While we tend to think of the country as having a monolithic mestizo heritage (a blend of Indigenous and Spanish), there are important additions left behind by groups of immigrants that have shaped the country’s culture, art and its cuisine. 

Middle Eastern immigrants brought tacos árabes to Puebla which would go on to become Mexico’s most ubiquitous taco — tacos al pastor. Lebanese immigrants brought the kibbe to the Yucatan, now a popular roadside street food, and in Mexico City, one Japanese immigrant invented what would become one of Mexico’s most beloved snacks — cacahuates japoneses or Japanese peanuts.

Yashigei Nakatani: From Japan to Mexico

Japan and Mexico have diplomatic ties stretching back to the 1800s when both countries signed a Treaty of Friendship, Trade and Navigation. By the time World War II rolled around, there was already a nascent Japanese population in Mexico — in Manzanillo, many were fishermen, in Guadalajara Japanese workers came to work on the railroad, and of course, many arrived in Mexico City, the country’s capital which held the most economic opportunities for recent immigrants. 

When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States pressured the Mexican government to move Japanese immigrants away from the ports and the borders, and many in the community were deported on the alleged suspicion that they were spies.

That was the case with Heijiro Kato, the factory owner and boss of Yoshigei Nakatani Moriguchi, a young immigrant working in Kato’s button factory in Mexico City.

Nakatani had been in Mexico since 1932. He arrived and rented a room in the capital from his future mother-in-law, in the downtown neighborhood of La Merced, determined to make something of himself in his new adoptive city.

Nakatani soon met and fell in love with his landlady’s daughter Emma Ávila, who spied him singing on the rooftop of the building they shared and began to teach him Spanish. By 1941, they had five children and when Nakatani lost his job at the factory, he needed to find a way to make an income fast.

A new variation on a Japanese confection

Growing up in his hometown of Sumotoshi, Nakatani had learned how to make traditional Japanese sweets and candies. He figured he would try his hand at selling confections, so he and his wife started making muéganos, a Mexican candy made from flour, nuts, and coated in honey. Selling them out of their house on Carretones Street in the Merced, the candies were a hit, so they decided to expand and try to replicate a popular snack from Nakatani’s childhood — peanuts covered in a coating made from rice flour with soy sauce, and a touch of sugar.

Rice flour wasn’t available, so he replaced it with wheat flour, but the resulting snack was as good as the original — slow-toasted until perfectly golden brown, with slight salty spice and a hint of sweetness.

Everyone in the family eventually formed part of the business — his children helped to design the logo, pack the peanuts into their tiny cellophane bags, and run the machinery that they would eventually acquire to keep up with demand. In the neighborhood they were known as “the Japanese guy’s” peanuts and so Nakatani decided to name his business Cacahuate Nipón in the 1950s.

A family business and legacy

Business boomed and by 1970, Cacahuate Nipón officially incorporated and moved out of their space in the Merced neighborhood to produce on a larger scale. Unfortunately, the recipe for Japanese peanuts was never patented and during the 1980s, Cacahuate Nipon faced competition from big industrial corporations that were also making the snack, placing them in some of the country’s biggest convenience store chains.

The family overcame this challenge by expanding production to other popular sweets, like chamoy candies. They were extremely successful and were bought by Totis (part of La Costeña) in 2017, after which they started a new company called Dulces Komiru.

More recently, continuing the culinary legacy of his family, chef Eno Nakatani, grandson of Yashigei Nakatani, opened Fideo Gordo, a Japanese-Mexican noodle shop in Mexico City’s fashionable Colonia Roma.

Here he makes fusion dishes like ramen in birria broth and pork chicharrón topped with shrimp ceviche. Fideo Gordo is just one of the newest examples of Mexico’s great gastronomic melting pot, inspired by the many cultures that have expanded the country’s palate to the delight of locals and visitors alike.

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.

This article is part of Mexico News Daily’s “Japan in Focus” series. Read the other articles from the series here. 

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I’ve been curious about the Maya Train since plans for its construction were first announced in 2018. I have a certain nostalgia for the trains I took into Chicago as a child and have always wished Mexico had more train travel options available. I’ve followed along with the many controversies and discussions around the train, with detractors saying it will be the worst thing to happen to the Yucatán peninsula and supporters saying it will be the best. In the end, the results will probably be mixed, which is what I found on my trip to ride the entire open route from Cancún to Palenque.

After eight days and seven stops, I can tell you that the biggest issue I faced was not the train itself, but the transportation infrastructure from the stations to the destinations where we stopped. This travel guide should help you avoid some of the pitfalls I experienced.

I recommend buying your tickets online in advance to avoid any issues. Keep in mind that on every stretch of the train — except the one from Valladolid to Mérida — the air conditioning started out great and got progressively worse as we went along. It was never completely off but there were plenty of times that I wished for more.

Cancún

The station in Cancún feels grand, like one of the classic European train stations you see in movies from the early 20th century. There was a good crowd the day I boarded, as the section from Cancún to Mérida is one of the most popular routes. On the train I met Lucy and Javier, two retirees who were traveling all over the Yucatán via the Maya Train, stopping in Valladolid, Mérida and Campeche.

“We remember when there was a train from Guadalajara to Mexico City,” Lucy told me. “We used to take it all the time.” The couple were looking forward to seeing what this new train was like. 

That first ride to Valladolid was exciting. The train was gleaming — brand new, clean and super smooth. I bought a drink at the snack counter and chatted with the other riders. The view out the window this time of year was mostly dry jungle, but inside riders seemed happy to just chat and relax. There was no Wi-Fi on board, something I would come to discover was true of the entire route. Workers told me that some of the cars were outfitted with Wi-Fi, but even though on a few sections the network did appear on my phone, it was always without internet.

Getting to and from the train

Arriving at the Cancún airport, there are free shuttles that bring you to the train station from terminals 2, 3 and 4, departing five times a day.

Make sure to get one of these shuttles, because if not the taxi drivers will rip you off, charging at minimum 800 pesos, or US$50, for a 10-minute ride to the station.

Valladolid

The city of Valladolid is old-world chic, with a growing number of boutique shops and very decent regional restaurants. It’s a great base for exploring the amazing wildlife at the nearby Ría Lagartos biosphere reserve, particularly their flocks of electric pink flamingos, or visiting Las Coloradas, the area’s famous rose-colored salt flats. I stayed in one of the gorgeous nature villas at Oriundo Hotel outside of town, but most of the hotels and restaurants are right in the center of town. There are also many lovely cenotes nearby to while away a day swimming and picnicking.

Getting to and from the train

There are no taxis that wait at the station as of yet — though with increasing arrivals I think there will be — so arriving in Valladolid your option is the waiting bus that takes you to the ADO bus terminal in the center of town. The trip costs 35 pesos and lasts about 20 minutes. The fact that Valladolid is a small town and most of the action is downtown made this the most convenient connection of the whole trip. I stayed overnight in Valladolid and took the same bus back the next day and the ADO ticket counter people were fully informed about the bus’s schedule.

