Vineyards of Mexico
There
are three main wine producing areas in Mexico.
The
“Napa & Sonoma Valley” of Mexico is the Valle de Guadalupe
located in the Baja Norte just north of Ensenada.
The climate
in the Valle, primarily Mediterranean, with proximity to breezes of
the Pacific Ocean, makes for cool mornings and evenings, and warm
to hotter-than-a-one-country-marshal’s-pistol hot days. It’s
certainly on the arid side, with only 7-9 inches of rainfall annually.
A low volume of rain and high levels of sunlight are needed to stress
the vine, basically “starving” the plant of water and
creating concentrated flavors within the grapes. This, in turn, results
in intense, powerful, high extract wines packed with flavor. You’re
in red wine country here, but some wineries are, with careful handling,
producing exceptional whites.
It is
here over 40 wineries, producing over 90% of all the country’s
vino, call home. Here you’ll find a broad range of wine producers
with widely divergent styles. You'll find L.A.Cetto, cranking out
about 1,000,000 cases of over 20 varietals annually; Bodega Santo
Tomas, who claims to be “the oldest continuously producing winery
in Mexico”, bringing about 18000 cases to the market annually;
Monte Xanic (“xanic” is Cora Indian for “the flower
that blooms after the first rains”) a serious player clocking
in just under 50000 cases per year; and Allied Domecq, the famous
Spanish label of sherries and brandy, setting up shop here in the
early 50s after seeing the huge potential.
Sharing
the stage with the big guys are many smaller, family owned and operated
producers such as Adobe Guadalupe, founded by Orange Co., California
banker Don Miller and his Dutch wife Tru and built on a concept of
spirituality and serenity, making about 18000 cases of delicious Rhone
style reds yearly; Mogor Badan, overseen by a Swiss-French oceanographer
producing only one red and one white, the white, Chassalas, made only
in Switzerland, Germany, and in the Valle, and tiny by most standards
at only 600 cases per year; Ch. LaFarga, founded by three brothers,
making intense, highly concentrated, powerful reds; Vinisterra Winery,
making their mark with about 4000-5000 cases a year of a broad array
of muscular, flavorful, rich Rhone style reds; J.C. Bravo, probably
the most focused winery in the Valle, producing 400-500 cases per
year of only one varietal, the Rhone-style red, Carignan.
Another
important wine producing area is the state of Coahuila in north central
Mexico. This area has very special climatic conditions. Grapevines
love its semi-arid, mile-high weather, with low humidity and cool
nights. Here, in the Parras (grapevines) Valle (reputed to be a hide-out
of Pancho Villa!), with it’s semi-arid, mile high location,
is the home of the “grand old man” of Vino Mexicano, Casa
Madero. The oldest winery in the Western Hemisphere, it was founded
in 1597, and has been going strong ever since, producing a wide array
of quality varietals.
Another
rapidly developing winery in northern Coahuila is Bodegas Ferrino,
founded by four brothers from Bella Italia, who participated in the
1910 revolution, and is a medium sized winery specializing in red
wines.
Further
south in the state of Queretaro, with one of the nation’s most
prosperous winegrowing areas, the grapes mature in extreme and unusual
conditions. Vineyards at altitudes of over 6500 ft., and temperature
ranging from near freezing at night, then topping out at 77 degrees
later in the day make it ideal for white varietals such as Chenin
Blanc, Semillon, and French Columbard. Here you will find Grupo Freixenet,
the North American base of Freixenet, the famous Spanish maker of
“champenoise” white wine.
The wines
of Mexico reflect the diversity, richness, and complexity of the country’s
culture. The players, only a few described herein, are a combination
of the long-standing, “old-school” winemakers, with their
perseverance and deep historical roots, and the new, up-and-coming
new guys on the block, bringing fresh ideas, “pushing the envelope”
with a restless determination to improve quality and quantity. Their
future begins now!
