Wine Of The Month: Viñedo San Miguel Blancs 2019

If there was one bottle that stood out to me this month, it was this French-inspired white blend from Mexico’s Valle de la Independencia, a region just outside San Miguel de Allende. A few things conspired to surprise me: I was looking for a “Tuesday night wine”—something not too splashy but that would elevate a hearty fall soup, and this no-nonsense bottle didn’t telegraph anything special to me, so I grabbed it. I also didn’t have my glasses on, so when I pulled it from the inventory to chill, I had only a vague notion that it was white and, judging from the color—a deeper hued lemon yellow—substantial enough to stand up to my white bean, tortellini and sausage soup that is rich with umami flavors.

I opened this and was immediately pulled in by the seductive nose of hazelnut and ripe, yellow fruit—maybe baked or caramelized apple—and warm beeswax. On the palate was an intriguing mélange of that yellow apple and hazelnut, but also with savory herbs, and a lactic quality that was not quite cream, but, yet, was creamy. This is a full-bodied wine with an edgy herbal finish made in a slightly oxidized style. You can thank the 30% of Semillon for that: the other grapes are Sauvignon Blanc (40%) and Chardonnay. I looked at the label: Mexico! It was a close Pessac-Leognan imposter.

The wine is aged for six months in French oak from grapes grown at nearly 6,500 feet in elevation. That, along with a good diurnal shift in temperature, helps keep the wine fresh.

Dale Ott of Tuscon-based Nossa Imports, which imports the wine into the U.S., says the vineyards are in one of the oldest growing areas in Mexico. Much Mexican wine is produced in the trendy Baja/Valle de Guadalupe region north west of San Miguel, which has become a food and wine tourism destination. But, she says, “the San Miguel region is distinct in its own right because it has such high elevations (2,000 meters vs between 300 and 500 in the Valle de Guadalupe). We see wines here with less oceanic salinity and higher color concentration, tannic structure and a healthy dose of acidity.

“Some of the most special white wines we have seen coming out of the country are featuring grapes such as Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.” Those used in the Viñedo San Miguel Blancs are estate grown at a winery Ott calls “a bridge of Old World and New World, with French influences abounding.”

The retail price is $32.

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