Mérida

With its crumbling mansions, sultry climate and exquisite restaurants and bars, Mérida is one of my favorite cities in Mexico. I stayed at The Diplomat, my favorite hotel, and took advantage of its proximity to the Santiago market to try some local fare. Mérida finally has a population willing and able to support its dozens of great eating and drinking options as well as some very fine art galleries and shopping.

Getting to and from the train

Arriving in Mérida in the evening there were no taxis but several e-trams — part of Mérida’s public transportation system — were waiting to take arrivals to both the La Plancha and Paseo 60 stations for 45 pesos. The trip took about 30 minutes. The bus driver knew little about the rest of the connecting route through the city, so I took a 70 peso taxi from the drop-off station to my hotel. Mérida has Uber and Didi, and both apps are inexpensive and work well — although wait times tend to be longer than in a big city like Mexico City. This makes getting around the city a breeze, and while I’m a big fan of public transportation I gave up trying to figure it out in Mérida and just took cabs or walked.

Getting back to the station was easy, but I had to go to the La Plancha tram stop the day before and ask about the train times which are not announced anywhere online that I could find. When I got there, the times were written on a tiny piece of paper taped to the ticket counter. When I asked the woman there if the times were published anywhere she said no; they “weren’t set yet.” Anyone wanting to know had to come to the station to check. I came back the next day and the bus to the train station did leave on time. It cost 45 pesos, like my trip into town.

Edzná

Leaving Mérida I decided to go all the way to Edzná to see if it would be possible to see the ruins there before they closed for the day. On the way I met Paulina who was traveling with two other women back from Mérida to Palenque where they lived. I asked her how the trip was going and she said their trip on the train was cheaper than the bus and took 4 hours less time so for them it was no-brainer. They seemed a happy group, even if by this time we were all sweating on this leg of the trip. 

The archaeological ruins at Edzná, a former powerful regional capital on the Yucatán Peninsula from AD 400 to 1000, were stunning. The site is small, the buildings dramatic and there were only a handful of other tourists. I recommend going early in the day, as there is little tree cover and walking around in the midday heat almost did me in.

Getting to and from the train

When I got to the Edzná station things more or less fell apart, and I had to remind myself to go with the flow and embrace the chaos. I had previously asked about transportation in Edzná from other train workers and was told there would be taxis there, but when I arrived there was nothing but me, a hot breeze, some sad-looking palm trees and a stray dog. Zenaida, the woman working at the station, was extremely kind but a bit shocked by my assumption that there would be transportation.

Zenaida told me that a bus line is in the works but hasn’t been developed yet because “the station isn’t finished,” which was why there were no stores there either. I’m not sure how unfinished a station is when it’s already receiving passengers, but I kept my opinion to myself. Zenaida called a motorcycle taxi for me who might have been the only one in town and also offered car service from one of the station’s employees who uses his vehicle as a kind of Uber for tourists who want to get to the Edzná ruins there. 

The ruins — the only attraction in Edzná as there is no town to speak of and only a single store along the highway — are 15 kilometers away and the hot wind in the back of the mototaxi made the trip feel like riding in a microwave. Abram, my driver, was a super nice guy and talked to me about the hotel that the government was building near the site that would allow people to spend the night there once it opens at the end of June — the same date Zenaida said that the Edzná station would be finished.

So down the road, it looks like there will be transportation and lodging; for now, be sure to bring water and food, as there are no shops at the ruins either. Since the train only arrives in Edzná in the afternoon and doesn’t leave until the next morning I took a combi — a small shared van — back to Campeche. The worker at the ruins said it came at 3:30 p.m. at a stop down the road. Instead, it showed up at 3 p.m., right at the entrance to the ruins. I almost missed it.

Campeche

Campeche is another gem. Yucatán’s walled city was often attacked by pirates during the colonial years, and the city’s multi-colored facades and the remaining sections of its great wall make for a charming ambiance. The seafood here is also top-notch. Be sure to amble down Calle 59 with its cafes and bars lit up with twinkling lights in the evening. If you want to see Edzná, I recommend staying in Campeche and making it a day trip.

Getting to and from the train

Since I didn’t arrive in Campeche on the train, I didn’t get the experience of coming into town from the station. I now know that buses wait for each arriving train to take passengers into the city center. They drop you off on the oceanfront, where the massive letters that spell out Campeche stand., From there, it’s a short walk to the restaurants and hotels of the Historic Center.

Getting back to the station was painful. There’s no information online except for a few articles from December 2023 that say there are stops at four different points throughout the city. I ended up going to the bus station and being told there was a bus that picked up riders at 6:30, 10:30, and 11:30 at the same spot as the drop-off. I arrived there at 11:10 and waited until 11:34, but no bus came. 

“Sometimes they come early and sometimes they come late!” a man wearing a Maya Train hat told me. “That’s how we do things in Campeche, everything backwards!” said his buddy. My advice for Campeche is to take a cab to the train station, which will cost you 150-200 pesos from the Historic Center.

Palenque

The home of one of Mexico’s greatest archaeological sites is also known for its waterfalls and swimming holes, so that’s what I chose to do on this part of the trip — I’d already seen the ruins before. The waterfalls of Misol Ha, Roberto Barrios and Agua Azul are all gorgeous places to spend an afternoon staving off the heat and communing with nature, especially during the week, when there are fewer tourists. The town of Palenque itself has never held much draw for me, but it’s a good base for exploring the region.

On the train, the landscape from Campeche to Palenque was a little more exciting, passing small farms, cattle ranches and greener jungle. The Palenque station was probably the most grandiose and lovely of all the stations along the route, and many passengers I met along the way were making the trip from Campeche or Mérida straight to Palenque, so I envision this station getting a lot of use in the future.

Getting to and from the train

The day before going to Palenque, I stopped off in Escárcega, where, once again, there was no public transportation. The station workers called me a cab. Coming back the next day they told me the train was having technical difficulties and it would be at least an hour and half late. We finally got into Palenque 2.5 hours late, and despite the station manager assuring us that there was a public bus that would take us to the ADO bus station in the center of town, it never arrived. 

Instead, there were taxis, which charged 150 pesos to the hotel zone in town and 200 to the hotels on the road to the ruins. From the ADO station in town, I found out that the buses to the Maya Train station leave at 6 a.m. every day and wait for the arrivals on the 5 p.m. train every afternoon. When I mentioned to him that when we arrived late there was no bus waiting, he said, yeah, sometimes if they tell us train is late we don’t wait. 

