Oenophiles and casual sippers, beware: Valentina Vineyards may be San Diego’s best-kept secret. By supplying grapes to local breakout stars Oddish Wines and the long-time player Charlie & Echo, you may have already tasted the handiwork of Valentina’s owner and winemaker, Lance Hafen. Based in Dulzura, these vineyards amongst the dusty border village are signaling some of the latest trends in planting, organic farming, and winemaking. With Hafen’s expertise of the land and the San Diego market, he brings insight to the cycle of harvest for 2024.

Valentina began as 70 acres of junk. After clearing out the debris and getting to the warm soil that is Dulzura’s trademark, Hafen says he “started planting grapes in 2015 and we planted our first 10,000 vines—and every year after that, at least 5,000 vines. So, I got to 25,000 vines.” With that kind of prolific planting, there was much experimentation to be had. “When I started in getting my first grapes, the idea was to have grapes for the San Diego Market,” Hafen recalls. “With that in mind, I didn’t plant one variety. I planted 20 varieties.” Between nine whites and 11 reds, these varietals ranged from chardonnay to pinot noir, riesling, and tempranillo.

It may seem like overkill but with the advent of climate change, this pantheon of varietals can be manipulated to suit our local terroir. Hafen explains, “The reason France is famous for wine is because, by geographic luck, the rain and the soil and everything was perfect. But now with technology, you can do that anywhere. You can control your water. You can control when you’re going to harvest.”

In 2024, heat was the main issue. “2024 was a very hot, dry summer. And so there’s good and bad in that,” says Hafen. The good? The heat diminished the grapes’ susceptibility to powdery mildew. (His chardonnay is particularly vulnerable, but this year thrived.) The bad? “It was so hot we were harvesting earlier than what we’re used to,” he says. The average temperature in Dulzura in August is 84.2°. This year saw temperatures pushing the mercury up to 111°. Thankfully, Hafen notes that Valentina benefits from cooler nights and a constant breeze. In terms of picking the grapes at the right moment, Hafen says, “The key about harvest and about the climate is to monitor your sugars and your acids and your flavors, regardless of what’s going on around you, and get the correct time to pick.” And pick time varies from varietal to varietal.

Other winemakers are taking note of their exacting schedule. Eric Van Drunen of Charlie & Echo says, “Valentina Vineyards is the only San Diego County vineyard we know of that farms nebbiolo to organic standards, and the nebbiolo is a key component in contributing structure to the Darkstar along with floral components and complexity.” Darkstar is the winery’s acclaimed sparkling wine that blends nebbiolo, petite syrah, and zinfandel. He continues, “With access to excellent syrah, durif, and zinfandel all in the same vineyard and grown with the same practices, it allows us to build out a complete wine with varieties that share the same vintage characteristics. We love it.”

Another issue Valentina faces in their vineyards is pests, particularly rodents. Hafen says, “Gophers are a big problem. I have 12 owl boxes out here to put pressure on the gophers and squirrels, but they still do a lot of damage. Plus all the different bugs and critters and everything that are out there cause a lot of damage.” The owl boxes—essentially a headquarters for the birds to find, capture, and devour their prey—have helped, but it’s curious why squirrels and gophers came out in droves in the first place. One guess is the relocation of the Brown Field Border Patrol Station. “I don’t know if it’s related, but it was after they started doing their [construction], all of a sudden, I had all these squirrels,” Hafen recalls.

Established in 1979, the Brown Field station’s area of operation was 11.6 linear miles of international border land in its former iteration. “It’s going to be a big deal,” says Hafen. Thankfully, the build’s rodent uprising has been quelled by the owls, but there are other ramifications from this behemoth. “Yes, there’s going to be a lot of traffic. There’s going to be problems with water and noise and everything,” Hafen says.

Only time will tell how this relocation will ultimately affect his vines. Will water need to be be diverted? Will the pollution from traffic cause unknown harm to the fruit? These are questions whose answers have been postponed due to delays in the building’s completion, Covid, and internal state politics. “I haven’t expanded or done anything in the vineyard because I want to wait until they open. They bought the land in 2015 and they’ve been building, [but] they’re still not open. Oh, it’s huge,” he says. It’s expected that 500 agents will be stationed here, which means 500 families will be moving to the area. This ultimately means a carbon footprint of 500 people will be excreted onto the area and, in turn, his vines.

Hafen is taking a positive approach to the station’s construction and has faith in his land. “One of the reasons that our vineyard does well is there’s always a breeze out here. At night [it] cools down the grapes. So, the grapes will heat in the day, but then they’ll cool down at night with this breeze, so you don’t lose your acid. So, one of the neat things that I have is the acid holds a lot longer—two, three weeks longer than other vineyards.” This secret of the region benefits Hafen’s wine and everyone buying his grapes.

Billy Beltz, the owner of Oddish Wines, has had nothing but success with his use of Valentina fruit. This year, they purchased pinot gris, riesling, chardonnay, marsanne, and nebbiolo. Beltz says, “We’ve had a great experience working with Lance and the team at Valentina Vineyards. Our winemaker Brandon has been sourcing grapes from them for many years, as have a number of wineries around town. All their fruit is farmed using organic practices, and they grow a lot of different varietals including many different whites, which is uncommon down here.” Beltz also gives away another great secret to Valentina’s success: “Additionally, their grapes benefit from two different microclimates within one vineyard.”

Despite the unique terroir and 2024’s successful harvest, there are still some wine professionals who blanketly say no good wine is made south of the Central Coast. Hafen, a graduate of the UC Davis program, balks at that thought. “It’s not true, but that concept is in the culture of wine,” says Hafen. “San Diego has this reputation of not being able to make good wine. And it’s just not true. If you get a good winemaker down here, they’re going to make as good of wine as anybody can make anywhere that knows what they’re doing.” While championing his peers, Hafen is on a mission to make San Diego a juggernaut of the wine world, changing minds one vintage at a time.

Originally published in issue 77.