Close your eyes and think of Mexico. Sun, Tequila, corn and chillies might be some of the first things that come to mind. And the wine? Well according to winemaker Hugo D’Acosta, wine is the next best thing coming from Mexico.

On a frozen evening in London Hugo and Bibendum hosted a Mexican food and wine dinner at Wahaca, a place I must confess I have a serious crush on. The Wahaca people are
constantly pushing the barriers. They are on a mission to show us all what fresh, honest market Mexican food is all about. Served in a funky and casual atmosphere Chef Thomasina Miers’ food was the perfect match to Hugo’s big boys from Baja California.

Baja California is the Silicon Valley of Mexican wines and the region where 90% of the country’s wines are made. With no more than 6,000 hectares it is home to a wide variety of grapes: from the usual French suspects Cabernet & Merlot, the Mediterranean Grenache & Carignan, to the Italian Barbera, Sangiovese & even Nebbiolo. This diversity in such a small wine region is what makes Mexican wine so special. Mexican wine, like the never ending local corn varieties, benefits from a diversity of smells and flavours.

We sampled Guacamole and Tortilla Chips served with Emblema 2008, a simple fresh and fruity Sauvignon Blanc. A zesty scallops ceviche, was beautifully balanced by Piedra de Sol 2008, a perfect varietal expression of Chardonnay – citrussy clean and elegant.

The reds showed more complexity; Estapor Venir 2007, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Syrah, Zinfandel and Barbera represents best the diversity of Mexican terroirs. The wine is beautifully balanced, with good fruit concentration and a hint of liquorice. A trio of Tacos (Mole, Steak & Cheese) were the perfect companion. Last came the big and bold Maat 2007. 100% Grenache it was served with sweet and delicious Churros.

Both Thomasina and Hugo mentioned that Mexico is undergoing a deep culinary change. While the older generation never seemed to care for wine the younger one has discovered it and can’t let go.

Hugo thinks Mexican wines represents the real new world wine:

Thomasina on the booming wine culture in Mexico and why is its food is so exciting right now:

After such a great night it’s difficult to disagree.

It was Simon Farr (Co-founder of Bibendum and masters its wine strategy) who decided we were going to spend a weekend in Mexico. Tim (Wine buyer and a fresh MW) and I, knackered by jet lag and a week of meetings, tried to persuade him otherwise, but we failed miserably. Just as well, really, or we’d never have discovered the beautiful Baja California, on the west coast of Mexico. Our preconceptions about dust, cacti, big hats and bigger moustaches seemed cartoon-like when we arrived in the cool, coastal, lush Valle de Guadalupe.

Hugo D’Acosta’s winery is hidden away amongst his vineyards, almost impossible to see until you’re almost upon it. Then you quite literally ARE upon it, as Hugo drove us up, up, up the sloping roof seemingly towards the face of the mountains. Our ashen faces amused him as we clambered out of the car, and he explained that the sloping roof allows trucks to deliver grapes directly into the winery below. Once inside, Hugo’s winery is a feast for the senses. Adobe walls covered in cactus prints, natural light and recycled materials used everywhere we looked.

This being Mexico, a ten hour lunch was next, with endless courses , plus a steady stream of family and friends stopping by to greet us. The accompanying wines confirmed what we’d tasted at the winery – the wines of this area are complex and concentrated, bursting with ripe, dark fruit.

Luckily, Hugo makes a wine for us – Estapor Venir – and each of the four varietials in this wine contributes its own characteristics – Petite Sirah brings dark colour and spicy peppery notes, Cabernet Sauvignon gives the wine a solid structure and typical notes of dark berries, Zinfandel contributes body and red berry flavours, while Barbera adds more berry flavours and refreshing acidity. This is a complex wine which shows varietal characteristics and has well integrated barrel notes. The nose and palate have complex pepper, dark and red berry aromas and flavours, while the palate is full-bodied and smooth with integrated tannins and a long finish.

