Life's a Beach | Expat Life in Playa del Carmen : Wine, 2009

Wednesday, Women and Wine Holiday Bazaar

Rob Kinnon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:21:00 GMT

This past Wednesday evening the ladies of Wednesday, Women and Wine hosted a special holiday bazaar at Coffee Cafe on 34th Street and 5th Avenue. Members and friends of this social networking group were on hand promoting their businesses, selling homemade gifts, and sharing business ideas and opportunities! Coffee Café offered the participants and guests discounts on wine and food and kept us well served throughout the evening. It was a lovely evening with lots of delightful handmade items like sandles, jewlery, clothes and bags. It was also a great way to make new friends and support the local business women in Playa del Carmen.

Here are some pictures from the Holiday Bazaar. Forgive me for not having everyone's names. I'll do the best I can!

Soraya, Marci and Ellen of Yoga By the Way

Jaqui with Conceptos Interiors and Graphics

The ladies from Tote le Monde, Courtney and Melissa

Tracy of Dimensions in Glass and Monica of Latido de Mexico Vacation Rentals

Cassandra with Tiffany from Center 8 Studio.

Ivonne with her beautiful sandals and jewelry. Gabi from Playa Rentals in shopping heaven!

The ladies from Luna Azul. Great handmade clothes, accessories and childrens' toys

Jenyfer and her colorful woven hand bags and totes.

I just love these fanciful earrings made from flower petals!

Julie and friends checking out fancy shoes and baubles.

Cassandra with Libby from In the Roo

AMAZING jewelry from LALO all cast from resin! No pictures can do them justice.

Sally, Tracy and Cassandra and friend. See, I told you I don't know everyone!

Kat of Cat Eye Creations and friend

Colorful woven shawls and decorated totes.

Karena, Marci and Soraya

The lovely Kristin from Bric International and Annabel.

If you are already a member of the Wednesday, Women with Wine club, please feel free to invite other wonderful women or bring them with you to the next gathering.The next event will be held on December 2, 2009. Location to be announced on the Riviera Maya Events Calendar. If you haven't attended a Wednesday, Women and Wine function and are interested in participating, please contact event organizer Kristin Roehmer at kristin[at]bricrental.com. Hope to see you there!

John Gray Welcomes the Owner of Adobe Guadalupe Vineyards

Rob Kinnon — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:11:00 GMT

On Friday evening, Chef John Gray invited friends, foodies and members of the "Uncorked Club" to enjoy a special tasting of three wines from Mexico's prestigious Adobe Guadalupe Vineyards. This beautiful estate was established by Tru and Don Miller in 1998 on 80 acres of land in the Valle de Guadalupe, an area which boasts a climate and terrior similar to that of France's Rhone Valley and Bordeaux growing regions. After retiring from a successful banking career in the United States, Don decided to pursue his dream of planting his own vineyard and building his own wine estate. He and Tru settled on this beautiful parcel in the Baja, the heart of Mexico's wine producing region. They enlisted the talents of passionate artisan winemaker Hugo Acosta and achieved their first harvest in 2000. Today, Adobe Guadalupe is among a handful of boutique wine houses dedicated to producing world class wines in Mexico. This working vineyard also functions as an elegant bed and breakfast and has an equestrian center where Tru pursues her passion, breeding and selling rare Axteca horses. Tru Miller herself was on hand this evening to greet guests and talk about the wonderful wines from their vineyard. She is a charismatic and exciting woman and it was a pleasure to have the chance to speak with her about her history and about wine making in Mexico.

Each of the wines crafted by Adobe Guadalupe is comprised of grapes all grown in their proprietary vineyard. The wine house is known for their unusual and ethereal blends, each a unique expression of the winemaker and the winery's vision. In keeping with this ethereal theme, each of the wines is named for an archangel. Local distributor representative Jacqueline Jiminez narrated our evening, giving the guests a thorough history of the wines, the varietals used and the aging process for each selection.