Reflections on my journey

Except for Edzná, all of these cities are major stops on the train, and so are the most likely to have transportation. Still, as you can see, it wasn’t well organized at many of the stops. Some of the small stations along the route are not fully operational yet, and many lack basic infrastructure. It’s more likely that these smaller stops will be useful for locals traveling around the peninsula than tourists like the two women riding from Campeche I met going to see their mother in the tiny town of Carrillo Puerto.

I do think some of the operational kinks are bound to be fixed as the train heads towards its first anniversary, but for international tourists who don’t speak Spanish, much is needed to make travel smoother including informational signs, a map of the route at stations, reliable and easy-to understand-public transportation and English-speaking staff. While it was an adventure and I did love riding on a train again, I think I will hold off on another trip on the Maya Train until it’s a little further down the track.

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.

The post From Cancún to Palenque on the Maya Train: A travel guide appeared first on Mexico News Daily

You can’t be faulted if you haven’t heard of some of these, but you will be left behind if you don’t get into the mix. So here are a few Mexican spirits you should know and some places to try them for the first time.

Pox: Ancestral drink of the Tzotzil

Hailing from the southern state of Chiapas, pox – pronounced posh – is believed to descend from a drink the Tzotzil Maya people made from fermented corn over a century ago. Potent and alcoholic, today’s pox is made from a blend of corn, wheat and sugar cane, with good pox including a dominant percentage of corn and an AVB of 40 or above. In a good pox you will notice the sweetness of the piloncillo sugar and the strong flavor of the endemic corn used to make it. Pox is one of the least publicized spirits in this list, used for generations in religious rituals of the area’s Indigenous people and as a homebrew medicine. Only recently has pox started to make its way out of the rural mountain regions of Chiapas and into local bars committed to showcasing the vast array of Mexico’s regional spirits.

If you’re seeking a taste of this time-honored elixir try San Cristobal de las Casas restaurants La Tarumba or Tierra y Cielo, where you can find cocktails with local pox, or a bar like Rayo in Mexico City where pox is blended with Maestro Dobel Diamante Tequila, purple sweet potato, lime and palo santo as one of their 10 signature cocktails. To buy your own bottle, try woman-owned and operated Poxna, a brand out of Chiapas sold at the Sabrá Dios liquor store in Mexico City and their San Cristobal tasting room La Espirituosa.

Charanda: Not your average Cuba Libre 

Charanda, which comes from the state of Michoacán, has an official appellation of origin, meaning that its methods of production and distillation are both regulated and protected as intellectual property — nothing can be called charanda that doesn’t meet certain parameters. Often compared to rum, Michoacan’s charanda has special attributes: the high-altitude sugar cane varieties it’s made from have greater sugar levels than its lowland cousins and the area’s mountain spring water gives the region’s spirit a distinctive flavor.

When producing charanda, additional sugar or piloncillo is added to the fermenting sugar cane juice, distinguishing this process from that of traditional rum. Charanda can be divided into three categories, the unaged blanca, the medium-aged dorado, and the darkest and most mellow, añejo, which is often aged in bourbon or sherry barrels that provide it with additional flavor complexity. Charanda can be enjoyed similarly to rum — Cuba Libre, anyone? — but for something a little more elevated, El Gallo Altanero in Guadalajara serves up the Duranzo Mojado with two types of charanda, peach, falernum syrup, grapefruit, sweet lime juice, orange liqueur and black pepper. Uruapan, the birthplace of charanda, is home to La Charanderia, where you’ll find one of the widest selections of quality charanda in the country.

Raicilla: The underground mezcal making a comeback

Makers of raicilla will let you know right away that this liquor is a type of mezcal — much in the same way that tequila is a type of mezcal —  but that raicilla is made from specific types of agave in a handful of municipalities in Jalisco and Nayarit states. 

As opposed to mezcal production, in which only the hearts of agaves are cooked and mashed for fermentation, in some raicilla production, every part of the agave is included. This gives those varieties a more fibrous flavor, often less sweet and more woody than mezcal. During the colonial era, the Spanish outlawed the production of this kind of mezcal, so local producers “renamed” it raicilla and production went underground. Its big comeback moment came in the 2010s, when the consumption and sale of raicilla catapulted it onto the national stage.

Most raicilla is still produced 100% artisanally using hand mashers and only basic implements like copper stills in the distillation process. Raicilla has grown in popularity with the rise of mezcal and has its own appellation of origin for its region and production. For a taste at the source, try the La Taberna, which is the bar run by the Mexican Council to Promote Raicilla (CMPR) in Mascota, Jalisco, or try the El Cucumber cocktail at De La O in Guadalajara which is a blend of Raicilla Japo, lime, green chartreuse and orange bitters.

Sotol: Jewel of the desert

The corpse reviver at Cafe de Nadie in Mexico City blends Flor de Desierto Sierra sotol with “chinampa vermouth” (an infusion of vermouth, white wine, and herbs grown in the city’s southern canals), as well as Peychuad bitters and citrus oil for a taste that is refreshingly bitter and alcoholic. Sotol is often confused for mezcal, but its flavor profile tends to be a bit pinier and is often described as more herbal or citrusy. Made from the desert spoon cactus, sotol production is centered in the northern desert states of Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila, but can also be found across the border in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, though it is generally thought of as a Mexican spirit.

Its history dates back to the Indigenous people of the region, who made a fermented beverage with the desert spoon cactus plant, albeit minus the distillation process that arrived with European colonizers. The process of making sotol is similar to that of mezcal:  the piñas, or hearts of the plant, are cooked in stone or earthen pits in the ground, then mashed and allowed to ferment for several days until being distilled — often more than once, depending on the profile sought by the sotol makers.

Bacanora: The outlaw that rose again

Bacanora is another style of mezcal produced in a cluster of southeastern municipalities of the state of Sonora that hug the border with neighboring Chihuahua. Made from a single plant – the Pacifica agave – bacanora is generally less smoky than mezcals from Oaxaca, has a greater minerality and a certain woodiness to it. Bacanora can also be distinguished by its yellow and golden hues in-bottle.

Bacanora’s history also dates back several hundred years, when the native peoples of the region made an alcoholic drink from the same type of agave. Its production was briefly outlawed in 1915 when the state’s governor, future president Plutarco Elías Calles, decided to crack down on illegal production of alcohol. The decision was reversed in the 1960s when the production of bacanora was reinstated and regulated and named a beloved regional spirit. Two excellent options for bacanora are Batuq and Los Amavizca. If you are in Mexico City stop by Tlecan bar and try a vampiro with bacanora, orange juice, a blend of chilis and salt. 

Whiskey: Foreign and endemic come together

Whiskey is on the rise in Mexico, and while not a type of alcohol production endemic to this country, today’s producers are combining the unique characteristics of the 59 heritage corn varieties available across Mexico with the long-honored tradition of whiskey making born in Europe and brought to the Americas during the colonial period.

