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602.636.0240
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NOTE: Barrio Cafe serves food that is reflective of southern Mexico cuisine
and chef Silvana's own original creations.
Therefore, our food is not hot or extremely spicy.
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View or Download Complete Menu Above
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NOTE: All Menu Items are Property of chef Silvana Salcido Esparza and Barrio Cafe, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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t e q u i l a
n e c t a r o f t h e g o d ' s
Barrio is proud to present over 250 of Mexico's Top Shelf, Premium & Super Jalisco's Tequilas
aguila . cabo wabo . casa noble . casta . cazadores . chinaco . corazon . corralejo . del dueno . del padre . don alejo . don eduardo . don julio 1942 . don julio . el charro . el catrin . el conquistador . el jimador . el mayor reserve . el reformador . el tesoro . espolon . espuela de oro . gran centenario . hacienda del cristero . hacienda vieja . herradura . herradura seleccion suprema . hussong's . jose cuero . jose cuervo tradicional . jose cuervo reserva de la familia . los arangos . manik . mico . milagro . milagro select barrel reserve . pena azul edicion especial . patron . pueblo viejo . rio de plata . rey sol . san matias . caramessi . sauza comemorativo . sauza hornitos . tes generaciones . stallion . tenoch . tres reyes . tierra del sol . tonala . xq . xxx gold . zapopan . 1800 . 1921 . 30/30 and much more
w i n e s
f r o m M e x i c o
One of Mexico's best kept secrects is the wonderful wine that is being produced, namely in el Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California. Barrio Cafe is proud to offer one of the most extensive list of wines from Mexico available in the United States.
c e r v e z a
we offer a wide selection of only Mexican beers
c a f e
our already famous coffee is from Chiapas, Mexico and is our own private blend. Served pressed to order. Available in retail bags to take home.
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CHEFSILVANARECOMMENDS
Mexico is the oldest wine industry in the Americas, period. The industry dates from 1521 one year after the Spanish Conquistadores colonised Mexico. Wine was part of daily Spanish life, it was also needed by Church and the Missions for the mass. To satisfy this demand and to make the country self-sufficient , Cortés decreed a law that all the Spanish settlers had to plant vines on the lands they were granted.
Just 10% of Mexico is suitable for viticulture, the great majority produce table grapes, raisins and brandy. The country has also seen a lot of investment from abroad, notably Freixenet, Martell and Domecq. The main quality vineyards are in Baja California in the Valle de Guadalupe, near chef Silvana's home in Rosarito Beach, just south of San Diego a long finger of land stretching into the cooling waters of the Pacific Ocean. It was to here that a young Italian immigrant from Piedmonte, Don Angelo Cetto came to in 1926, and planted vines in the Guadalupe Valley. L.A.Cetto is a family business with the third generation continuing on the tradition. Cetto took over a small vineyard that had been culivated by a Russian family. Currently, the Valle de Guadalupe is home to many wines still made by these Russian families.
L. A. Cetto have 1000 hectares under cultivation, planted with Nebbiolo (from Don Angelos native Piedmonte) Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Malbec, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Colombard.
Petite Sirah is widely planted throughout the Americas and bears no resemblance to the Syrah (Shiraz) grape of the Rhône Valley in France or Australia. At one time it was thought to be related to the French variety Durif, but it is now recognised one its own. Generally Petite Sirah produces deep coloured, full bodied powerful wines, and for many years was used to beef up everyday blends. Some producers such as Ridge and Stags Leap Winery in California make very powerful examples of this grape variety.
L.A Cettos Petite Sirah is a great example packed full of ripe blackcurrant, damsons, chocolate flavours, it is full-bodied with a long finish. Delicious with casseroles, and roast meats. Most people who have tasted it can't believe its from Mexico.
L.A. Cettos Petite Sirah has been awarded a double-gold medal at the London Wine Show.
Barrio Cafe and chef Silvana highly recommend this little gem of a wine....from Mexico.
Barrio Cafe is the largest vendor of Mexican Wines in the South West and the second largest in the USA. Not bad for a little hole-in-the-wall...
Barrio Cafe offers a vast selection of quality wines from Mexico
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ABOUTMEXICANWNES
Baja California Sur has become a mini Napa Valley, where small, exclusive vintners have emerged, their wines gaining recognition in distinguished French wine competitions.
Because of its wine producing potential, this is the largest vineyard region in Mexico, that continues from the better known Californian State in the United States. The vineyards cover more than 24.700 acres. Other states to produce quality Mexican wines are; Queretaro, Zacatecas, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora and Aguascalientes.
The oldest winery, still in production, in north America is located in Parras, Coahuila in northern Mexico (Casa Madero). In 1568, Spanish conquistadors looking for gold, and priests on a mission to convert Mexico's indigenous people to Christianity, came to the valley of the Tlaxcaltecas, in the state of Coahuila.
Drawn by the wild grapes and fresh spring water, they settled 10 years later. Among them was Spanish Capt. Don Francisco de Urdiqola, who started the first vineyards in 1593 at his El Rosario Hacienda, today the town's shopping center.