During the evening we had the opportunity to taste three wines: "Uriel" 2008, a claret styled wine, which is a blend of tempranillo, syrah, chenin blanc, zinfandel and moscatel. It was served chilled and paired with shrimp sauteed with chirasa chilies on a bed of spicy slaw. The wine is young and bright with notes of watermelon and strawberry. This is the perfect "picnic red", easy drinking and accessible. Second in line was "Miguel" 2006, a red blend of 70% tempranillo with 17% cabernet sauvignon and 8% grenache. This was served with thick meaty amberjack over potato puree and sauteed spinach. This fruit forward wine may have overpowered the fish had it not been finished with a rich pork sausage infused butter sauce. The predominant temperanillo was just tannic enough to cut the oiliness of the fish and butter. We finished with "Kerubiel" 2007. Crafted to resemble Chateauneuf du Pape, this is a blend of cinsault, syrah, mourvedre, grenache and viogner. We enjoyed this wine with John's famous spicy duck tacos wrapped in bib lettuce. The wine's peppery finish was the perfect compliment, emphasizing the chile rather than softening it. The Kerubiel is a big plummy red with hints of tobacco, leather and dark chocolate. I'd like to buy a few bottles and cellar them for awhile as I think a few more years will only serve to make this vintage a bit more accessible.

John and Rob discuss the finer points of Rob's new "man room".

Nicola, John and Rob.

It was a great pleasure to taste these unusual wines and experience some of the cutting edge wine making that is going on right here in Mexico. With a production of just 6000 cases, I'm not sure wine lovers in Playa del Carmen will be seeing these wines in local grocery stores. I'm checking on the availability and will edit in the distribution details in when I have them. For those of you who may have previously written off Mexican wines, I strongly encourage you to ask for these and similar small production bottlings when you are travelling in Mexico. With unique, high quality wines such as these being introduced to consumers, I have a feeling that retailers and restaurants who have predominantly populated their shelves and wine lists with wines from Chile and Argentina will be paying closer attention to the boutique wine houses right here in Mexico.

Chef John Gray Unveils New Signature Bottling

Rob Kinnon — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:37:00 GMT

Last week, at our weekly "Uncorked Club" outing, Rob and I had the good fortune of getting a sneak preview of John Gray's new signature wine, "El Corazon". Made from grapes sourced in Mexico's beautiful wine region, Valle de Guadalupe, in the Baja, just a few hours south of California's Napa Valley, the blend, orchestrated in 2008 by John himself and longtime friend James Suckling, a senior editor for Wine Spectator Magazine, is a mix of Old Vine Zinfandel (35%), Petit Syrah (35%), Syrah (15%) and Grenache (15%).

On Thursday August 27th, John and his team will roll out this new vintage to the public in his beautiful Cancun venue, "John Gray's Downtown". If you are able to attend this exciting wine tasting and food pairing event, please RSVP to jg_restaurantgroup[at]hotmail.com. Reservations are highly recommended. This limited release of just 2500 bottles will be available only from the John Gray Restaurant Group. Based on our experience, I don't imagine that supply will last long!

Uncorked! A New Wine Club at John Gray's Den

Rob Kinnon — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:31:00 GMT

Life in Playa del Carmen just keeps getting better and better! When we moved here, almost five years ago, the options for foodies and oenophiles were very limited. Having sold fine wine in a previous life, the transition from my gourmet lifestyle took me by surprise. Certainly, I had never expected to have the variety that I was accustomed to back in New York, but if you told me that I would be making all of my "better" wine purchases from Sam's Club.....well, I might have never gotten on that plane! Since then, I have adjusted to my surroundings and learned to not only accept but appreciate the regional ingredients and imported products that are available in this area. Over the past year, I have noticed that the opportunities for food and wine centric events seem to be on the rise. Wine shops like Off the Vine are doing a brisk business and offering memberships for weekly tasting dinners and wine pairing evenings. In the past year, I have attended wine tasting events at Ajua Maya and on the glamorous Hotel Cielo rooftop above Carboncito's. Perhaps the most grand celebration of food and wine is yet to come with the advent of Taste of Playa in September. Suddenly, I don't feel so alone in my search for exciting culinary experiences. It is obvious that the residents of Playa del Carmen are ready to have their palates challenged and will avidly seek out chefs and sommeliers to entertain their appetites.

Last evening, I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural gathering of the Uncorked Club in The Den at John Gray's Place. Always thinking around the next bend, John has been consistently creating opportunities to make good food and good wine, accessible, affordable and fun for the residents of Playa del Carmen and the Riviera Maya. His latest brainchild, The Uncorked Club, is designed to take the stress out of wine and food paring. We have all heard "the rules": white wine with fish, red wine with beef, blah, blah, blah. Rather than following rules and emphasizing traditional pairing strategies, John challenges his Uncorked Crew to experiment. All three of the featured wines were offered at once, giving the diners a chance to sample each of his small tasting dishes with each of the wines. Sure the Amberjack tasted great with the Rolf Binder Riesling but the accompanying burnt butter and kalamata olive compote went perfectly with the fruity Duck Pond Merlot and the even the bold, spicy, Chilean Primus blend. The White Bean Bruschetta we initially thought would be a spot on match with the Riesling, but the bacon added in the cooking process made the reds a better choice!

