Last Saturday I have tasted my very first Mexican wines. One white from Chenin blanc and one red from Petite Sirah. And I was amazed and surprised of the quality of the wines. I mean I know that this is not the nicest thing to say about a counry’s wine but I didn’t know much about their production.
So now I have decided to look a bit deeper in the technical details to learn more about the wines of Mexico!
The most shocking information came to me right at the beginning, when I saw that the American winemaking history actually started in Mexico, when in the 16th century the Spanish has arrived and brought vine grapes from Europe to start the cultivation of vines and winemaking.
Unfortunatelly from 1595 winemaking was prohibited in Mexico by King Felipe II of Spain and after they could produce wine strictly for Church purposes. Only after the Independence, it was legal to produce wines for the public and in the 1970’s is started to became really popular again.
This is the country where you can find the oldest winery in the Americas as well, Casa Madero was founded by Lorenzo García in 1597 which was at the time the Mission of Santa Maria de las Parras. So this is still a working winery since then!
There are seven states in Mexico which producing wines, Querétaro, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora and the most important is Baja California producing 85% of the country’s wine production. As the name suggests it is a region of northern Mexico just south of California and the Napa Valley and has a similar climat. The main wine regions here are Valle de Guadalupe, Valle de Grulla, Valle de Santo Tomás, Valle de Ojos Negros and Tecate. This regions has generally sandy soils and it means the phylloxera has never been present here so the vines are ungrafted and old.
The main red grape varieties in Mexico are Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Cabernet Franc, Carignan, Grenache, Merlot, Malbec, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Tempranillo, Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, Barbera, Petite Sirah, and Pinot Noir while the whites are include Chardonnay, Chasselas, Chenin Blanc, Macabeo (Viura), Muscat Blanc, Palomino, Riesling, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier.
Mexico is not a very well known wine producing country, they still drink more Tequila and beer but people started the recognise the potential and I think in a few years time we are going to hear much more about Mexican wines then before.
What do you think about Mexican wines? Have you tasted them before?
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