Are you familiar with Mexican wines? Sometimes overshadowed by the wines of Chile and Argentina, they nonetheless offer an ever-growing quality. Here’s a look at a young and promising industry.
If you take a trip to Mexico’s San Luis Potosi region, you might come across Agostina Astegiano and her husband Fabricio Hernández on their motorcycle. This Argentinian winemaking couple have made Mexico their home for the past 7 years, criss-crossing the vineyards on their whirring means of locomotion. “I’ve been riding since I was 8, and when I met Fabrizio, I told him that if you wanted to join my family, you’d have to ride a motorcycle, explains Agostina with a smile. It’s great for us because the traffic jams here are crazy.”
They consult and make wine for several estates, including the magnificent Viña Cordelia, founded by Jordi Abella’s family of Catalan origin. The estate came into being in the middle of the last century in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, preserving a strong tradition of a family of Spanish emigrants from the small, picturesque Catalan town of Palma D’Ebre. Thus, for over 100 years and for more than 70 years on the Potosí estate, the wines have been made using both traditional processes and modern equipment.
Agostina Astegiano
With the Rosa del Perú grape variety, the estate produces mistelle, a sweet alcoholic nectar obtained by blending fresh grape must and alcohol to obtain a blend of between 15 and 22 degrees. Usually consumed as an aperitif, mistelle has become the vineyard’s calling card.
But Viña Cordelia also vinifies little gems like an orange wine in amphora, a white wine made from malbec (yes!) or “Arrabat”, a blend of cabernet sauvignon, malbec, tempranillo and syrah with 18 months in French barrels.
The arrival of Agostina and Fabrizio pont chose the region because it reminds them of their beloved Mendoza, with sandy semi-desert soil and a similar climate. “They called us and we started developing this region, which I think is one of the best in Mexico. International grape varieties account for the lion’s share of this area. “I think the whites are doing very well with very good Chardonnays, but also with Albarino,” stresses Agostina.
An emerging country in the wine market
The world’s fourteenth-largest country, Mexico is home to 127.5 million people and attracts 60 million tourists every year. Its wine history began in 1517, when the first nectar was consumed. By 1554, some 554,70,000 hectares of vineyards were in production. A country with a bright future, but one that suffered the wrath and jealousy of Felipe II, King of Spain, who in 1595 ordered the uprooting of Mexican vines, annoyed by competition from Mexican wines on the Spanish market. The first post-Prohibition bodega (San Luis Rey) was opened in 1870, well after the War of Independence, in the province of Guanajuato.
The estate of Pozo de Luna in San Luis de Potosi is making great quality wines
Today, Mexico boasts 9430 hectares of planted vineyards, spread across 17 producer states and home to over 550 bodegas. A wide variety of grape varieties are grown, from Chasselas and Pinot Noir to Riesling, Touriga Nacional and Fiano. This Latin country exports 15,800 hectolitres, mainly to the United States (44%) and Japan, notably for its sparkling wines. Among the top-producing regions are Baja California, with its 4,265 hectares and more than 260 estates, and Valle de Guadalupe (2,779 ha), with its Mediterranean climate. Other regions to keep an eye on include Coahuila, Chihuahua, Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi, northwest of Mexico City.
San Luis Potosi was precisely the venue last November for the prestigious Mexico Selection, a competition derived from the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, and which showcased the country’s finest wines and spirits and the immense qualitative strides being made by the young, burgeoning industry. “What we need to do as a region is work on a common brand so that San Luis is positioned first, then people will understand that San Luis wines are good, and then everyone will work with their own brand,” believes Alejandro Espinosa, founder of the San Luis Potosi Wine School and the state’s wine festival.
“I think we have an ideal climate, with lots of sun, which means that the grapes ripen very well, with a very good sugar content, and that certain grape varieties like Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Malbec and Syrah grow extraordinarily well, these are also grape varieties that love the San Luis Potosí climate.”
Alejandro Espinosa, founder of the San Luis Potosi Wine Festival
The Mexico Selection competition with his director Carlos Borboa and Baudouin Havaux, president of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles
It may be some time, however, before wines from this Mexican region find their way onto Canadian tables, as production is still small for the export market. “It would be interesting to send our wines to the United States or Canada, in fact there are estates like Pozo de Luna, which export to the United States, particularly white wines, but the problem is that I still don’t think we produce enough to export and then wine production in Mexico is still very expensive.”
