Doing our mid-term project has helped
me understand much more about Mexican wine and the Valle de Guadalupe, where over
80% of the country’s wine is produced by the 60 wineries there. And as I
researched on how the Mexican wine industry had grown to where it is today,
many articles I read referred to the tremendous contributions made by Hugo D’Acosta,
who is widely considered the “No. 1 wine guru” of Mexico, over the last two
decades.
Born in Mexico City, D’Acosta spent
three years in the ‘80s to study viticulture and oenology at the School of Agronomy of
Montpellier, France and the Agricultural University of Turin, Italy. Then he proceeded to the Napa
Valley to work at the Chappellet Vineyards for a year before returning home to
Mexico. There he joined Bodegas
de Santo Tomas (established
in 1888), the “grandfather” of Mexican wineries and worked for 12 years in the
positions of winemaker and the director. His skills as a vintner have been
lauded across both Baja California and the larger winemaking world.
In 1997, D’Acosta left Santo
Tomas to start his own boutique winery, Casa de Piedra. He decided to focus on
small scale production and low yields to enhance the concentration of
fruit. His wines were famed for their
distinct clean style based on their terroir.
Nowadays, his red wine Casa de Piedra Vino de Piedra Tinto is considered
by some as the best wine in the valley. His vineyards are also seen to be operating
and running in the way great wines are made.
Some of his best wines are sold in top Mexican restaurants for US$150 or
more.
In addition to his own four
highly successful wineries, D’Acosta acts as a consultant for a number of
wineries in the Valle, helping others improve their wines too. He is genuinely
concerned about the future of the wine industry in the Valle and the passing on
of the good tradition of wine making. In 2003, he opened a non-profit winemaking school
called Estacion de Oficios del Porvenir -or “La Escuelita” (the little school)
as he would prefer to call it- with a view to inspiring a new generation of the
residents of the Valle and educate them the art of “artisanal winemaking”, i.e.
to make wine with the hands and a few tools.
D’Acosta’s courses are not just
popular among ranch managers and assistants at local wineries, even doctors,
lawyers, restaurant operators and landowners come to La Escuelita to learn the skills
of making wine. D’Acosta also teaches high school students in the Valle what
wine making is about and many of them have chosen to develop their career in the
wine business upon graduation.
Given
his accomplished wine making skills and his dedication to the promotion of the
wine industry of the Valle, he is hailed by some as the Robert Mondavi of Mexico.
He once said during an interview: “someone needs to be a leader and open the
door. I'm very proud to have the key but it's a lot of responsibility and a big
risk…my aim is to show the world that Mexico is a serious winemaking country.
My intentions are simple; I'm passionate about getting more people into making
wine”.
From what I have read, D’Acosta is a true hero
who has carried the Mexican wine industry a long way to where it is today. But for the industry to continue to scale in
the face of strong competition from across the world, much more needs to be
done by all the stakeholders including the winemakers themselves and the
government. As D’Acosta nicely put it, he has “opened the door”, now it is time
for other players to step up and join hands to put Mexican wine on the world
stage.
Sources:
http://finewineandthecity.blogspot.com/2010/01/hugo-dacosta-mexican-mondavi.html
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/14/magazine/tm-wineschool2
http://www.bajawinefoodfestival.com/team/hugo-dacosta/
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