We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cleo De la Torre a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cleo, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Starting my business, Más Allá Wines, in June of 2020 was the biggest risk I have ever taken in my life…and I had a home birth! I used to be a high school English teacher at Claremont High School in Claremont, CA, and despite always talking about one day making our own natural wine, my husband told me one day to just quit my job teaching so we could dive into our winery head-first.

We had no experience making wine and our families did not have any connection to the wine world. We were wine enthusiasts who decided to make our dream a reality and picked probably the worst year to do it.

Despite the supply chain roadblocks and major learning curve, I went on to earn my level two certification (with distinction) from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust, learned how to purchase grapes, found the right vintner to help us get started, began building our website and social media accounts, found independent artists for our labels, managed the red tape, move from Los Angeles to San Diego, mastered sourdough baking, and had our first baby all amid the tumultuous last three years. By 2022 we were able to finally start selling our wine in San Diego County and have been enjoying sharing our wine with the people of sunny San Diego.

Cleo, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Más Allá Wines is a natural winery that currently sources grapes from the Central Coast of California. Being a natural winery means that we do not add any sugars, commercial yeasts, or dyes to our wine. We simply rely on the juice in the fruit and the yeast on the skins to do all the work.

When the wine has finished fermenting (the process typically takes about 2 weeks), we transfer the wine to barrels in order to mellow out and begin maturing. After monitoring and tasting the wine over time, we determine when we would like to bottle the wine.

We like to serve our wines young, meaning they do not spend a long time in barrel (typically under a year) and they are not necessarily meant for extended aging. Our organic Cabernet Franc can currently age up to 7 years, but it is definitely ready to drink upon purchase. Life is too short!

I am incredibly proud of all the work that has gone into producing our 2020 vintage. While we have a few wines from 2018, our 2020 vintage was where we were more involved in the wine-making process.

We were inspired by the wines from France’s Loire Valley and decided to produce an organic Cabernet Franc, an organic Rosé of Cabernet Franc, a Chenin Blanc, and an Orange Chenin Blanc. We even got to foot-crush our Chenin Blanc! It was incredibly surreal to finally hold a bottle of our completed 2020 wines, and it makes me excited to get even more involved for future vintages.

My husband and I are big foodies and love to cook and bake. We always wanted our wine next to food and we had the good fortune of making that happen in 2022 with a few farm-to-table, wine-paired dinners. We found local farmers and chefs and worked with them create delicious and thoughtful menus for our guests. Since moving to San Diego, we have met even more farmers, chefs, and ranchers, and we hope to work with them to bring our guests food and wine from people who treat the earth with respect and pour their hearts into their offerings. Now that we live in San Diego, we are also hoping to track down some organic grapes from the area to one day make our own natural San Diego wine.

Keep a look out on our social media pages or sign up for our newsletter at www.masallawines.com to stay up to date on upcoming farm dinners, tastings, and more.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

We had to pivot early on in our inception in the form of a name change. We started out as Bravo West Wines, but unfortunately ran into a potential trademark issue. Everything worked out in the end because “Más Allá Wines” represents much more of what we would like to share with our consumers: history, inspiration, and ingenuity.

“Más Allá” is the Spanish translation of the Latin phrase “Plus Ultra,” meaning “further beyond.” The full phrase, “Non Plus Ultra” is inscribed at the Pillars of Hercules at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, which at the time of antiquity was the westernmost point in the world. It warned travelers that there was “nothing further beyond” that point. After the discovery of the New World, Spain changed its national motto to “Plus Ultra” commemorating the expansion of the known world. Likewise, we embrace the spirit of Más Allá, and strive to bring you wines that are classically styled and naturally made. A celebration for the best of the old world and the promises of the new. From our family to yours – together, beyond.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

If any former students of mine are reading this, they know I absolutely love the word “resilience” and everything it represents. I told my principal that I was going to leave education and enter the world of wine on March 13, 2020…three days before they announced school lockdowns. I had no idea what was to come, but my husband and I decided to continue on our natural wine path.

Nature consistently offers a sobering reminder that it knows what it’s doing. While the world at large seemed to be crumbling with uncertainty, we knew that the wines were fine, the grapes were fine, the wine was going to be fine. Nature finds a way, and it certainly did. It was nice to remain rooted in Nature’s undying force, which was one of the major reasons we chose to head in this direction. We wanted a stronger connection to the land and what it can offer us. We wanted to learn from it and continue to do so everyday.

Perhaps it will lead to our own vineyard management one day. For now, we trust the vineyard managers at the organic vineyards we work with and hope to learn from them and the many lessons Nature has taught them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.masallawines.com
• Instagram: @masallawines
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masallawines

Image Credits
Desiree Duzich, Dee Sandoval, and Nick Gingold