The Coahuila wine route, a guide to touring it

Mexican wine tourism is almost automatically associated with Baja California, but the history of wine in the Americas began in Coahuila. Touring this route means visiting the origin, and doing it with considerably fewer people around.

Parras de la Fuente, the starting point

Parras is a literal oasis in the middle of the semi-desert: springs, enormous pecan trees and vineyards where you would expect scrubland. The town holds the Pueblo Mágico designation and has a historic center you can walk in an afternoon.

This is home to Casa Madero, founded in 1597 and considered the oldest winery on the American continent. It offers guided tours of the historic facilities and tastings. Book ahead, especially during harvest season.

When to go

Harvest, from late July through September depending on the year and variety, is the headline season. There are festivals, grape stomping and activities open to the public. It is also the busiest time and when lodging sells out first.

If you prefer quiet, October and November are excellent: cool weather, vineyards in autumn color and no lines at the wineries.

Winter has its own appeal, with dormant vines and pruning underway, though the nights are genuinely cold. Spring brings bud break, a subtle but lovely sight.

Building the weekend

Day one. Arrive in Parras in the morning, lunch downtown, winery visit in the afternoon when the heat drops. Close with a relaxed dinner.

Day two. A small winery in the morning, usually the most interesting visit because you are often received by the person who makes the wine. Afterward, one of the area's springs. Head back in the afternoon.

If you have a third day, it is worth pushing out into the desert: the region around Paredón and General Cepeda offers a completely different landscape, far more arid and open, and some of the cleanest night skies in northern Mexico.

Practical advice

• Book your tastings. Not every winery accepts walk-ins, and the small ones almost never do.
• Bring water and a hat. The altitude is deceptive: you do not feel the heat but the radiation is strong.
• Consider a designated driver. Distances between wineries are driven, and tastings add up faster than expected.
• Carry cash. At small producers the card terminal does not always work.
• Dress in layers. There can be a ten-degree difference between afternoon and night.

Beyond the glass

The Coahuila wine route works best when it is not reduced to wine. The region combines vineyards, desert, colonial history and northern Mexican cooking. The towns are small and people talk. You leave less hurried than on more established circuits, and that ends up being the best part.

At Ex-Hacienda Amargos we live on this side of the story: a vineyard of our own since 1946, on a hacienda founded in 1750.