Some of the best Mexican whiskey I’ve tried is in Tlaxcala at the Cuatro Volcanes distillery, which has been making liquor with locally-sourced, small-production corn harvests since 2019. Their tiny distillery and cocktail bar is located in a residential area of Tlaxcala city, and, along with whiskey, they are experimenting with gin, absinthe, fruit brandies and other liqueurs made from local plants and fruits. In Mexico City, you can try many of their spirits at Fuego, which has a selection of all of the spirits in this article. If you want to branch out, a few other good options for Mexican whiskey are Juan del Campo, Origen 35 and Gran Tunal.

Fruit Brandies: Mexico’s newest trend

Mexican fruit brandies and liqueurs have just started to sneak onto bar shelves and cocktail menus. Many are made in regions where other spirits or wine are produced and used as a way to make efficient use of leftover fruit production or as an alternative to making mezcal when a harvest is bad or producers don’t have the money to purchase the quantities of agave they need. In these cases, they might turn to an over-abundant mango harvest, or in the case of Vinos Barrigones, a pandemic happenstance that found their mezcal distillery (located in the middle of a vineyard) with no mezcalero to lead it. They decided to make a pivot that resulted in the birth of their first brandy.

Brandies and liqueurs offer a wide range of flavor profiles depending on the producer and are an excellent showcase of Mexico’s expansive domesticated and wild fruit varieties, with tejocote (Mexican hawthorn), nance and prickly pear flavors as a few of the wilder experiments.

If there was ever a zeitgeist moment for Mexican distilled spirits, it’s right now. Greater visibility for all these liquors has made this an incredible time to start branching out into the wide variety of spirits, and a growing national cocktail culture has meant incorporating them into drink menus in new and inventive ways. For flavors that truly represent the land and people of Mexico, a regional spirit can offer you a taste that nothing else can.

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.

The post The 7 trending Mexican spirits you need to try appeared first on Mexico News Daily

Pox, a distilled spirit whose origins go back centuries, is so much more than just an element for a great cocktail.

A brief history of Pox

Historically, pox’s original ancestors were the fermented beverages of the indigenous communities of Chiapas. It was made from either corn or sugar cane and referred to as pox or chicha. 

Pox’s modern descendant has been used for centuries in local religious ceremonies and community celebrations, where it was valued for its curative properties and ability to transport shamans or healers into a trance-like state. It was also often exchanged as a form of payment and was one way that the mestizo upper classes controlled their day laborers – paying them in pox and then trapping them in a vicious circle of indebtedness when they became addicted.

In 1949, a prohibition on pox and other kinds of liquor was enforced in Chiapas, closing small distilleries around the state in an attempt to supposedly protect the local population from alcoholism. The prohibition, however,  only served to strengthen the pox monopoly at the time of the Petrero brothers, who, in cahoots with local law enforcement, brutally attacked indigenous distillers producing clandestinely for their own consumption. The pox monopoly wasn’t truly dismantled until the 1970s, and from then until the early 2000s, the spirit returned to small production and was used mainly for religious and community purposes. It wasn’t until a new generation of distilleries came along that pox started to become popular again in the mainstream.

These days, pox is slowly creeping down from the highlands of Chiapas to appear on bar menus across the country. Only a handful of official pox brands have hit the market – Pox Tres Almas, Pox Siglo Cero, Poxmyl, La Poshería, and Poxna – among them.

Meet Sofia Vidal, the woman bringing pox back to Chiapas

Poxna is the only pox brand that is female-owned and operated, by Chiapas local Sofia Vidal. Vidal started her project in 2010 with the goal of not only creating great pox but also educating consumers about the historical and cultural importance of this local spirit.

“I wanted to make a spirit in Chiapas that people could feel proud of and that could be much more than just an alcoholic beverage. Something that we could return to producing and understand the need to recover the original artisanal process of making this spirit,” Vidal says.

“On one hand, it’s a popular drink for parties, but it also has a role that’s very traditional, very ceremonial, full of mysticism. It is still part of the ritual elements of traditional ceremonies of the native peoples in the central part of Chiapas, mainly the Tzotzil and Tzeltal, the two largest indigenous groups in Chiapas.”

The word for pox in Tzotzil, poxyl, literally means medicine, and the liquor is still used by local healers and shamans to cleanse the soul, heal the heart, and ward off evil spirits. It is also employed to extract the medicinal properties of local herbs and plants. 

Vidal remembers her mother and her aunts using pox to create a local fruit liqueur called mistela with traditional fruit from the area like peaches or quince, but they would have never drank it straight. That’s because for most of its existence in modern times, pox has been considered a poor man’s drink, sold for cheap in local shops but not taken seriously as a drink for more affluent circles.

There is currently no Denomination of Origin for pox like there is for mezcal, tequila, and some other Mexican spirits, which means that the exact parameters of what can be considered pox are hazy. According to Vidal, many brands are selling what is essentially a sugar cane aguardiente and calling it pox. 

For her, the essence of pox is corn.

Pox is a distillation of Mexican history

“Corn, as you know, is one of Mesoamerica’s most important grains. In Mexico — and especially Chiapas — its influence is important as the foundation of our cuisine, and we want to continue preserving it. Something very clear to me from the very beginning was that our pox needed to be made with corn.”

Understanding that it would be more expensive and take more time, Vidal decided planting and using local corn was vital to her young project. She started working with Bebidas Espirituosos de Chiapas, a local organization dedicated to the research, history and preservation of traditional spirits. They helped Vidal carry out the initial tests to see which of five different varieties of local corn would make the best final product.  Once that was decided, they helped her standardize production.

All of Poxna’s products are made from a base of local white corn that grows in the area of Comitán, southeast of San Cristobal de las Casas. Vidal works closely with farmers at each step of the growing process until the corn is ready to be processed. 

They then make a first distillation from corn mash and a separate one from a mixture of piloncillo (a type of brown sugar) and wheat bran. These two spirits are then blended together and distilled a second time to create a white pox that is 70% corn liquor.

The end result is a 45ABV “extra-virgin pox,” according to Vidal, with a silky texture and dry notes from the corn as well as a slight sweetness added by the piloncillo. Poxna is also making pox infused with hibiscus and chocolate pox, more like a cream than a straight spirit but without any dairy. 

“It’s really difficult for someone to buy a spirit they have never tried,” Vidal says, which is why she started giving tastings at her shop/bar/restaurant in Chiapas, La Espirituosa. Anyone who stops in can get a free tasting and explanation of pox. 

Vidal finds that many of her clients immediately compare pox to mezcal and tequila and generally like it better because of the lack of smokiness and the slightly lower alcohol content, which makes it smoother. She is a strong proponent of the standardization of pox production and hopes that one day, this spirit will have a similar impact to tequila and mezcal.

