Back in the early days of the Spanish conquest of Latin America, a problem arose. How would Catholic priests, tasked with converting the locals to Christianity, celebrate mass without the necessary wine for the service?
The short-term answer was to ship wine over from Spain, but that was hardly practical. The long-term solution (although it wasn’t popular with Spanish wine exporters!) was to plant vineyards in the newly-discovered lands.
Where did they plant these vineyards? Believe it or not, on the high ground of Mexico, grapevines flourished, and a wine industry which now spans centuries, was created.
Over the years, those Mexican winemakers have learned a trick or two, and it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that wineries around the colonial highland city of San Miguel de Allende have become so good at it, that their wines are winning the sort of awards more usually gathered by growers in France, Italy, California or Spain.
International Living contributor Ann Kuffner lives in San Miguel de Allende. (For some years, she was our correspondent in the small Caribbean nation of Belize). A wine lover from an early age, she’s found an undiscovered trove of fine wines in the highlands around her adopted city. It goes perfectly with the cultured, sophisticated urban lifestyle of San Miguel de Allende.
Podcast host, Jim Santos, learns all about a side of Mexico most tourists never see, or even imagine, as he talks to Ann Kuffner in this week’s episode of Bigger Better World.
Read Ann’s full article in the February 2022 issue of International Living Magazine here: The Sun-Kissed Wines of San Miguel de Allende.
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