It’s been a crazy month and a half for me, finishing up at Salt, winning Sommelier Of The Year, traveling through Chile, moving to Naramata to start my new job and so on.  I’ve been in Vancouver for the last couple of days to hang out with my wife, who has spent the last month in Mexico City taking a Spanish course.

She was kind enough to bring me home a fairly exclusive bottle of Mexican wine.  I promise I’m not in trouble, this really is a good thing and a kind gesture.

I don’t have much of a history with Mexican wine.  The local BCLDB has always brought in the L.A. Cetto from Baja California (you know that’s not part of the American state, right?), which has never really dazzled, generally coming across as insipid and unbalanced.

A couple years ago, we’d spent a couple weeks in Mexico, where I’d had the chance to dig deeper into the Mexican wine industry.  Mostly Cabernet, Zin and Grenache were on offer, with the odd Chenin Blanc, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc thrown in.  For every decent one we tried, there were a couple duds.

So what she’d brought was the Acrata 2006 red. The breakdown, as you can see above is 37/40 Garnacha and 3/40 Durif (Petite Sirah). In slightly more normal terms, that’s about 93% Garnacha.

There was definite varietal character, but it was quite heavy on the savoury, almost sour notes. Yellow plum, cherry and raspberries dominated with the slightest hints of licorice and leather. A lighter weight, the wine didn’t really deliver the structure I’d hoped for, however it was fairly fresh and juicy with acid and tannins roughly where they should be. It had the mark of a winery, and an industry, that is starting to get more serious and put in increased effort. A step in the right direction that, if anything, leaves you wanting to know a little more about the world in which it comes from.

All said, it was quaffable and fun. I’d just like a litte something more serious next time and wonder if that’s out there.