The idea is that it is possible to potentiate the entire Sinaloa region in terms of wine
MAZATLAN. – Mexico has achieved a great production of wine in recent years, being Baja California, specifically Valle Guadalupe, where 80 percent of the country’s wine is produced.
Within the framework of the fourth Northwest Wine Festival that takes place in Mazatlán, the Secretary of Economy in Sinaloa, Javier Gaxiola Coppel, said that he is already in talks to study the soil in the state and be able to produce wine.
“I had a talk with a man from Sinaloa who lives in France, and he wants to study the climate and soil of the region in Sinaloa to see if we have the possiblitiy for wine production in Sinaloa, but you have to look at the solar temperature and all the agricultural variables,” Gaxiola Coppel said.
The official stressed that they do not rule out the possibility of being able to produce it in parts such as Surutato, Choix, or in Cósala, where the climate of these entities lends itself more to carrying out said production.
He added that Governor Rubén Rocha Moya has instructed him to look for new developments for the mountain municipalities and small tourist destinations in Sinaloa.
Wine production has been part of Mexico for hundreds of years.
Wine has had a great presence throughout the history of our country, showing the importance of viticulture in Mexican agri-food production.
1492 – With the arrival of Christopher Columbus in America, stakes began to arrive from Spain, and the cultivation of the vine began to be promoted with regional decrees, such as that of Hernán Cortez, which forced landowners to cultivate 1,000 vine stakes for every 100 natives who were in charge, the Jesuits being the first to establish vineyards in their first missions. This began a flourishing industry that, due to the facilities of making wine in America, avoided the problems of transfers from Spain with its dangers, corsairs, storms, that the wine was spoiled, or that it depended on the price of Spain.
521: The Spanish introduced viticulture to Mexico during the conquest.
1524: Three years after the conquest of Tenochtitlán, on March 20, 1524, Hernán Cortés ordered that every encomendero who had a repartimiento plant one thousand vines for every one hundred Indians.
1531: In 1531, Carlos V ordered that all ships bound for the Indies carry vineyards and olive trees to plant.
- In 1595, King Felipe II of Spain prohibited the planting of new vineyards and the production of wine, in addition to destroying the existing ones in New Spain, except those that belonged to or were dedicated to the Church, for fear that their wines would be a great competition for Spanish wine. Currently, Mexico has 7,693.43 hectares planted with wine grapes, which in 2017 resulted in a production of 64.2 thousand tons.
- In 1885, the city of Parras, located in Coahuila, was the most important wine center in the country, although its main product was brandy and not wine; Despite this, Mexican wines were well positioned in the domestic market, in Texas and New Mexico. Today, wine production has an average annual growth of two percent and in 2017 alone there was an estimated production of 194 thousand hectoliters.
- With the arrival of the railroad in 1890, wines could be transported in refrigerated boxcars and grapes could be moved to produce wine in regions where they could not be grown. An example of this is that currently, the states of Zacatecas, Sonora, and Aguascalientes are among the main producers of grapes for wine but are not part of the main producers of this beverage.
After the fight for Independence, the war against the United States, and the political problems that Mexico experienced in the 19th century, it prevented the development of viticulture. From 1940 when the drastic decrease in European production capacity, due to World War II, indirectly allowed the true takeoff of viticulture in Mexico.
In the decade of the 1990s, the flourishing of Mexican viticulture began, supported by a great effort, the application of large amounts of resources, and using the most modern technology for this, national producers launched on the market, both nationally and international table wines of a new generation, which soon distinguished themselves by their surprising quality, exquisite finesse and delicious flavor.
- In 2017, 200 wine-producing companies were counted in the country; while in 1948, when the National Association of Wine Growers was created, it had 15 affiliated companies and between 1950 and 1954 14 more companies were incorporated.