While she prefers to focus on her project and less on the gender discussion, she says it can be tough to be the woman in charge. “I did a tasting for industry people and invited the son of the farmer I work with. I performed the tasting and gave the explanation, but at the end, all the questions were directed toward him. At one point, I just had to interrupt and say [that] if they had questions about my product, they should be asking me.”

Poxna: Coming soon to a cocktail bar near you

Despite having to remind folks that she knows what she’s doing, her bullishness about pox has made Vidal a rising name in the industry She’s built a strong network around Poxna and its products. 

In Mexico City, Poxna can be found on the cocktail menus of many prestigious food and drink establishments, such as Baltra, Limantour, and Pujol, and at chef Enrique Olvera’s project, Criollo, in Oaxaca. 

This mystical spirit has long been important in the state of Chiapas, but now the rest of the country — and the rest of the world — is starting to take notice.

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.

The post From Chiapas to the world: How Poxna is reviving tradition appeared first on Mexico News Daily

There are now non-profits on the ground in Mexico who are working to change this. Agave expert Lou Bank discusses SACRED, and how they have worked to transform lives and promote sustainability in Mexico’s rural mezcal industry.

Meet Lou Bank, mezcal expert extraordinaire

The past few years my writing (and my palate) have led me to the rural Mexico, and its fields of agave. I have learned about the effects of climate change, over-consumption, capitalism, and loss of biodiversity that threaten mezcalerías and its traditional distilleries. 

Bank started to hear similar stories in the 2010s when he was visiting small, family-run operations. 

“It doesn’t take long for you to start recognizing that really, all the resources they need to make mezcal are at risk as the market grows. And as the bigger players get into it, you’ve got agave, and land that is starting to become more scarce. And then you add trees on top of that, because they use the wood to cook with, and then you add to that water,” he explained. 

“And local workers are being poached by the larger multinational companies trying to scale up their productions. So increased mezcal consumption puts so much pressure on local families and their ability to continue doing what they’re doing, the way they’ve been doing it for multiple generations.”

Helping communities who need support most

As a fan of mezcal and an experienced non-profit fundraiser, Bank wanted to do something to help. During his travels in 2011, a mezcal maker he befriended approached him about raising funds for a local library, and Bank was struck with the idea that there were needs to be met in every community he visited. So he started to ask what they were.

“These families who continue carrying on these traditions in the face of all of these changes, they’re the ones who are going to be able to figure out how to solve the problem. What I can do is access resources for them, primarily monetary resources, but not exclusively, as they’re looking for resources to implement solutions to their problems. I want to be able to help them when they ask for it,” Bank said.

Thus began SACRED, an organization working with mezcaleros and their communities to raise funds for community-led solutions in rural Mexico. The nonprofit has so far helped to fund a library, six agave nurseries, four water catchment systems, and a community plaza/basketball court. They have also distributed more than 60,000 agave seedlings to local families that needed them for their mezcal production. 

The sustainable agave of the future

The roads of the Sierra Madre mountains of Puebla, are bordered by cactus and dusty fields. It is here that the settlement of San Luis Atolotitlán proudly stands. The tiny town – less than 1,000 inhabitants – is a collection of squat, mostly adobe buildings, and still holds an old-world charm of the sort rapidly disappearing from Mexico today. 

This is the home of Ildenfonso Macedas Ginez, a local mezcal master who met Bank in 2020. The town sits on part of the UNESCO-recognized Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biospehere Reserve, and in the past several years, federal restrictions have started to intensify, preventing locals from collecting agaves growing wild on the land.

When Macedas first approached Bank it was to see if he could help them get funding to paint a local grade school. Once that project was in motion they started to talk about land restrictions and Macedas suggested that the town could use a greenhouse for growing agave seedlings, and at some point in the future, other crops. 

“Ildenfonso makes this really beautiful spirit and I love it,” says Bank. “So I figured, okay, I’m gonna sell one-and-a-half liter bottles as a fundraiser, people will pay $1,000 a bottle and that’s how we’ll raise the money for the greenhouse, but it took so long to get the booze bottled and into the US legally, and during all that time I had told the story of the community so frequently, that one of our supporters heard it and just gave us the money.”

The greenhouse, which was finished at the beginning of 2023 is now growing over 5,000 seedlings, supplying enough agave for 5 local families. Macedas says that as the project grows he believes more and more people will get involved. Local farmers are given agave seedlings to grow on their land with the only requirement that they sell the mature plants back to local mezcal makers. 

Macedas and others involved in the project also plan to grow mezquite and pirul (American pepper) trees, used for cooking the agave, to help reforest the surrounding area. 

International brand involvement

Projects like this can provide consumers a counterbalance to the effects of their consumption in a positive, direct way. For mezcal, whose market pressures will only exacerbate current issues as the demand for it grows, SACRED provides a way for the average drinker to help out. 

“I would argue that there is not a single brand of tequila or mezcal with sustainable practices. Once you put something in a glass bottle and you ship it, it’s no longer sustainable. And when these brands go to a buyer at a liquor store or at a bar, and tell them they have a new tequila they want to sell, the first thing they ask is ‘ok, what are you doing to support the community that you’re sourcing from?” Bank explained. These companies realized they needed an answer for that.” 

A lot of big names now support the work of SACRED, including major international brands such as France’s Pernod Ricard. When asked whether brands might use the work of SACRED for greenwashing Bank, took a pragmatic stance:

“I was a little nervous taking money from any brands because I felt like maybe that would be looked at as us being deferential to brands, as opposed to being deferential to mezcaleros, and that’s certainly not how I ever wanted to operate and wouldn’t even want people to think that.” 

“If what we want is the world to continue to be a place where we can eat, breathe and have drinking water, we need to completely turn the ship around 180 degrees and how do you do that? You don’t do it by telling a company that’s trying to do some good to get lost, because it’s those companies that are going to be able to turn it three degrees instead of one degree.”

Over US $600,000 later, SACRED has supported 12 communities and improved the lives of hundreds of rural mezcaleros.

For folks who love mezcal, that’s a small glimmer of hope for its future and while supporting SACRED doesn’t completely balance the sustainability scales, it is one step towards a more sustainable and just future in the industry. 

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.

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A few very nice hotel options opened in Mexico City this year including two that we covered in a more extensive piece: Volga and a revamp of what is now the Hotel San Fernando in Condesa. Volga’s ambiance is more for the young, jet-setting crowd, with dance music pumped through the sound system and a hip rooftop hang space where you can have a drink and get a breathtaking view of the city. Once inside the sleek black marble and earth-toned rooms, however, you can easily leave the party behind and chill. Formerly a ho-hum hotel in a gorgeous Art Deco building, the Hotel San Fernando was revamped this year into adorable home-away-from-home apartments with a great bar downstairs and breezy rooftop patio just steps from Parque México in Colonia Condesa.