We fell asleep to the sound of the Pacific dreaming of Baja wines and spicy Mexican chocolate. The next morning we went out for a fish taco breakfast; far, far, far better than it sounds, trust me. Then we went to visit ‘la escuelita’ (the little school), which Hugo and his brother Alejandro have founded in order to teach locals the art of winemaking and thereby give them a means of supporting their families. Handprints on each barrel indicate the owner of the wine, and again the architecture is a lesson in beauty and sustainability. Humbling indeed.

Reluctantly, we headed back over the border from Baja and headed home to tell people about the desert, the cacti, the big hats…

Dale in Agave fields

It’s October 2nd 2009 and I’m booked on BA 243 to Mexico City, flying out five days later, when I get a telephone call from an old friend, a Mexican Ambassador…  “Dale, I strongly recommend you delay your visit, my sister tells me there’s an outbreak of Dengue fever…”. I cancelled my tickets and all my appointments, and moved them to the dry season.  Two days later the diplomat called me back to say, “…the fears are exaggerated – just spray plenty of anti mosquito repellant, you should be OK! ” With a healthy supply of repellent in my bag, I re-booked the tickets & flew out.

In Mexico City I have booked Hotel Tapatio, where I have stayed for the last 18 years. The hotel is perched on the top of a hill overlooking Guadalajara, and so at night, it looks like the view from an airplane over the city, with millions of twinkling lights.

I was in town to visit El Tesoro, the world’s best tequila. The Master Distiller and present owner Carlos was supposed to collect me from the hotel at 10am. At 11am, after allowing for ‘Mexican time’, I phoned the distillery just to check he is turning up. In past years I have made this journey to find Carlos was ‘not available’, but instead had left three bottles of his finest and rarest were in my hotel room as ‘compensation’! This year I got the lift not the tequila.

The La Altena, or Lady of the Highlands, distillery was opened in its current site in 1937 by Don Felipe Camarena,  Carlos’ grandfather. I was particularly keen to see how El Tesoro differed from Tapatio, another great tequila that Carlos produces. He explained that while all his tequila is handcrafted using agave from their own fields, El Tesoro is made in homage to his grandfather, with absolute attention to detail and using only ultra-traditional methods.

Hand selected Agave

The agave plants are individually hand selected only when they are completely ripe. Then, the pina (the hearts of the agave plants) are meticulously stripped of any waxy out layer, even removing the male ‘cebolla’. One of the most important differences between El Tesoro and Tapatio is that Carlos uses a traditional tahona stone to crush the agave after it has been steamed when he makes El Tesoro. With Tapatio he uses modern, cheaper shredders. His grandfather may have one complaint though – 30 years ago they stopped using a donkey to pull the tahona stone instead, replacing it with a tractor for hygiene reasons. At La Altena this passes for technology.

Another reason El Tesoro is unique is that the second distillation is carried out to exactly 40% abv. Carlos is able to achieve this low strength by carefully controlled distillation in the very small stills that his grandfather used. The quality controls are very strict. Carlos does not use pesticides or fertilizers on his agave plants, and relies on airborne wild yeasts to kick off the fermentation in his old open topped wooden vats. The production is not without its dangers though. As I wandered round the agave plants I was told they had captured 20 rattlesnakes in the same field the day before!

Given the meticulous attention to detail, it is hardly surprisingly that El Tesoro is the most highly rated tequila in America, earning seven Double Gold’s in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition over the last three years. All four styles were rated No. 1 in their class at the Chicago Beverage Testing Institute in 2009.

The 75th anniversary of La Altena will take place in the summer of 2012, and judging by the scale of the 70th anniversary a few years back is guaranteed to be a huge celebration.

