By Lydia Carey
Far from Mexico’s wine regions – namely the Valle de Guadalupe or el Bajio – it might seem that Mexico City wouldn’t have much to offer. But if wine, especially Mexican wine, is gaining ground among drinkers anywhere it’s in Mexico City, where festivals, wine bars and tastings are all the rage, winning over wine aficionados each and every day.
If you love wine, don’t dismiss our big urban jungle. For a perfect wine lover’s weekend you’ll want to start at some of the city’s newest wine bar hot spots. Colonia Roma, a favorite neighborhood among locals and visitors alike has a great selection of wine bars serving enough national and imported wine to give even the most demanding of drinkers a good selection to try. The Bottega wine bar is run by the same crew as Sartoria – the famed Italian restaurant across the street – and in addition to wine, sell crusty sourdough bread, housemade tomato sauce and imported Italian cheeses. They have a menu of small plates to accompany your glass on their outdoor patio. The casually-cool SIMon wine bar has been around a bit longer and sells mainly Mexican labels in their space just off of the Luis Cabrera Plaza, as well as tapas from their kitchen. Vigneron is a new winebar on Jalapa street in Roma with a slightly higher price point, wine from around the world, and an international food menu.
Natural wine has boomed in the last decade and the guys at Loup bar have been leading the trend in Mexico City, distributing natural wine to other restaurants as one arm of their business. In addition to Loup you can find a glass of great natural wine at Cicatriz in Colonia Juarez as well as the delicious new Cariñito taco stand on Merida street in Roma. For a more upscale experience try the Wine Bar by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. This intimate space, run by Carlos Borboa, the director of the Concurso Mundial de Bruselas in Mexico, is off a pedestrian alleyway in Colonia Juarez, and has an incredible list of Mexican and foreign labels as well as a beautiful wine cellar where you can set up a wine tasting for a group, with or without food pairings. Envinarte will also arrange in-person tastings for you and your friends and offers a introductory course on how to taste wine that they organize in local restaurants.
Wine festivals take place through the year, including the roving Intervinos festival, which is held in different cities across the country (the most recent event was in Teotihuacan) and highlights Mexican wine from across the country as well as other wine-focused products. Sabor es Polanco is one of the city’s most popular festivals, promoting all things gourmet, and is another great place to taste a variety of the country’s wine all in the same day.
But how can it be a wine vacation without actually visiting a vineyard? Mexico City has you covered there too. You can visit the Vinicola Urbana, in the Santa Fe neighborhood and get a taste of being back on the land – their urban vineyard is growing actual grapes for their own production. You can arrange for a tasting here of their varietals or make a reservation to stop in for a glass (55 343 8170).
For an incredible glass with an delicious meal, try Alfredo di Roma which won a Grand Award from Wine Spectator and has over 2,000 labels; Amaya, whose creator is one of the owners of Bichi Wines, a Mexican natural wine maker; Au Pied de Cochon, which specializes in French cuisine and French wine; or Chapulín with its focus on Mexican wine brands. Obviously Mexico City’s most famous upscale dining – Pujol, Quintonil, Sud 777, and others – all have top notch wine lists and sommeliers to help you chose just the right glass for your meal.
The city is also the place to stock up on wine if you are coming from a smaller town. The Palacio de Hierro upscale shopping mall in Polanco has one of the biggest wine selections in the city, and you may also want to try La Contra, La Naval or Vinoteca. While it may not having the sweeping vineyards of the Valle de Guadalupe or the massive wine facilities of Guanajuato or Queretaro, the city has a lot to offer in terms of variety and experiences. With a little bit of planning you can taste some of the country’s best wine in sophisticated settings and with incredible food.
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This article originally appeared in Mexico News Daily. Reprinted with permission. Follow the link to keep reading
Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City. She has been published widely both online and in print, writing about Mexico for over a decade. She lives a double life as a local tour guide and is the author of “Mexico City Streets: La Roma.” Follow her urban adventures on Instagram and see more of her work at www.mexicocitystreets.com.