Colima 71 is now one of the few hotels with over a dozen rooms in the heart of the Roma. Located in a building redesigned by Alberto Kalach, best known as the architect of the José Vasconcelos Library, its rooms are more spacious than you’d expect in a former elementary school – almost every category has a small outdoor patio or balcony. An all-day barista will keep you fueled in the main lobby if you want to work, or you can take advantage of the honor bar for an end-of-the-day mezcal or whiskey. If you are a member of SoHo House you were probably particularly excited this year when they opened up their first location in Latin America in a Baroque mansion in Colonia Juárez with a luxurious pool and tequila bar for the kind of high-society socializing that the brand is known for.

This city’s food and drink scene is an ever-evolving landscape of locations – the good ones stick around and the others are usually sloughed off pretty quickly. Any list is only the tip of the iceberg and of course very subjective. But here’s one anyway. The city can always use more good pizza, so I was happy to see the folks from the restaurant Sartoria open Pizzeria della Madonna. Located in Roma Norte, the pizzeria works with a wood-fired oven and serves interesting pie combinations like mushroom ragu with artichokes, black olives and Italian ham or black and white truffle cream, guanciale and cacio e pepe cream. As you can expect from its owners, who also own wine bar Bottega next door, Pizzeria della Madonna has an extensive international wine list. The restaurant’s casual but hip ambiance makes it a great date night spot.

If you hanker for an excellent bagel with lox or made-from-scratch pastrami sandwiches, Mendl Delicatessen opened this year to much fanfare and with a throwback décor reminiscent of the delis of old. In a similar nostalgic vein, the team from restaurant Cicatriz opened Ojo Rojo Diner this year, complete with swivel bar stools and 1950s-inspired mint green decor. The Patty Smith Melt is divine and you won’t find another root beer float in the entire city. Blaxicocina in Narvarte has brought soul food to Mexico City, with a fried chicken and chorizo hash with ancho-corn cream sauce that beautifully represents the Southern-meets-Mexican flavors on the menu.

For libations, NIV wine bar popped up in March with an extensive list of top-quality wine from around the world and small plates like hummus and mixed olives that will keep you fueled through a few good bottles. Winning a spot on this year’s 50 Best Bars in North America list was newcomer Rayo Bar, which opened its buzzy, modern rooftop bar this past spring. They serve some of the city’s most interesting and solidly Mexican cocktails with a well-rounded list of local spirits that go beyond just mezcal and tequila. Rayo incorporates endemic flavors like palo santo, guava and hoja santa bitters in its list of ten handcrafted cocktails that you can taste before you order from glass stopper bottles that arrive at your table along with a small welcome snack.

There’s much more to the city than just eating, drinking and sleeping on high thread count sheets though. This year saw the opening of the Casa Museo Pedro Ramírez, which honors the late, great architect of the Museum of Anthropology, the Estadio Azteca and the New Basilica of Guadalupe with a tour through his former home, a look at the plans and documents he used to create his masterpieces and a peek into his daily life.

The Yayem travel brand, which started as an app for exploring local haunts and hangouts around the world, opened a coworking space in a stunning Colonia Roma mansion that makes going to work every day a pleasure. The space hosts mezcal tastings, taco tours and other activities for its members and non-members alike. Finally, the new Bomboti shop and gallery in Polanco is the combined effort of a local interior design firm and visual artist for Mexican-made art or household goods. It has a vast collection of luxury ceramics, local and international fashion and decadent design pieces for yourself or a lucky recipient.

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.

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The city can give off somewhat of a provincial feel at first. On weekday nights the residential streets around Mérida’s downtown are pretty sleepy and the high daytime temperatures are a great excuse to sit on one of the city’s lovely little plazas and while away a few hours. But on weekends there is a buzzy scene of food, drink and culture that finally has a local and visiting population that supports it. This is bringing both national and international tourists to a place that has otherwise gone under the radar for years. 

Sara de Ruiter and Neil Haapamaki opened The Diplomat ten years ago as a luxurious little retreat for travelers by travelers. This 5-room boutique hotel sits just east of the city center near the Yucatecan food mecca which is the Santiago market. Early in the morning, you will see the line snaking through the market for La Lupita’s – a stand that sells “cochinita pibil” (roasted pork), “lechón” (suckling pig), and “recado negro” (black spice blend), three iconic Yucatecan dishes. Apparently, the Diplomat is a trendsetter because it’s rumored that luxury hotel group Chable is opening an in-town location of their hotel blocks away, set to open next year. If you want to stay closer to downtown, there are dozens of great options, including the Misión de Fray Diego, a relic of 1800s Mérida in all its glory. 

These days most of the newest and hippest locales are located just outside of the city’s Centro Histórico, which for much of the city’s modern history has been the area visited by tourists. Now visitors are wandering further afield. Clustered around the Parque La Mejorada is Largarta de Oro, an old-school cantina turned hip bar and listening room; Vana, an all-Mexican wine bar inside a gorgeous 19th-century mansion; and Patio Petanca, an indoor/outdoor bar with bocce ball courts inside the crumbling skeleton of an ancient building whose door is trendily unmarked. During the day you can stop by Pancho Maíz for traditional Mexican “antojitos” (snacks) made with heritage corn from the peninsula. Next door a bee collective offers tastings of regional honey types including honey from the now-famous melipona stingless bees. 

While upscale dining options Kuuk and Nectar are the steadfast executors of fine dining in this town, a lot of young chefs are facilitating a new wave of dining and reinventing the traditions of local cuisine. Alex Marcin started Cocina Ramiro in honor of his grandfather and focuses on the traditional dishes he grew up with in their finest presentation (the banana cake is a must). Mohit Bhojwani Buenfil, the chef of the restaurant El Remate has expanded to include a great pizza place, Pizza Neo, and a rooftop hangout, Terraza, where you will find one of the city’s best “aguachiles” and some of its more interesting cocktails. Salon Gallos is another great spot for cocktails with options like the “El Posh”, a frappé with pox liquor, “xtabentun” (an absinthe-like liquor made from honey), sweet lime and cilantro, in an old oat factory that has been converted into a restaurant and movie theater. 

Eating and drinking your way through the city could take up all your time, but there are also lots of cultural spaces for breaks in between that should not be overlooked. Several great galleries grace Calle 60, including the Taller Maya, the Nahulli Gallery, and the Soho Gallery for contemporary art. Come during February for the MEL Artists’ Studio tour, when artists around the city open their studios to the public, or arrange a private art and design tour with Yesenia Lope any time of the year. Casa Tho on Paseo de Montejo is a boutique shop that features high-end items by Mexican designers and El Minaret has weekend bazaars that focus on local producers in a gorgeous turn-of-the-century home. Try the Nuup collective or Takto for unique home décor pieces – one of Takto’s founders, Angela Damman has her own separate project converting local henequen and sansevieria fibers into luxury textiles.  

