Today we’d like to introduce you to Joaquin Quintero.
Hi Joaquin, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Baja Winery Tours was formed by a love of traveling, especially Baja and Mexico as a whole. When we were kids, we used to go to TJ with our parents all the time. Now looking back, I realize that our parents were drinking beers and margaritas while we were distracted by all the sights, sounds, and lively action on Revolucion. In the ’80s, Tijuana was one of the most visited cities in the world. It was so normal for us, and many of the other families we knew, to just head down to Mexico for the day to grab tacos, beers, maybe some fireworks… haha. The Jai Alai stadium was in full swing, and people would spend their days watching the bullfights or at the Hipodromo gambling on the dog races. Tourism in Mexico was booming, and it was completely normal for people to go do all manner of leisure activities in Baja.
As we transitioned into the high school years of adolescence many a drunken night were spent on Avenida Revolucion in Tijuana. Getting drunk in TJ was a rite of passage for any 18-year-old in Baja or Southern California. In addition, many summers were spent travelling the coast of Baja on surf trips from Playas Tijuana all the way down to Cabo San Lucas.
Things in Baja continued to change over time, as did personal interests. Tourism declined and rose repeatedly over the years. After the economic collapse in 2008, things really took a hit down in Mexico. It was actually kind of nice because we’d go down and get to surf empty waves to ourselves because everyone was too scared to go. We never saw it as dangerous, but it was obvious that other people did.
As I got older, we became interested in different aspects of Mexico, the culture, food, wine, and the plethora of things Mexico has to experience. Valle de Guadalupe became a regular destination, and I realized that it was truly one of those “hidden gems” people talk about. I would always rave to friends and family about the elusive “Mexican Wine Country,” to which we’d receive the usual response of “we’ll go, but only with you because you know Mexico, speak Spanish, blah blah blah…” I was acting as a tour guide so often to people I knew it just naturally evolved into a tour company. I started with Valle de Guadalupe to show people that Mexico is more than just tacos and tequila.
The first time I went to Valle was probably about 15 years ago at this point. Back then, there was MAYBE 20-30 wineries tops, and nobody really knew about the place. There were one or two local Mexican companies doing tours but nothing like what we started. It’s been about 9 years, give or take of actually doing tours professionally (Corona year doesn’t count), so more like 8, I suppose.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has most definitely not been a smooth road. Starting a business from the ground up is a lot of work. Dealing with government bureaucracy, taxes, regulations on both sides of the border. Then there’s the border itself which leads to a lot of unknown variables in the actual tour process (mostly waiting in lots of lines, lol.) There’s definitely a fair amount of competition that has popped up over the years since we started. We still do a good amount of tours, but there’s a lot of people who do this completely illegitimately. No proper licensing or insurance for either side of the border or a corporation in Mexico which you are supposed to have to operate legally in Mexico. This allows them to offer very lowball prices which does cost some business. On the flip side, I’ve heard horror stories from customers about the experiences they’ve had with the non-legit operators who do this, so hopefully, people realize the value of going with a legitimate and established company.
Probably the most difficult thing that has happened is from a former associate. Our former manager Mario (we’ll leave out his last name) was with us for about 2 years on the day-to-day. Turns out he was stealing from the company and doing tours in the company name off the books, and in the end, he stole our entire client list and is now one of our competitors. That one was and definitely still is difficult. But that’s just how business is, some people are just terrible people, and you just have to move on and keep plugging away.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Baja Winery Tours?
We are one of the original companies to offer these types of tours and essentially built the tour model and operating procedures that almost all the other companies now follow. We specialize in tours to Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico. Mexico’s now famous wine region. We are known for providing excellent execution and service of our tours. We hand-select the wineries and restaurants we go to and are known for our ethical, honest, and fair treatment of everyone we work with. There’s plenty of people who do this now, and I think some of the main things that set us apart are our legitimacy as a business and our intent to do things right, safe, and honest. We also only go to hand-selected wineries and restaurants that have high-quality wine and food. Other companies take you for food trucks, tacos, and cheap wine for the same price as our high-end choices. That and, of course, we give some of the best tours out there 🙂 As a brand, it’s definitely a great point of pride to be one of the original innovators of this tour space. Although I do have to give a big shout-out to Fernando Gaxiola with Baja Wine Food who truly is one of the pioneers/innovators and really helped us in the very beginning. Any information people want to know about our tours can be found at www.bajawinerytours.com
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
It’s cliché but true. Determination and just sticking with it. There’s definitely plenty of times when you just wanna give up. Especially during Corona where a lot of people did go out of business. You’ve gotta have thick skin and just keep pushing no matter what happens.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bajawinerytours.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/bajawinerytours
- Facebook: facebook.com/bajawinerytours
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/baja-winery-tours-san-diego-4
Image Credits
Baja Winery Tours