Too many taxes and too many government obstacles
What’s preventing the industry from operating at full capacity and supplying more bottles to the international market is the lack of support from the Mexican government, laments Alejandro Espinosa. “Making wine is already expensive because there are no subsidies, and if I’m competing with Argentina and Chile, where there is government aid, because wine is considered an agri-food product, then I’m already in a bad position.”
Alejandro Espinosa, founder of San Luis Potosi Wine Festival
In other words, he estimates that it costs $4 to bring a very good quality wine from Argentina to Mexico, whereas it costs him $3 to $4 to produce a good quality wine on Mexican soil. “If I add taxes, I end up with a much more expensive bottle than the Argentine or Spanish competition,” explains the founder of the San Luis Wine Festival. For the same price, you’re probably going to buy a wine from somewhere else, and it’s not because we don’t have quality, but because the costs are lower for Argentine or Spanish competition.” Here too, the challenge of production volume puts Mexico at a disadvantage. Spain has 1,200,000 hectares of vineyards, including 400,000 hectares in Castilla-La Mancha alone, which is as much as Argentina,” calculates Espinosa. In Mexico, there are no more than 15,000, in terms of volume, so we also have a problem.”
The beautiful downtown of San Luis Potosi
However, one positive point remains: regions such as San Luis Potosi will be concentrating more on quality wines because, in terms of volume, they can’t compete at the moment.
Antonio Laveaga, accredited sommelier and wine journalist in Guadalajara, notes the Mexican pride in local wines. “Mexico is very enthusiastic about our wine, whereas 20 years ago, nobody knew Mexican wine,” recalls the taster. Then, Mexican wines began to really take off and started to be known.” But because Mexicans are stubborn and proud, he says, they buy wines from here even if they’re expensive, and they buy again and again. “Except they don’t open their minds to other wines, say from the U.S., France, Italy or elsewhere, and the fact is that the producer makes the wine and sells it expensively because he knows he’s going to sell it.”
Antonio Laveaga, wine writer and accredited sommelier
Antonio Laveaga firmly believes that the best is yet to come for the industry. “First we’ll have to get money to increase the technology presence and hire consultants, good consultants from around the world to further develop the local market, not to mention changing the taxation on Mexican wines.” On this last point, Alejandro Espinosa is not very optimistic. “I see things being very complicated with a left-wing government that has no interest whatsoever in agriculture and even less in wine.” He adds that “the day the government abolishes taxes and considers wine as an agri-food product, the market will be able to develop”.
Different producers with the same objective: quality
One of the region’s biggest players with the wind in its sails, Cava Quintanilla is located in the municipality of Moctezuma at an altitude of 1,630 meters above sea level, with an average temperature during the flowering period and up to harvesting that varies between 28°C and 36°C, while at night there’s a sharp drop in temperature that can reach 12°C. Such temperature variation, combined with a dry climate and high levels of sunlight, enables the development of more complex wines. Cava Quintanilla currently has a storage and fermentation capacity of 470,000 liters, and plans to increase this to 600,000 liters in the near future.
Jordi Abbela, owner of Vina Cordelia
Viña Cordelia, which produces just over 30,000 bottles with the potential for 20,000 more, is also staying the course in terms of quality and niche products such as wine in amphora and other trendy products. The most important goal for Agostina Astegiano: consistency of quality in the wines. “I think the best way to be competitive is to be consistent and constant, then we can create different styles and try other things.”
She believes that the major advances in Mexican viticulture are part of this evolution. “In the early days, everyone made wine because their grandfather told them how or because they’d been to France once and heard about the way to do it.” She believes that the path set out now will enable the Mexican wine industry to make giant leaps forward. “In the last three or four years, more and more foreign winemakers from Chile, Argentina and Spain, have come to settle in the country,” Agostina noted. “So now, let’s start thinking and studying the soil, and try to find what’s best in each place.” Consistency and consistency, she repeats, are the key to success in a growing market whose quality can satisfy the most demanding international palates right now.
To discover the best Mexican wines and spirits, see the competition results here : Mexico Selection.
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