For museum-goers, La Casa Museo Montes de Molina will let you experience late-19th- to early 20th-century Mérida, but for contemporary and modern art try the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Ateneo de Yucatán MACAY-Fernando García Ponce or the Centro Cultural La Cúpula. While the heat often keeps folks indoors, on Sundays, the city shuts down one of the lanes on Paseo de Montejo for cyclists and the local government offers a free historical walking tour to give you the lay of the land. 

There are also endless options for day trips from Mérida including going to see the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá, as well as learning how to make cochinita pibil and having a local cenote all to yourself in the town of Yaxunah (home of the famous Amazonas women’s softball team). You can also take a gorgeous drive past ancient sisal haciendas on the way out to Isla Arena and pick up a handwoven hat along the way, or bask in the sun on the beaches of Sisal or Celestun – where you can gawk at the most famous local resident – the young American flamingos that feed there during the winter months. 

While the city has always had a certain draw, it’s undeniable that right now its food and cultural scenes are abuzz with activity. For visitors who are tired of the internationalism of some of the nearby beach destinations, Mérida offers a great chance to get to know the Yucatecan culture and cuisine on a deeper level. All this and the city remains affordable and is a great base to explore the entire peninsula if you want to make it an extended stay.  

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.

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What was once a mere industrial salt farm has become somewhat of a sensation since 2016 when mentions of the “pink beaches” of Las Coloradas where you could swim with the flamingos flooded the internet. None of those things were true, but tourists came in droves anyway to a place that used only to receive travelers who took a wrong turn on their way to Rio Largartos.

When the visitors started to wander into the salt ponds on their own, contaminating months worth of work for the Industria Salinera de Yucatán salt company, the company decided something must be done to protect their product and to allow visitors to gawk at this little natural wonder and get their shot for the Gram. So in 2021, the official welcome center of Las Coloradas was opened, and local guides were on hand to give tours that explained the process of salt production and harvest, why some of the ponds are pink (a little family of bacteria called halobacteria), and why local flamingos are so fond of this enclosed little ecosystem. 

The salt flats sit in the middle of the Rio Lagartos bio reserve, designated as such in 1999. The Industria Salinera de Yucatán had already been producing salt there since 1946. When the area became federally protected, salt production was deemed a suitable and sustainable commercial activity allowed to continue there. The 10 to 12 month process of producing salt from seawater starts with water pumped directly from the saltwater lagoon between the ocean and the salt farm. After that initial water is pumped in, it passes from pond to pond by gravity, increasing its salinity concentration as it evaporates to a greater degree in each pond until it reaches such saltiness that only the halobacteria can survive, and the water or brine turns pink. 

Those elegant aviators I mentioned earlier are fondest of the medium-salty ponds where their favorite food, brine shrimp – what we often refer to as “sea monkeys” – thrives. The flamingos and the other migratory and sea birds that nest in Las Coloradas are protected from their main predators by the geography and the closeness of humans, from larger mammals that eat their eggs to the local crocodiles that eat them. 

But birds aren’t the only animals that live under the protection of the Industria Salinera de Yucatán. The company has also been working with the administration of the Rio Lagartos bio reserve for the past 30 years to protect the three species of sea turtles that nest along the shore. This includes rescuing turtles that nest on the ridge of coastal dunes and sometimes tumble to the other side, getting trapped on the road or in the salt ponds on the property.

They are also involved in the reforestation and rebuilding of coastal dunes and the natural vegetation to improve the coast’s resistance to intensified hurricanes and cold fronts, affecting the local flora and fauna and the company’s salt production. In the last five years, they have researched the area’s adaptability and resiliency to climate change alongside the Worldwide Wildlife Fund to develop mitigation strategies to strengthen the local ecosystem at its weakest points.

Scientists on the team monitor yearly precipitation, grow endemic vegetation in the nursery for replanting on the dunes, and install geo-membranes filled with sand and water to help rebuild parts of the dunes that are swept away. Because of the company’s long history here, they can provide valuable information about long-term weather patterns and the changing climate. 

There’s even a local birders club that workers started on the farm. Many migratory and local birds build their nests on the islands and land bridges of the salt flats because of the protection from predators, so the plant’s workers mark the nests when they come across them and try to avoid those paths when they can so as not to disturb the eggs. All this is done to protect a fragile and necessary environment for the region and salt production. 

Since Las Coloradas is the closest place from Tulum and Cancún to see flamingos, you are bound to see at least one or two buses of visitors each day from those locations. But you don’t need to pile on a bus with dozens of other people if you don’t want to because it’s easy to drive to Las Coloradas from Mérida, Valladolid, or even Cancún (about 4 hours away) and visit the salt flats on your own. There’s not much to do in Las Coloradas, built around salt production and only has about 1,000 residents. It’s better to stay in nearby Rio Largartos, which has the charming Yuum Ha boutique hotel run by a British-Mexican couple. From Rio Lagartos, you can take birding and other nature tours with local boat captains, head over to the beaches just outside of Rio Lagartos by boat, or visit Cancúncito beach near Las Coloradas by car for a picturesque day under the sun. However, staying in both Valladolid (2 hours away) or Mérida (3 hours away) will provide ample choices for food, drink, and other cultural activities. 

For group tours from Riviera Maya, check out Ekinox tours for a more private experience EcoColors tours. If you go on your own, I recommend taking the safari jeep tour around the property as you will get more information, see more of the salt ponds (including ones with flamingos), and have some much-needed shade as the salt ponds are entirely exposed and the best time to see them (during the windy afternoons) is also the hottest. If you want something super exclusive, contact the park manager (hmurillo@lascoloradas.com.mx) to set up lunch in the bio reserve for some beautiful views of salt ponds you won’t see at the welcome center. 

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.

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Cuna de Tierra

This is one of the area’s oldest vineyards and most respected. The winemakers at Cuna de Tierra have provided so much support and have been so influential to other area vineyards you might call them the grandfathers of the region’s wine. Dozens of awards later, Cuna de Tierra is nonetheless very down to earth and the staff and sommeliers are highly approachable, even for the uninitiated. 

Located on a gorgeous piece of land outside of Dolores Hidalgo, this vineyard has a great small plates restaurant, a tasting room, and property tours. In addition to their wine, they’ve won awards for the striking architecture of the vineyard, particularly the Torre de Tierra. Standing in the center of their rows of vines, designed by architects Ignacio Urquiza Seoane and Bernardo Quinzaños Oria.

Bodega San Jose Lavista

Producing award-winning bottles, Bodega San Jose Lavista sits just outside of San Miguel de Allende, on the edge of the city’s dam. The vineyard’s Merlot-Malbec Assemblage won a Grand Gold at the 2022 edition of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles’ México Selection, where they also racked up three other gold medals for their 2020 Malbec, 2020 Merlot, and 2019 Malbec. 

