll through vineyards that makes you appreciate a good wine.

It seems strange to be sipping former Mexican President Felipe Calderón's favorite artisan meritage while watching jack rabbits and roadrunners frolic from the patio of Bodegas y Viñedos San Rafael, a small, family-run winery atop a dusty hill in Baja California, Mexico's northernmost and westernmost state. 

It's 80 degrees, the sun is shining and there's music playing in the background.

On the horizon, farms, mountains and an empty, two-lane road go as far as the eye can see. Ludwig Hussong explains why he came back to the wine region after attending culinary training in Napa. The reason? The wine is good and the potential for his hometown is huge.

Mexican wine is on the up and up following a trending obsession with other Mexican products like tequila, mezcal and sotol. 

It also follows the efforts of American and Mexican chefs to bring to light the country's contributions to the food world beyond tortas and black beans.

I had driven just two hours from San Diego to the northern valleys of San Rafael, Santo Tomás, San Vicente and Guadeloupe--the center of Baja's wine country--with an open mind.

Drive into the quiet, 14 mile span in Valle de Guadeloupe where wineries are hidden at the end of a half mile trail of dust, and where horses roam through olive groves, and it's hard to believe it's from where about 70 percent of Mexico's wine comes.