April 2022 – WineLoverMagazine

Mexico is famous not only for its beautiful beaches and its fascinating archeological sites but also for its delicious food. Tacos, Fajitas, and many other meals are well-known around the world. And many people enjoy these dishes with a beer. But did you know that you can also have Mexican food with wine? Let’s discuss the best Mexican food and wine pairings. The best wine to pair with Mexican food can be an unoaked red wine, a crisp white wine, or even a sweet wine. The perfect match depends primarily on the meal's boldness and its spiciness. To understand how to best pair Mexican food with wine, let us talk about specific dishes and the best wine pairings: Tacos and Wine Chili con Carne and Wine Quesadillas and Wine Mole and Wine Fajitas and Wine Nachos and Wine But first, let us define some general rules to find the best wine. GENERAL RULES FOR PAIRING MEXICAN FOOD WITH WINE While the precise dish and preparation matter a lot when pairing Mexican food with wine, the following general rules will help you find the best matches: In many cases, the sauce provides the dominant flavors. Thus, choosing the wine pairing for your Mexican food based on the sauce rather than on meats or side dishes makes sense. Acidic wines pair well with dishes that contain plenty of cheese or a thick creamy sauce. For other meals, better go for low-acidity wines. Tannic wines do not work with most Mexican dishes. Choose a wine with low to medium tannins instead. As Mexicans love to use spicy ingredients, consider a sweet wine with your Mexican food. The sweetness balances hot spices very well. The same is true for sparkling wine, as it cleans your palate to take away the heat. You can even combine the two features by going for a sweet sparkler. If you prefer dry wines, consider a red one with spicy aromas. They tend to match spicy foods, although they will not help you deal with the heat. With these rules in mind, let us get into specific Mexican food and wine pairings. Wine with Tacos Tacos are a popular Mexican dish you can find on every other street corner. They come in many different variations, of which Tacos al Pastor might be the most famous. Lebanese immigrants created this dish in the 1930s. Inspired by Shawarma, a meal from their home country, they grilled lamb meat on a rotating grill and served it on a flour tortilla. Over the years, the lamb meat was replaced by marinated pork meat, and chefs added onions, cilantro, and typical Mexican salsa. In many cases, the tacos come with cheese as well. The spicy meat and the intense herbs call for a fruity red wine. It should have at least a medium body and a good level of acidity to stand the tacos' flavor profile. Unoaked Zinfandel wines from California have the right characteristics for creating great Mexican food and wine pairings. If you prepare your tacos with chicken or lean beef cuts instead, go for a lighter red wine like Pinot Noir. It has enough power to deal with the meat but won’t overpower the dish like bolder wines would go. Both fish tacos and shrimp tacos are best with dry white wine. Acidity is vital, and citrus flavors are great add-ons for the saltiness of the seafood. Try a Pinot Gris or a Vinho Verde as your wine pairing for fish tacos. Wine with Chili con Carne For many people, Chili con Carne is the most iconic of all Mexican dishes. But actually, it might not be a Mexican invention at all. Some historians claim that it comes from Texas originally. However, the ingredients and flavors of Chili con Carne definitely are typical for Mexican cuisine. The main ingredient is ground beef. It is fried together with onions and garlic for a couple of minutes. Then, the chef adds shredded or pureed tomatoes and various spices, including chilis, cayenne pepper, oregano, and others. Together with beef stock and, in some cases, red wine, the meal simmers for up to one hour. Finally, red beans come into the mix. Chili con Carne is a hearty stew that is full of bold aromas. To pair this Mexican food with wine, you need a red wine with a good structure. Especially GSM wines from the Rhône Valley in France are excellent pairings for Chili con Carne. These red blends made from Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Syrah have intense fruit flavors and just the right level of tannins to deal with the spicy meat. Alternatively, try a Southamerican Wine. A Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile is a great wine with Chili con Carne, and the same is true for Malbec. Wine with Quesadilla Quesadillas are another staple in Mexican cuisine, and it is around since the 16th century. Some people claim that its name derives from "quesaditzin", meaning "folded tortilla" in the indigenous language Nahuatl. Others argue that it is a combination of "queso" (Spanish for: "cheese") and tortilla. No matter