Monday, May 31, 2010

New Web Site Features the Best of Mexican Wine and Food

'Vino-Tourism' by Steve Dryden

Mexico’s silent revolution in creating premium wine and artisan gourmet cuisine served at fine Baja California restaurants is being exposed to international wine and food lovers thanks to my columns in the Baja Times and on MexiData.info, and now via a new web site: "Baja Wine and Cuisine."

For the last six years we’ve been promoting the wine culture of Baja California with our wine and artisan gourmet food columns, but due to the global economic downturn we’ve been limited in market exposure. With several folks cloning or copying our efforts, we decided to build a web page that would inform local, national and international wine and food lovers about our region on a global level.

The new Baja Wine and Cuisine web site contains 14 pages of up-to-date information about the Baja California wine and food culture. The wine country map is the most accurate one in the industry, with regular updates made as needed.

The web site includes three minute video clips of The Grapevine TV show featuring Mexico’s top wineries, best Chefs, gourmet cuisine venues, and wine country events. The Pay-Pal feature allows for purchase of the full forty-five minute DVD productions.

One page, Wine Country News Updates, presents breaking news from the wine country, posted every week to keep you in the know about new wine releases, special events, and new venues in the region.

Our goal was and is to build a web page that would be the definitive site for those looking for casual or detailed information about wine and gourmet cuisine, written by experts living in the wine country that have actually researched and documented this region’s transformation as the wine and gourmet food capital of Mexico. Thus, the web page (in seven languages) was designed around the many questions and inquiries received over the years concerning our ever-expanding wine and food culture.

BajaWineandCuisine.com contains restaurant reviews and recommendations from top performers in Valle de Guadalupe, Rosarito and Ensenada, with a planned expansion into Tijuana. In addition, the site contains DVD footage of in-depth winemaker interviews and food pairings with their wines at the top culinary destinations in the region.

The video productions include wine and food events in San Diego that have given Mexico a presence not only as a premier winemaking and gourmet culinary center, but too as an international wine/food promoter. Furthermore, over the last four months our TV program, "The Grapevine," has been previewed in16 countries, informing international wine and food lovers about our gastronomical and enological endeavors.

Our web site has a wine sales page listing international wine sales outlets and brokers who distribute Mexican wine in the USA and abroad. As well, you can get current wine/cuisine event and concert information, contacts, links, and ticket purchase information. Direct links will take you to wineries, restaurants, lodging, wine tours, photo galleries, maps, and Discover Ensenada. 

The data base of information for this project comes from articles written for the Baja Times, web site design by Kathleen Scott, with promotional DVD presentations from Varivision Cable TV (8) of Ensenada.

Thanks to our daily contact with the wine and culinary industries and establishments, we intend to present an accurate web site that reflects the best talent (winemakers/chefs) of our region in a positive, educational and entertaining manner. Questions, suggestions and comments will be greatly appreciated. Our mission: a visit to our web page and you’re presented with a vast amount of valuable and accurate information concerning the wine and culinary industries of Baja California, Mexico.

Varivision Cable TV of Ensenada provides funding for the DVD productions and the web page, giving us the tools to make global connections and further exposing our region to the world in a positive manner.

Current DVD productions from Varivision and "The Grapevine" covering the Baja California wine and culinary scene are: Roganto Winery and El Rey Sol Restaurant; San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival; Bibayoff Winery and Cafe Orleans; Cooking with the Gastronomical School at UABC and Vinisterra Winery; L.A. Cetto Winery and Hogaza Bakery; Paso Robles Grand Tasting in San Diego with Wine Seminar; interview with Wine Spectator writer James Suckling; Shellfish and New Wine Festival at the Ensenada Port; Grapevine Flower Festival at Adobe Guadalupe Inn and Vineyard; Annual Horse Show and Art at Adobe Guadalupe; and an aerial tour of Valle de Guadalupe. In addition, the various shows feature interviews with several top winemakers and chefs in the region, giving you an “insiders” view of our local wine and culinary culture. Visit our web site for three minute or forty-five minute presentations in Spanish and English with bilingual captions.

The first thing that should come to mind when people hear or think about Mexico should be wine and gourmet cuisine. This is our primary focus.

Yes we still have great beer, tequila, uncrowded beaches, an abundance of fresh seafood, near-perfect Mediterranean-like weather, and the most reasonable cost of living in the Americas! Most likely when the world really discovers what Mexico is all about, our government here may have to help the US with their wall just to keep the masses out of our region.

Meanwhile, in a recent interview with a top international wine writer/expert, he mentioned that (in his opinion) Mexico now produces some of the best Nebbiolo and Grenache wines in the world.

The Mexican wine industry has received over three hundred international awards for excellence in the last five years. Monte Xanic; Liceaga; Santo Tomas; and L.A. Cetto wineries have accumulated the most gold and silver awards, with many other artisan and boutique wineries making global news by producing high quality wines.

Our promoting via the Baja Times and MexiData.info has attracted international attention, with articles in and visits from Food and Wine Magazine; Sommelier Magazine; Sacramento Daily Bee; WinesandVines.com; Slow Food San Diego; Gambero Rosso of Italy; and numerous writers, chefs and connoisseurs.

Now; with the support of Varivision TV and our web pages, we are bringing Baja Wine Country News and the Baja California wine and gourmet cuisine revolution to the attention of wine and food lovers worldwide. Lucky for us, the real stars are the Mexican winemakers and chefs, giving us as media communicators an abundant supply of noteworthy international news.

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For a Baja California Wine Route map; click on MexiData.info "Links;" and go to "Mexico Maps and Time Zones"

Steve Dryden is a wine; food and travel writer living in Valle de Guadalupe; Mexico’s premier wine country in northwestern Baja California; where he guides individual and small group wine tours. He can be reached at sbdryden@hotmail.com. Visit his new blog at www.winefoodguide.com.