Puerto Vallarta has been a bit of a desert for wine enthusiasts looking to buy high-quality wines or to join wine-related events such as wine tastings, wine and cheese pairings, or a good old wine club.
While options for tequila tastings sprout on every corner, wine lovers didn’t get the same love. Until now, that is!
UNCORK MEXICO, a new wine concierge service just launched by friends Natalia and Vanusa in 2017, aims to fill in that gap. UNCORK MEXICO offers an online wine shop with home delivery and a select list of premium wines, as well as 3-4 weekly wine tasting events. Their goal is to offer everyone in the Puerto Vallarta community the chance to discover new wines and meet other like-minded people in a fun and casual environment.
Wine Tastings in Puerto Vallarta
The wine tastings are a perfect opportunity for beginner or experienced wine drinkers to learn how to navigate the Mexican wine market and discover new, delicious wines that you will be able to enjoy during your stay in Puerto Vallarta.
The tastings are intimate events capped at 10 people maximum. That guarantees that everyone has a chance to get to know the other people in the group, to learn about the wines and wineries and to have a relaxed fun night out without the noise and stress that usually come with larger events.
Natalia and Vanusa partnered with local business to host the tastings in beautiful locations all over Puerto Vallarta and to create a perfect intersection between art, wine, food, and culture. Their 2018 wine tastings will be held at the courtyard area of Villa Mercedes Petit Hotel (Amapas 175, Zona Romantica), at the gallery space of Taller OPC – Oficina de Proyectos Culturales(Juarez 598, Centro), and at the garden area of the Basilio Comer y Beber Restaurant (Basilio Badillo 258, Centro).
Mexican Wine Tastings
The Mexican wine industry has had a big boom in the past two decades, with some calling Ensenada (the largest Mexican wine producing region in Baja California) the “new Napa.” The country had about 20 wineries in 2000 and today that number is over 120 and growing exponentially.
The UNCORK MEXICO team strives to promote Mexican wines and educate people about this often overlooked aspect of Mexican culture. They work directly with Mexican wineries to make sure they get high-quality wines at competitive prices, which they can then pass over to their clients at their wine shop and wine tasting events.
They currently work directly with over 10 Mexican wineries, including some big players such as Roganto, Vinisterra, and Casa de Piedra, and other small boutique wines that are pushing the envelope and bringing tons of innovation to the Mexican wine industry landscape. Those include Bodega los Cedros, Bodegas Marilena, and Vinos Expresión, among others.
Aside from the Mexican wine tastings, Vanusa and Natalia also offer the ever popular “Pairing Mexican Wines and Cheeses” event. This is also an intimate tasting capped at 10 people, where they pair the best wines in Mexico with cheeses brought in directly from Querétaro – the best cheese producing region in the country. This event usually sells out within a couple of days of being listed on the website, so if you see it on the wine tasting events calendar, make sure you book well in advance.
The wine tasting events schedule with all details about each event (number of wines, location, time, etc) is listed online on UNCORK MEXICO’s website. The booking process couldn’t be simpler: you select your dates, the number of attendees in your group and book your tasting using Paypal or credit card. You receive an email automatically and you can just show up on the date!
Italian Wine Tastings
While talking to clients and learning about their wine preferences, Vanusa and Natalia quickly noticed that while most people know the classic Italian wines such as Chianti Classico or Pinot Grigio, very few people are familiar with less marketed Italian grapes such as Verdicchio, Barbera d’Asti, Dolcetto, etc. That’s when they decided to also offer monthly Italian wine tastings.
UNCORK MEXICO has exclusive distribution in Jalisco of an incredible line of over 200 Italian wines, varying from classic to the most modern and interesting wines produced in Italy right now.
The Italian tastings are an opportunity to try and learn about these more modern and innovative Italian wines and also to meet locals. These tastings usually bring in the local crowd, people who live in Vallarta either full-time or year-around.
Aside from the Italian wine tasting offered monthly, Vanusa and Natalia also weaved in some fun thematic tastings such as “Barolo, Barbaresco & other Red Wines from Piedmont” or “Brunello, Super Tuscans & Other Red Wines from Tuscany.” Those are for the serious Italian wine lovers looking to really bring their wine drinking to the next level.
Other Fun Wine-Related Events
The UNCORK MEXICO team tries to introduce new wine tasting themes every month as a way to provide the locals with new fun things to do in Vallarta. Some of those themes include the “Rosé Wines by the Pool Wine Tasting” and the “Red Wines from Around the World Wine Tasting.”
Those are the new additions of February 2018, but they are determined to keep the fun going and adding new ideas and concepts every month.
Private Wine Tastings
You might be asking yourself: what if I have a group of friends visiting and I want to have a private event with them at my home, villa, pool area, etc? Well, UNCORK MEXICO offers that option too!
The private wine tastings are for groups of 6 to 12 people who want to enjoy a guided wine tasting without having to leave the comfort of their home, hotel or villa. You can contact the Uncork Mexico team to set up a date, time, the number of attendees and location, and the team brings a full-service wine tasting to your home – wines, antipasto, Spiegelau wine glasses, forks, knives, the works!
Buying Wines from UNCORK MEXICO
A concern most people have at UNCORK MEXICO wine tastings is: you will show me these delicious wines, I’ll fall in love with them. How can I get them after that?
All wines in the tastings are premium, exclusive bottles that you won’t see in any other wine shop in Puerto Vallarta. The good news is: you can buy the bottles directly from UNCORK MEXICO either right at the end of the wine tasting or online on their website.
The delivery is very simple: they call you right after you placed your order and arrange to deliver the bottles to your home. They provide 1-day delivery in Puerto Vallarta and 1-3 days delivery in Nuevo Vallarta and Bucerias.
Upcoming Wine Tasting Events Schedule
Uncork Mexico adds new events to their calendar every two weeks, so it’s always ideal to check what’s coming up directly on the events page, and also follow them on Facebook to get notified when new dates are added.
This is their January and February 2018 Schedule:
January 16th – Mexican Wine Tasting
January 18th – Mexican Wine Tasting
January 23rd – Rosés by the Pool Wine Tasting
January 24th – Italian Wine Tasting
January 25th – Pairing Mexican Wines & Cheeses Wine Tasting
January 29th – Pairing Mexican Wines $ Cheeses Wine Tasting
February 6th – Barolo, Barbaresco & Other Red Wines from Piedmont Wine Tasting
February 13th – Pairing Mexican Wines & Cheeses Wine Tasting
February 15th – Pairing Mexican Wines & Cheeses Wine Tasting
February 20th – Rosés by the Poll Wine Tasting
February 21st – Red Wines from Around the World Wine Tasting
February 22nd – Mexican Wine Tasting
February 27th – Brunello, Super Tuscans & Other Red wines from Tuscany
February 28th – Italian Wine Tasting
You can book online and email [email protected] if you have any questions.
