Winemaking in México: Older than You Think!

Mexico has the fascinating distinction of being both the first place in the Americas to grow grapes for wine production, and the one to most recently make the turn towards creating exceptional vino.

When the Spanish invaded and colonized what is now Mexico, southern Texas and California, they brought with them a taste for wine. During "the Holy Inquisition" the Catholic missionaries brought the "Misión" variety from the Canary Islands for Sunday mass service and the culture of wine started growing. Luckily, certain high altitude pockets throughout the country allow for good to excellent viticulture. After a promising start in the Parras Valley smack in the middle of modern day Mexico, things hit a snag. 

Back in Europe, Spanish wine lost ground in the wine market thanks to France’s ascension as a world-class producer. In an attempt to compensate, Charles II, king at the time, ordered that Spanish colonies only buy and consume wines from the homeland. Thankfully, a loophole for churches to grow grapes for sacrament wine kept winemaking going until Mexican independence from Spain in 1821.

Thanks to aggressive taxation and meddling by the Meixcan government, it took until the 1970s for Mexico to begin taking its place among the world’s great wine producing countries. While it will probably never compete in terms of quantity - too few areas in the country can support fine wine grapes - the quality, diversity, and uniqueness of Mexican wine is undeniable.

So, how can a country with 90% of its land below the 30th parallel make great wine? The answer, like Bolivia and Argentina, is high altitude. Many of Mexico’s grape regions sit above 6,000 ft! This combined with super dry, nearly desert conditions, and enough groundwater for irrigation, leads to grapes that tend to have very thick skins. Even varieties like Nebbiolo, Garnacha, Tempranillo which generally have thin skin, produce inky and rich wines in Mexico. 

Valle de Guadalupe, widely considered Mexico’s best winegrowing region, lies just north of the 30th parallel, at high altitude, surrounded by sea water to the east and the Pacific ocean to the west. It also boasts an arid climate, and granite-rich alluvial soils similar to the Rhone Valley in France. It’s for these reasons, and the quality of the wine produced there, that many believe Valle de Guadalupe on the Baja Peninsula will become the next Napa Valley!