Not only did our group have an opportunity to sample and purchase wines that have never before been offered in this area but I personally was able to sample some of John's menu items that I had ever thought to try previously. I was surprised and delighted and now I am eager for more! John has plans to offer these wine parings evenings on a weekly basis and provide additional benefits to members of the Uncorked Club. After the tasting is over, diners have the option to purchase larger portions of their favorite dishes for an additional charge of just $50 pesos per plate. The select wines remain available by the glass and bottles can be purchased at a reduced rate by Uncorked members.

Do I sound excited? I am! This is just the kind of culinary initiative we need more of in this rapidly growing, cosmopolitan city. I am pleased to announce that John Gray himself will be participating in the exciting gastronomic graze, Taste of Playa. John has just recently been featured in the Gourmet Edition of InRiviera Magazine and will be a participant in the prestigious South Beach Food and Wine Festival in 2010. We are thrilled to have him on our team and look forward to seeing which of his many delectable creations he offers up that day.

To those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of dining at one of John's restaurants, I highly recommend you fit a special meal into your plans. A visit to any of his signature venues in Playa del Carmen, Puerto Morelos and Cancun is well worth the effort and the Sunday BBQ at La Suegra in Puerto Morelos is a wonderful place to spend a lazy afternoon with your family. Maybe we will see you at an upcoming gathering of the Uncorked Club at The Den. We'll save you a seat!!

Special thanks to Stuart for taking beautiful pictures so that I could fully enjoy my dining experience. Great shots as always, Stuart!

Wine Tasting at Cielo Hotel in Playa del Carmen

Rob Kinnon — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:43:00 GMT

As the sun set over the roof tops of the city, several dozen Playa del Carmen residents and visitors took in the magnificent ocean views, enjoyed the cool Caribbean breeze and were treated to an excellent series of wine and food pairings and commentary from sommelier Jorge Valdes and Ricardo Garcia Gaxiola from Off the Vine wine shop. In close coordination with Russell Granger, managing partner of Cielo Hotel and Chef Edouardo from the Cielo restaurant Carboncitos, a delightful event was orchestrated and guests were treated to wines from Italy, Argentina, Chile and the United States expertly matched with items from Carboncitos' traditional Mexican menu. The guest list included guests of the hotel, distinguished local business people and emissaries from Playa del Carmen's top regional interest websites, www.playamayanews.com, www.intheroo.com and www.playa.info all eager to put their palates to the test!

Sara Moen (PlayaMayaNews), Francis Gingras, Libby and John Bekas (In the Roo)

Sandra Waller and Kylie Heck

Ricardo Garcia Gaxiola

Claudia Hurtado Valenzuela and Libby Bekas

The rooftop of Cielo Hotel was positively transformed into a chic outdoor dining room with charming gourd lamps strung overhead and tables draped with pretty, technicolor Mexican blankets. The tables were set with good quality stemware and each place setting included a placemat printed with the wine selections for the tasting including the vintage and cost per bottle. No detail was overlooked in the prepations for this special evening.

As acting emcee for this evening's event as well as translator for sommelier Valdes, Ricardo welcomed the guests, introduced the staff and presenters for this event and regaled the crowd with a bit of the history of wine making and information about the process. An aperitif of chilled "La Pinta", a pomegranite infused tequila served in a cute cucumber shot glass, stimulated our tastebuds, preparing us for the night's offerings.

This evening's wine selections and menu pairings were as follows:

Ravenswood Vintner's Blend Chardonnay 2006 from California paired with the Carboncito's famous salsa platter. Aged in oak barrels and stainless steel tanks, the faint nutty, buttery notes with hints of green apple and vanilla served to accent the pumkin salsa while the acid level held up well to the tomatoes and lime juice in the pica de gallo. The salsa aguacate was perhaps a bit overpowering for this particular white.

Carmen Carmenere 2007 from Chile paired with a Shrimp Alambre, shrimp sauteed with white onions, green bell peppers and bacon in a rich, mildly spiced cheese sauce. The up front dark fruit flavors with a hint of black pepper cut through the rich, buttery sauce and the fatty bacon without over powering the delicate shrimp and hints of chili peppers, proving that red wine can be successfully paired with seafood!