In 1597, King Philip II issued a land grant to Don Lorenzo Garcia to start the first official winery for the New World, establishing San Lorenzo Hacienda.
But in 1699 the King of Spain, alarmed by competition from the rapidly growing winery, banned production in the Americas except by the church. The ban lasted until Mexico's independence in 1810. Don Evaristo Madero, grandfather of ex-president Madero, bought the winery in 1893. Thus Mexico's independence resulted because tarifs and taxes placed upon the grapes.
The best quality wine produced from Baja California is produced in one of thees five sub regions:
- The Calafia and Guadalupe Valleys
- The Tecate Zone
- The Santo Tomas Valley
- San Vincente
- The Mexicali Valley
| Bodegas de Santo Tomas
In 1791, Jesuit priests established the "Mision de Santo Tomas" in Baja California, about 90 miles south of present day San Diego. They brought and planted vines of grapes named "uva mision" (mission grape), and produced the first wines in the Californias.
In 1834, Dominican priests founded the "Mision de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Norte," about 70 miles south of San Diego. This was the last mission established in the Californias and the one that functioned the least time. But the valley retains the abbreviated name "Valle de Guadalupe." Today the valley produces about 75 percent of Mexico's wines, many winning international recognition. The valley was blessed as one of the rare places in the world where premium wine grapes can be grown.
The road to the present wasn't easy for the valley and its wines. In 1857, after Mexico's War of Reform, the Catholic Church was stripped of its land holdings, which included the missions in Lower California that was left to Mexico after the U.S.-Mexico war. All church property became the property of the state. The government sold the former lands of the Mision de Santo Tomas to a private group, which established the Bodegas de Santo Tomas in 1888.
Nothing notable happened in the Valle de Guadalupe until 1904, when a group of 100 Russian families settled the area. The group belonged to a pacifist religious group which abandoned Russia to avoid its men being conscripted into the Czarist army.
The Russians bought several hundred acres, dedicating a good portion to planting vines producing grapes for wine, raisins and for sale as fruit. Others who came later followed their example, and more and more grapevines were planted.
The wines from Santo Tomas had by then acquired a good reputation, but sales of Mexican wines were dormant, as wine drinkers preferred French, German, Italian and Spanish wines, although they were exorbitantly priced.
The large Santo Tomás, Baja California's oldest winery established in 1888, has formed an alliance with California's Wente Brothers, and the two are producing a wine together: Duetto.
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Casa Pedro Domecq
Long established in Valle de Guadalupe, is better known for other products, such as Presidente Brandy, the world's best selling brandy. It is now also producing higher quality wines. When L.A. Cetto made a significant entry into the valley, it started to acquire fame. Now the two wineries account for nearly 65 percent of all wine production in the valley.
In the 1980s, as the popularity and sale of quality wine grew in the United States, and California's wines began to be recognized for their excellence, Valle de Guadalupe came to the attention of a new breed of Mexican entrepreneur. Recognizing the enviable weather and soil conditions in the Guadalupe Valley, a group from Mexico City decided to invest.
Pedro Domecq (of the giant Allied-Domecq corporation) has produced lower and medium-tier wines that have been restaurant standards for years.
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MEXCIANWINEHISTORY
The wine industry got its start in Mexico in 1524, when the governor of New Spain, conquistador Hernando Cortes, ordered every Spaniard with a land grant from the crown to plant 1,000 grape vines for every 100 old vine plants, every year for five years.
The Mexicans are the oldest American wine producers. In the pre-Columbian age (before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors) the Indians used the vine to produce a drink to which they added other fruits and honey.
Nowadays, in some regions the wine of "acachul" is still produced with grapes and wild fruits. The wild vines called "cimarrones" carried heavy loads of grapes, but they were too acid to make wine with it. The first European vineyards in Mexico started with the Spanish conquerors and the beginning of the Missions.
The "conquistadors" found a lot of wild vines but no wine, a beverage which was desperately needed in order to celebrate mass and to wash down their meals. To satisfy these needs, in 1542 Forenoon Karats decreed that all the Spanish to whom native workers had been assigned (in effect as slaves) had to put down one thousand vines per hundred workers. This measure resulted in the planting of around 5,000 grape vines, which formed the basis of South America's first wine production.
