Mexican Wine

What's your favoritt Mexican wine? Red, white, bubbles...just name me one nice bottle of fermented grape juice and I'll be impressed. Mexican wine is a puzzle, the kind you don't start late a night.

In every country with enough sun, someone at one point came to the conclusion that "making wine is probably a good idea". Despite quite poor wine reputation Mexico is no exception. In fact the oldest winery in The New World (The New World: a name being used for Earth's western hemisphere ) is situated in Mexico. I'll get back to this later ;)
But yes... "The Puzzle", because Mexico stands a fair chance of making good wine, so why is this so hard to come by?

Background check

Running a quick background check on Mexico & wine, you soon discover that they have both soil, sun and passion for this historic drink. The Spanish conquistadors new they would need wine as they embarked upon new lands, and to insure this they brought vines from Spain. This was way back in the early 16th century. The soils of New Spain (Mexico) proved great for this celebrated activity, and rose quickly.
Then: enter Charles II of Spain. A childless, hairless and ruthless ruler who  didn't enjoy the great success of wine growing in Mexico. So in 1699 he prohibited winemaking in Mexico, except for Church purposes. (Fucker!)  Knowledge of winemaking died alongside with the vines and for two centuries barley any production was known off.

In 1910-1920 the Mexican revolution set things straight and radically transformed the culture and government in Mexico. The ban on winemaking was lifted and slowly rose again. But a 200 year set back takes time to recover from, and it was first in the 1980s and 90s that quality started to improve.
However, for some odd reason, government decided to put a 40% tax on wine, making it almost impossible to sell. And if you add to the equation that Mexicans are not traditionally a wine drinking people, but more beer and tequila, you have yourself an interesting puzzle as a winemaker.

The good stuff

Alright, let's talk about the good stuff and leave taxes and history behind.
There are three major wine producing areas in Mexico. Baja California and Sonora - La Laguna and Durango - and som of the center areas of Mexico. Most of these areas have a fairly warm climate, which tend to make Mexican wines spicy, full-bodied and ripe. However the northern part of Baja California resembles much of the climate found across the border in the USA, making it a popular area for American look alikes. But who want's that anyway...? :)

The by far most interesting area is the Parras Valley, in Coahuila north East Mexico. It holds a unique microclimate in a dessert, situated 1500 meters above sea level. Warm days, cool nights and low humidity gives propper resistance to the graps, making them far more interesting than most other Mexican grapes. And in this valley, the most interesting winery is named Casa Madero, the oldest winery the New World, dating back to 1597 with continuously production. This making them the seventh oldest winery in the world. Impressing! They focus on Bordeaux style reds and also have rosé and an award winning whites.

The winery also run a non-profit charity organization, providing food, shelter and school for poor and homeless girls in the region. So they have a good karma thing going on in that valley.

Now these babies can be hard to come by, but we found some in the surfing village of Sayulita, some in Puerto Vallarta and the rosé in a posh shop on the Mexican countryside. Here's our tasting notes.

Tasting Notes

​Casa Madero Reserva 2V 2013

50% Chardonnay and 50% Chenin Blanc.
​Light yellow and classic in colour. A fine breeze of fresh lemons, summer garden and zest of lime. Easy on the pallet, with a balanced entry and mild round tones of yellow fruits and some lemon. Tidy exit with nicely done acidity dancing on the back of my tongue. A light and pleasant wine experience, that stands well alone, but can accompany a salad or some sort of broth soup.

Funny thing... If you taste the 100% Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, bellow, you can actually taste the presence of both quite clearly in this 50-50 blend :)

​Casa Madero Chardonnay Eco 2015

100% Chardonnay from organic grapes.
Light light lemon yellow, almost transparent. Tingeling sitrus on the nose, with peaches and cantaloupe melon.
Nice entry with plenty of fresh lemons and young yellow fruits. Stunning acidity with great structure and clean palette. Blind tasting this could almost trick you into believing it's a fresh lemonade. A nice aperitif, but a bottle alone could trigger reactions similar to feasting on a lemon alone. Serve really really cold and store max for a year or two. But yeah, impressing acidity :)

​Casa Madero Chenin Blanc 2014

100% Chenin Blanc. Their most famous wine, with the gold medal from Paris in 2013. Light yellow with green tones. Delicious smell of grapefruit, butter and ripe plums. Elegant and soft entry in the mouth. Complex and round at the same time. Grapefruit and hints of passion fruit on the pallet. Long, balanced and with great acidity to support it. The flavours linger long after the sipp. A statement wine with plenty of attitude. Cool with light chicken dishes or a salad with feta or goat cheese. 

​Casa Madero Casa Grande Chardonnay 2015

100% Chardonnay. The flagship white, almost tripling in price from the other whites.
Yellow butter look on this buddy.
Wow what a nose! This reminds me of Burgundy right away. Sweet and beautiful tones of fresh butter, ripe oranges, candied lemons and hints of sultan raisins. Elegant start in the mouth. Smooth, rich, with a killer acidity. Some oak, but it's well camouflaged in fruits. Long and rich afterburner. I would keep this for 10 years. I suspect this to evolve into something very special. I'm bringing a couple home :)

​Casa Madero Reserva Rosé 2015

Deep and delicious ruby red colour. Fresh and elegant smell of raspberries and other berries found in nordic forests. Strawberries also present. Hint of some candied fruits as well. Not sure if I appreciate that. 
Fresh and playful entry, with red fruit festival hitting hard in every sipp. The wine even features some tannins. There's a bitterness to this that I could be without. I don't see ageing improving this, but who knows. Fun to taste.

​Casa Madero Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dark red-purple-ish with a blue edge.
Intense nose of asian spices, drift wood, red fruits, autumn forrest, wild mushrooms and a hint of caraway. A wild wine!
Plenty of red fruits on the tongue, with asian spices kicking it funny. Hints of prune compote. Nice length, with surprisingly absence of tannins. An unusual Cabernet Sauvignon, usually being tougher and more robust than this, given it's young age. Bring on an Italian pizza, and you have yourself a killer combo.

Casa Madero Casa Grande 2012
​
100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
The flagship red from the vineyard. Deep red with a light brown edge on colour. Rich smell of ripe plums, forrest floor in the autumn and prunes. Massive impact in the mouth, with dark fruits and hints of tobacco leafs on taste. Long and powerful stuff this baby caries. Still holds a good amount of tannins, being only four years old. I would leave this in the cellar for another 5-6 years. It's got the fruit and structure to handle that.

So if you happen to stumble across some of these Mexican beauties, check it out. Well worth it and super fun to taste.

Photo cred:
Finn-Erik Rognan
Cbojorquez75