Umberto Cesare Refolo Spumante Brut from the Emilio-Romano region of Italy paired with chicken in a mole sauce. I would have never thought to pair a sparkling wine with mole but this light brut spumante lemony spumante was just right to contrast with the accents of chocolate and chili in the sauce.

Familia Zuccardi "Malamado" Malbec a Port Styled dessert wine from Argentina paired with a traditional dessert from Chiapas, a bunuelo with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. With bright ripe plum notes, this fortified wine spends 18 months in french oak making it complex and interesting despite its lighter body, yet not cloyingly sweet. It matched well and really brought out the dark chocolate and the cinnamon in the delicate dessert. This was a real crowd pleaser!

A highlight of the evening was the introduction of the "guest of honor", Ceneyda Guzman, celebrating four years of employment with Cielo Hotel, truly remarkable in this very transient city in an industry that is accustomed to regular and rapid staff turnover.

It was clear from the enthusiastic response to the menu offerings and the accompanying vintages as well as to Ricardo and Jorge's expert commentary that the people of Playa del Carmen are very much interested in experimenting with and learning more about good food and good wine. There is more to Playa than just buckets of beer on the beach and frozen margaritas. Events like this will help put Playa del Carmen on the map for as a destination for foodies and enofiles from all over the world.

The wines above and many more are all available for sale at Off the Vine Wine Shop and Deli located in the Royal Oasis Plaza on 1st Avenue and Calle 26 in the north end of Playa del Carmen, near Mamitas Beach. Ricardo also hosts wine and food pairings in his store location every Thursday evening from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. These events are open to the public and reservations can be made by calling Ricardo or Danielle at 984-803-5244 or via email to ricardogg_1999[at]yahoo.com.

Fabulous Wine Tasting to Benefit Ak Lu'um

Rob Kinnon — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:33:00 GMT

Saturday evening, friends and supporters of Ak Lu'um International School gathered at Ajua Maya Restaurant on Calle 4 for an intimate wine tasting presented by Ricardo Garcia, owner of one of Playa del Carmen's best wine purveyors, Off the Vine. Judy Long, mother of Avery, organized and hosted this fun and informative evening, one which is sure to become a regularly scheduled event. For $250 pesos per person we were treated to 7 different wines, 2 whites, 4 reds and a fortified wine, all of which were produced in Mexico. In a past life, I sold wine for a prominent importer/distributor in New York, so I was particularly excited for a taste of what Mexico might have to offer.

I was pleasantly surprized and impressed by not ony the featured wines but also the professional manner and depth of knowledge of our presenter, Ricardo. Switching back and forth with ease between Spanish and English, he gave us a history of winemaking in Mexico leading up to a discussion of today's more modern production processes and some of the more reputable wine houses in this country. He invited a lot of participation from the audience and even allowed me to get up and lead the commentary on one of the evening's offerings, a bright crisp Chardonnay from Santo Tomas.

The talented chefs at Ajua Maya delighted us with several tasty amuse bouche and the efficient service staff kept everything running like clockwork. On their own, the dark chocolate brownies enjoyed with the port style wine were worth the price of admission!

This is the line up, in order, of the wines we tasted throughout the evening.

* SANTO TOMAS CHARDONNAY
* CAVAS VALMAR CHENIN BLANC
* SANTO TOMAS CABERNET SAUVIGNON
* CAVAS VALMAR TEMPRANILLO
* CASA MADERO SHIRAZ
* SANTO TOMAS VINO GENEROSO (Port style fortified wine)

Ricardo is partial to the Temperanillo, but the crowd favorites were the Chardonnay and the Shiraz. One lucky guest walked away with a bottle of the latter, the raffle prize for this event. We purchased a bottle of the "Port" for ourselves!

This was such a well organized and well run event, I certainly hope we can manage to do this more often, not only to raise money for our childrens' beloved school but also to bring a much needed touch of civility into our daily lives. Please keep your eyes open for announcements of the next tasting event. If you are in town for a limited amount of time, Ricardo also hosts wine tastings and food pairings every Thursday evening at the shop on Ave. 1 between Calles 26 and 28 (just near PG's Sandbox Sport Bar). $350 pesos buys you a similar selection of wines and a fine meal designed to accompany them. For a unique opportunity to try some of the better Mexican wines as well as labels from around the world, stop in and see Ricardo at Off the Vine, and tell him you are a friend of Ak Lu'um. You may even get a small discount!

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