Mexican wine and wine making began with the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, when they brought vines from Europe to modern day Mexico, the oldest wine-growing region in the Americas. Although there were indigenous grapes before the Spanish conquest, the Spaniards found that Spanish grapevines also did very well in the colony of New Spain (Mexico) and by the 17th century wine exports from Spain to the New World fell. In 1699, Charles II of Spain prohibited wine making in Mexico, with the exception of wine for Church purposes. From then until Mexico’s Independence, wine was produced in Mexico only on a small scale.
Grapes during pigmentation in Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California.
Celebration of the first harvest of Vineyard in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.
Vineyard in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato
Freixenet wine cellar in Querétaro
Tequila is a distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila 65 km (40 mi) northwest of Guadalajara, and in the Jaliscan Highlands of the central western Mexican state of Jalisco.
Three varieties of tequila
Blue agave fields near Tequila
A distillery oven loaded with agave piñas or "pineapples", the first step in the production of tequila post harvest
A tahona, large stone wheel, at the Hacienda Doña Engracia that was used to crush the piña. Large, modern distilleries commonly complete this process mechanically.