In the State of Baja California, the growing of vine followed their installation of the missioners. They transformed the local deserts in agricultural zones and vineyards. The second generation of fathers even went to the US Californian State. Their leader brother Junipero Serra established 21 missions from San Diego to Sonoma, where they grew well known vines. The variety planted by the fathers got even a special name: the mission grapes. Nowadays this variety still exists and is called "criolla" all over South America. The first places where vineyards were developed, are Puebla (Tehuacan and Huejotzingo) followed by Queretaro, Aguascalientes, Coahuila and later in California and Sonora. Back to 1524, Hernan Cortes imposed by law the plantation of grapes from European origin in combination with local ones. This was the start of a hybrid culture of vines. In 1593, a spanish captain, Don Francisco de Urdiñola started the first vineyards in the state of Coahuila at El Rosario Hacienda on the estate of Santa Maria de las Parras. On the coat of arms of Queretaro, which dates from 1660, some vineyards can be seen.The oldest winery in the Americas was founded at Parras, at Mission Santa Maria in the north-central state of Coahuila in 1596. The vines from Europe adapted well to their new environment and were so productive that one could make wine and brandy. The development of the industry was nipped in the bud however when Madrid totally prohibited the making of wine in order to protect Spanish home-grown products and in later periods the ruling classes' preference for French wines gave little opportunity for it to reestablish itself. Perhaps the Cortéz edict to the colonists succeeded too well, and early settlers were judged too enthusiastic about the product. In any event, the Spanish crown abruptly forbade the production of local wines in 1699, dooming early Mexican vineyards and forcing the colonials to purchase the Spanish wines of the day or go without. Catholic missionaries in need of sacramental wines did cultivate vines, however, despite the viceroys' determined interference. After the Independence, the regulations were modified to protect the national production and the import of wines and liquors was taxed very heavily. Humboldt, some years before, had praised on a particular way the vineyards of Paso del Norte and from the Provincias Internas: they flourished, and besides of the general chaos of the time, they grew up. The Jesuit priest Father Juan Ugarte, the grandfather of Mexican viticulture, worked his way north from Parras to other missions, planting grapevines as the buildings progressed. When put in charge of the Loreto mission in Baja California in 1701, he promptly planted the first vines on that peninsula as well. In 1791, Jesuit priests established the "Mision de Santo Tomas" in Baja California, about 90 miles south of present day San Diego. They brought and planted vines and produced one of the first wines in the Californias. In 1834, Dominican priests founded the "Mision de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Norte," about 70 miles south of San Diego. This was the last mission established in the Californias and the one that functioned the least time. But the valley retains the abbreviated name "Valle de Guadalupe." Today the valley produces about 75 percent of Mexico's wines, many winning international recognition. The valley was blessed as one of the rare places in the world where premium wine grapes can be grown. The road to the present wasn't easy for the valley and its wines. In 1857, after Mexico's War of Reform, the Catholic Church was stripped of its land holdings, which included the missions in Lower California that was left to Mexico after the U.S.-Mexico war. All church property became the property of the state. The government sold the former lands of the Mision de Santo Tomas to a private group, which established the Bodegas de Santo Tomas in 1888. Since the independence of Mexico, the vine were of French origin and since the Porfirian era, not taking into consideration the period of the Revolution, the French wine started to be assimilated to prestige. At the end of the XIX th century, the Concannon family, pioneer in the Californian state (Livermore Valley, US) convinced the Mexican government to take advantage of the viticultural potential of the country and introduced a dozen French vine types and varietals in Mexico.
In 1885, the Mexican government was worried about the extension of the vine plantation but could not develop it due to the social troubles (Revolution) in the country. In the XXth century, the wine production suffered from two headaches in Mexico: one was the phyloxera epidemy and the revolution of 1910. The first one destroyed around 1900 a large amount of the Mexican vineyards.
The second one pushed the Concannon family to leave the country but later another Californian Wine maker, Pirelli Minetti, planted another range of vine on hundred acres near to the city of Torreon.
In the 1930's the industrial growing and production of grapes is related to the numerous arrival of the miners from European origin in the Valley of Santo Tomas. They discovered abandoned plants and equipment, they restored them and founded so in 1938 the first winery of the country called "Bodegas de Santo Tomas".
Only in the period of stability post-1940 did a modern winemaking industry emerge, helped by rigorous protectionism. There was revived interest in table wines in the twentieth century.
After World War II the government quadrupled tariffs on imported wines, and when the 1970's brought a fad for sweet, light, often sparkling bulk wines, the domestic market grew to about two million cases per year. But there were further setbacks though when the deregulation of imports in 1982 brought competition from cheap, junk quality foreign wines which forced many estates out of business. Thanks to large investments and the work of capable foreign technicians, including many Italians, the few surviving wine estates turn out products today which compare extremely well to those from other countries with more illustrious reputations. This has led to the increased reputation of Mexican wines, undoubtedly helped by the popularity of Mexican cuisine all over the world but due also to the pleasure given to connoisseurs by the discovery of good quality wines with lots of personality. But in 1989 free trade arrangements with the European Union caused the bottom to fall out of the domestic market. Prices and production fell by nearly ninety percent under competition from inexpensive, particularly German and Chilean, imports. Mexico's economic crisis and devaluation of the peso in 1994 caused unemployment and other economic hardships from which the country has yet recovered. Competition from low-priced imports however is still a serious factor for developing wineries. Nowadays the growing of grapes has three purposes: eating and wine making, production of raisins and industrial use (e.g. distilling). The end of the XX th. century has seen major changes resulting in greatly improved wines. |
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