A mexican bottle

Luigi is exactly the type of sommelier we like. He’s young, he knows his wines and is very down to earth. His list is one that could only exist in the crazy metropolis of London. One of the top picks at his Caravaggio restaurant is the Estapor Venir Mezcla Tinto 2007 from the Valle de Guadalupe in Mexico. Yes, a Mexican wine served in an Italian restaurant in London. Best of all, it works superbly! Luigi agrees that selling unusual wines like this is a big challenge but it is one he is more than happy take. Here’s the man himself talking about Estapor Venir:

Another gem on the list is the L’Excellence de Bonassia, a real Moroccan delight.  This is definitely not a gimmick and Luigi is so confident in the quality that he serves it by the glass. I was pleasantly surprised by the wine – it is well made, elegant and has that punchy, cheeky Mediterranean feel I often find in wines from the south of Italy such as Aglianico. You can have a look at the wine list here

Luigi is one of a refreshing new generation of sommeliers who are confident, opinionated and prepared to take risks on their lists. After all, a good wine list should partly be a reflection of the sommelier’s personality. Thankfully, the days of generic wine-lists-by-numbers are gradually becoming a thing of the past. The best sommeliers now try to be innovative and surprise their customers, to create wine trends rather than simply follow them. In order to be successful they have to work harder to source interesting and unusual wines and more importantly to convince their customers to join in the adventurous mood. The pay off they get is seeing diners drinking and enjoying wines that they would never have even considered before.

Finally, if you still need convincing about the quality of Mexican wines, then surely Steven Spurrier can persuade you:

Caravaggio, 107-112 Leadenhall Street, London EC3A 4DP, 020 7626 6206

(thanks to Eat like a Girl for this photo…you never even saw the heat coming…)

When it comes to foodie thrills, it is hard to beat that slow but steady build up of heat on your taste buds that can only come from a full chilli onslaught. It builds and it builds and then bang, it rages and you think “why the hell…?!” and you take a hit of cheese or milk to cool it down. But the reprieve is only temporary. A brief, cool space. It creeps back and the tempo rises again. In your brain the chilli has unleashed a stream of endorphins that create that pleasure/pain scenario which is so damn moreish.

So you relent. Fight fire with fire. Spoon in hand and into the chilli again. It’s addictive and you can’t stop. Onwards and upwards into seventh heaven:

“In that great crystal which doth bear the name of the earth’s ruler through that golden age when every evil left the temperate land, I saw a ladder. To so great a height it rose that not my eager straining sight could follow, coloured like reflected gold; and on its steps were splendours manifold, ascending and descending.”

Dante may not have been talking about chilli heat when he conceived the Divine Comedy, but it’s a good enough fit for me!

The current chilli champions are Wahaca. It’s not just an ingredient, it’s a way of life. The excellent Wahaca blog is full of chilli-related goodness, especially Tommi Miers’ chilli recipe competition which provoked a veritable wildfire of chilli-related recipes from readers.

Here at Bibendum we like hot stuff. We like growing things. And we love the food at Wahaca. Put all these things together and it can only be a chilli growing competition. The kind folks at Wahaca have provided us with some Serrano chilli seeds, we have sorted out some specially stickered pots, and the challenge is on!

(The tools to do battle, courtesy of Wahaca)

(The all new ‘when I grow up I want to be hot’ pot)

Over the next few months Bibendum staff will be nurturing, watering and whispering their home or deskbound chilli plants to see who can grow the bushiest, hottest and quickest chillis. Then we’ll be testing their recipe skills as they mirror Tomasina’s recipe competition to come up with the best chilli-infused match for the stupendous Mexican red wine from Estapor Venir. Prizes, adulation and general wonderment all round for the winner…oh and some very hardy taste buds too. We’re going to pot up shortly and get this thing going…more piccies soon.

(My chilli plant at home – before the white flies struck…)

On Tuesday night at a Guilty Pleasures dinner (read about it here on the Eat Like a Girl blog) I made sleazy cheesy silly chilli nachos (pictured at the top). Small word of warning – do not use 12 fiery chillis and quite a lot of Dave’s Insanity Sauce if you want to pair it with wine! Alois Lageder’s delicious Gewurztraminer came closest to containaing the heat though.

We’d love you to send us your ideas for a chilli dish and wine match too and we’ll feature them on the blog in coming weeks.