Stranded at the Clubhouse

In August of this year, Bettina and I went down to Cabo San Lucas for a long weekend. The trip was only slightly spontaneous; aside from getting the biggest barbecue in Northern California, Bettina wanted to take a trip for our anniversary. Cabo was chosen because, from San Fran, it is a quick 2.5 hour flight and a 30 minute bus ride between fog and sun on the beach, and at this time of year, the place isn't overrun with tourists and the pace is very relaxing. Now Cabo is a lot more about margueritas than wine, true, and let's just say we discovered the invaluable pacifying effect of citrus and tequila on the human nervous system, but we both love exploring the wines of different regions and Mexico is no different.

We had 3 nights' meals there, tried to explore what wines show best. The selection (aside from the expected selection from California) leaned heavily toward South America, and also showcased several Mexico wineries, as well. As Mexico (like much of California) was settled by the missions as part of Spanish rule, it is not surprising to find many old and established wineries in the region. Our surprise was the explosion of growth in wineries in the Baja peninsula, with many bottles available for $100 or more. I can't say that we tried enough to pass judgment on these wines versus those of other regions, but the passion we found for their local wines was encouraging -- perhaps another trip is needed to explore these regions more carefully.

Disappointing in the experience was not so much the wines, but the state of wine storage: Baja is still desert environs, and though the beer is stored cold, the wine is not. We had 2 bottles delivered so warm that we insisted had to be chilled before we could taste it, and one which obviously went bad from poor storage conditions. In my view, the restaurants are still learning this aspect of their service, though they were all apologetic for the state of the wine and I believe this will change in the future.

When we were in Buenos Aires a few years back, we got great exposure to the wines of Mendoza. In Mexico, it seems the bias is toward Chilean wines, and we found several selections which were joint ventures from many of the French chateaux; more bourdeaux style than the mendoza region, though our sampling was probably biased by what wines and styles the distributors wanted to push, and not truly representative of the breadth of winemaking going on in that region (so, another trip is needed!)

This isn't meant to be a review of specific wines we tried, but rather my impressions of the experience in Cabo, and interest in seeing how things develop in the future. In the end, you always are reminded that you are in Cabo and not Loire -- when the flash flood stranded us on the golf course and we were rescued by workers cutting through the barbed wire to truck us back, our survival while trapped at the clubhouse depended solely on margueritas and ceviche!