The property’s grand hacienda is a new construction (2010) that uses traditional building methods and styles in its design, giving it a blend of old and new that many visitors find charming, if not sometimes a tad baroque. The 14 suites spread throughout the property are modern with vintage touches, and the vineyard is a trendy spot for weddings.

Viñedo Los Arcángeles

Owner Ulises Ruiz Mariño, a winemaker himself, is very obviously passionate about his trade. Stop to visit his vineyard outside of Dolores Hidalgo, and the former food engineer will go deep into his process and his philosophy of letting the grapes speak for themselves. Ruiz has won gold and silver medals for his wines at the México Selection Awards and a Grand Gold at the 2021 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. 

The winery is bite-sized and lovely, with most of the drinking and dining al fresco at picnic tables under a breezy awning in the center of the property. Stay in one of their eight rustic cabins amid the vines for true immersion.

Tres Raíces

Since Tres Raíces opened in 2018, they have quickly won the respect of neighboring vineyards, local wine lovers and the world with their tobacco-laced Cabernets and juicySauvignon Blancs. Their Pinot Noir 2021 won a Grand Gold at the 2023 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles and their Tempranillo 2020 a silver in the same contest. 

Tres Raíces has one of the classiest wineries on this list, with a full-service luxury boutique hotel on the property, complete with a swimming pool and a selection of suites that feel more like tiny country homes than hotel rooms. With wine tastings, property tours and a meat-heavy menu that reflects the northern Mexico roots of the winery’s owners, Tres Raíces is a delightful day trip from either San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato City, or Dolores Hidalgo. 

Viñedo San Miguel

This sprawling estate is a sister vineyard to the organic Villa Petriolo in Italy, operated by the same owners so that you can find wines from both vineyards in the wine shop on the property. Despite its youth, Viñedo San Miguel has won awards at the Decanter World Wine Awards, Concours Mondial de Bruxelles and the México Selection of the Concours Mondial. 

The winery has dramatic spaces, miles of vines, and a breezy and sophisticated terrace restaurant that provides visitors with 180-degree views of the surrounding landscape. Their kitchen, led by Chef David Quevedo, offers haute versions of traditional Mexican dishes with exactly the kind of wine pairing list you’d expect from an award-winning vineyard.  

La Santísima Trinidad

Fields of lavender and rows of grapes greet you as you enter this luxury real estate development and winery, meandering slowly along bucolic dirt roads less than half an hour from San Miguel de Allende. Another young winery making waves, Santísima Trinidad, won a Grand Gold in 2021 at the México Selection of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. The vineyard produces olive oil and lavender products in addition to wine, as well as having a countryside restaurant and tasting room, horseback riding, bike tours and a great boutique hotel for a stay on the property. 

Dos Buhos

Suppose you are looking for a wine experience that’s both delightful and sustainable. In that case, Dos Buhos is one of the area’s only organic wineries and its owners have a mission to consider the local ecology in everything they do. All of the vineyard’s wines are made with spontaneous fermentation and they have several exciting collaborations with other local producers in the works. The vineyard is also stepping up its cuisine. It now offers a gourmet menu that is seasonally centered and focused on local ingredients. They also have a sweeping hacienda-style tasting room and grounds that are a popular location for spring weddings. 

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.

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According to a 2021 article in El Sol de Irapuato, 19 of the state’s 20 aquifers are currently over-exploited and lack the water necessary to supply Guanajuato’s cities and local agriculture. According to the nonprofit Reforestamos México, the forests of Guanajuato, which filter 72% of all water consumed in the state, have been reduced by 12% in the last 20 years. That’s why, one year ago this month, Reforestamos México teamed up with Guanajuato’s Environment and Land Management Ministry (SMAOT) as well as the Guanajuato Tourism Ministry (Sectur) and the German sustainable development company GIZ to develop Proyecto Emblema. 

The Emblema project is asking local tourism companies to support the restoration and rejuvenation of 20 hectares in the center of the state, called the Cuenca de la Soledad. This land, which SMAOT describes as a sub-basin of the Guanajuato River, is just a tiny part of a more expansive natural corridor that Reforestamos México has identified as environmentally critical for fighting the effects of climate change in this part of Mexico. 

For the past 21 years, Reforestamos México has worked to protect and restore Mexico’s forests, with projects in Chiapas, Coahuila, Puebla and other states across the country. 

“In the end, lack of water will greatly affect tourism,” says Mariel Mogul of Reforestamos México in regard to teaming up with Sectur’s sustainability arm, which works to promote projects to make the tourist industry more resilient to climate change.

“The main benefit of the program is for their businesses, so that tourism [in the state] won’t be negatively affected by climate change. Through this program we can combat some of those effects and in this way reduce the future risk.” 

The Cuenca de la Soledad is located on communally owned land, the Mesa Cuata ejido, and is one of the key reservoirs that supply water to the state. The area was selected after an on-the-ground assessment and talks with the community to get their buy-in in developing the project. Emblema’s main goal is soil conservation to allow rain to more efficiently filter in the ground, refilling the many mini-reservoirs that in turn feed the Cuenca de la Soledad. That work includes planting native trees, terracing land, building rock retention walls and implementing other techniques to reduce erosion and improve the filtration of rainwater into the soil. 

The project as a whole will cost 500,000 pesos and the nonprofit says that it will provide jobs for local communities, who will be hired for the majority of the work. The alliance of Reforestamos México, the state government and GIZ is asking the private sector — specifically the tourism sector — to donate to the project fund in order to reach its operational goal of 500,000 pesos. Restaurants, tour agencies and even party planning companies have all already made small donations towards the project since it began in August of 2022.

“Why would I send one, ten, or 20,000 pesos to the Sierra Gorda, South Korea, or China when my own natural areas are disappearing?” asks Raul Jaramillo, owner of a bike tour company in Guanajuato. Jaramillo has donated to the project as the president of the organization Nature and Adventure Tourism of Guanajuato A.C. (ATNAG).

By donating funds towards the project companies are supporting ongoing efforts by the state Tourism Ministry to encourage sustainable tourism in Guanajuato. Companies also receive a tax-deductible receipt for their donation and official recognition from both the state government and Reforestamos Mexico for their participation.

The fact that Reforestamos México is working alongside community members to involve them in these projects and hiring community members to perform the work, means the project will have a two-fold benefit, says Mogul. In addition to improving the local ecosystem, the project is as well as providing jobs in a low-income rural area.  

“With our work we hope that we can keep people in communities from having to migrate into cities for work,” she says. 

So far 100,000 pesos of the 500,000-peso goal have been raised. Preliminary steps like soil preparation have started, with five community members currently employed on this phase of the project. As temperatures rise across the Americas, many are facing the threat of water scarcity. With projects like these, tourism companies in Guanajuato state hope to fend off some of the more dramatic effects of climate change in their region and ensure tourism for years to come. 

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

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