which explanation is correct, both describe accurately what a Quesadilla is: a fried folded corn or wheat tortilla filled with cheese and other ingredients. Many preparations come with meat, particularly ground beef, chicken, or chorizo. But you can also waive the meat and make vegetarian Quesadillas with bell peppers, onions, corn, black beans, and tomatoes. In any case, chefs season their Quesadillas with a mix of spices, including salt, black pepper, cayenne, cumin, paprika, and oregano. Quesadillas Combine your quesadillas with wine that is light, acidic, and off-dry to semi-sweet. The combination of acidity and sweetness works just perfectly with the spices and the cheese. Try a Pinot Gris from Alsace or a Riesling from Germany. In particular, the Spätlese (English: late harvest) and Kabinett wines are good choices. Sparkling wines such as Prosecco or Cava are good wine pairings for Quesadillas as well. The bubbles help you deal with the heat, and the acidic citrus flavors match the meal's flavors deliciously. By the way, no matter which pairing of Mexican food with wine you create, sparkling wines are always good to balance the spiciness. Wine with Mole When discovering Mexican cuisine, you will not get around Mole. Mole is actually not a complete dish but a sauce served with many different meals. But it is so unique in flavor that it is worth discussing how to pair it with wine. You can find many different variations of Mole in Mexico. One of the most famous is Mole Poblano. It is made from chilis, onions, garlic, peanuts, raisins, almonds, various herbs, and chocolate. The ingredients are toasted and cooked, and finally pureed (actually, the preparation process is much more complicated, but that would go beyond the scope of this article). The final sauce is a fascinating combination of spicy, earthy, and sweet flavors. The right wine to pair with dishes that feature Mole is an intense red wine. Syrah or its Australian cousin Shiraz tends to be a good match, especially if it has subtle notes of chocolate itself. Wine with Fajitas If you are new to Mexican cuisine, you might confuse Fajitas with Quesadillas. But actually, they are different. Fajitas are tortillas filled with meats and vegetables, but they are not fried. Besides, cheese is optional. When ordering Fajitas in a restaurant, you typically get a basket of warm tortillas and many bowls with different ingredients to combine them yourself. Beef or chicken is the main ingredient in Fajitas. The meat is cut into strips and marinated in a mixture of oil, lime juice, garlic, chili peppers, and other spices. Then, it gets fried in a pan together with bell peppers and onions. To round up the flavor, you can season your Fajitas with guacamole, pico de gallo, or other Mexican salsas. You need a fruity and spicy wine to combine this Mexican food with wine, especially when prepared with beef. A Mourvèdre (also: Monastrell) is a good pick. It is dry, not too high in acidity, and typically offers fruity, spicy, and earthy notes, making it a perfect wine for Fajitas. Alternatively, try Bolgheri wines with your Fajitas. The blends from Italy belong to the Super Tuscan category and are very similar to red Bordeaux wines. They are fruity, spicy, and often smoky. Wine with Nachos Finally, let us talk about pairing nachos and wine. Nachos are a little bit younger than Tacos. They were invented in 1940 by a creative chef called Ignacio. He worked in the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, a Mexican city close to the American border when a regular customer asked for a special snack. He cut a couple of tortillas into triangles, fried them, and served them with cheese and peppers. And he named them after himself: Nacho's Special. Today, Nachos are a snack to enjoy with a dip when watching a movie. But in Mexiko, it is pretty usual to eat nachos as an appetizer or even as a main course for dinner. They come with various side dishes such as ground meat, tomatoes, onions, black beans, jalapenos, guacamole, sour cream, lime juice, and -of course- cheese. Colby Jack and Cheddar are the most common types of cheese for this purpose. Nachos with Various Toppings The best way to pair this Mexican food with wine is to go for white wine, for instance, Sauvignon Blanc. It has just the right level of acidity to cut through the cheese and the creamy dips, and its citrus and mineral flavors add greatly to the meal. In case, you are more into red wine, combine a Beaujolais wine with your Nachos. This wine from France is light- to medium-bodied, has decent acidity levels, and almost no tannins. FINAL WORDS Serving Mexican food with wine might not be the most intuitive thing. But there are many ways to combine the many delicious foods from Central America and a good glass of wine. With the details from this article, you are ready to do so. Enjoy!