We've tried numerous wines with Mexican food but can't seem to find that perfect pairing. I'm no talking about your nuvo style Mexican food but down home taqueria style Mexican food. A friend of mine recommended a '00 Onix Red Wine, not bad but ......... not as good as a Jose Cuervo or a Don Juan. Any ideas??

stick with what works, my friend! tequila baby!
sometimes, the wine issue gets forced, and i fear this may be one of those..??

Surprisingly, Pinot Gris goes well with Mexican food. I've had St Innocent 'Shea Vineyard' Pinot Gris' (my fav american Pinot Gris, too bad Shea's Pinot Gris is dieing of phyloxera ) with mexican food many times (usually from La Ultima, cuz that's on the way home) and I love it. The Pinot Gris matches well with the richness and spicyness of mexican food.

I also like Aussie shiraz and the few times I've had zin or primitivo they seem to have the sweet rich fruit characters that would match well with the more meaty Mexican dishes.

NCVL:

It seems an endless quest to find a wine match for Mexican food, IMO. I have given up the quest, and settled on beer and margaritas. Everyone needs some variety in life anyway.

Mike

It really depends on the dish. Are we talking beef enchiladas covered in a chili con carne? Beer. Are we talking chicken enchis with a mild salsa? NZ Sauvignon Blanc. I've even had a sparkling wine with a Mexican casserole and a Grenache with a stew that both worked well. What it boils down to is there is no patent answer. You're only choice is to get outside the box and experiment with reckless abandon.

Maragaritas would be my choice. If you must have wine, assuming the food isn't killer spicy, I'd go with a big Zin.

Carte Blance or Negro Modelo. If you like your mexican food spicy and not "pocho" wine won't stand up to it. No reason to drink wine if the outcome is that neither the food nor the wine are improved by it.

Zinfandel works for me

Zin

Zin or shiraz for me.

ahhhhhhh......"experiment with reckless abandon" .......... that's the kind of advice I love to hear

Gracias amigos !

Beer. Pilsner or Vienna.

Zin or shiraz/syrah...

Beer. Why take chances?

I like my Mexican food very spicy (with tons of salsa) - so spicy that it would kill any wine. Beer is perfect for me to put out the flames....

Negra Modelo would be my preference.

STW,
Perhaps that is the key. I like my Mexican food flavorful, but not hot (spicy). Done that way, it does go well with Zins and Shiraz.

With too much hot spices, I'd go with ... a milk shake or something to coat the surface of my throat ;-)

We are having a "gourmet" BBQ at the club tonight. We will start with typical Mexican hors'dourves and Margaritas. Then a course of spicy BBQ shrimp with a German Riesling. Gets pretty tame after that so just Zin with the entree and Pinot Noir with the dessert.

My favorite Mexican food is Alberto's on Park Ave. Where do you like
NCVL?

Alberto's is good. We really enjoying hitting many of the hole-in-the-wall type taquerias. Sometime's my Fiancee and I will just drive around, find any interesting looking place and pop in for what ever is their specialty. This method doesn't just apply to Mexican restaurants but other types of food as well. Of course, sometimes we've had to leave after taking a look at the interior ......... ugghhhh........ a particular Vietnamese resturant comes to mind ..........scary!

Let's see ...... Mexican restaurants ........ these are all local establishments and after a couple of visits we've found what there specialty is. There's a reason they stay in our weekly rotation

Gecko Grill (diablo shrimp, and good mole, tell Tina David (Damiana supplier) sent you)
Casa Vicki's (roasted chicken with fresh homemade tortillas, beans, rice)
El Pirin (camarone's cocktail to die for !!! and still the best salsa we've found)
Trini's #4 (chicken machaca)
Super Taqueria (can't go wrong with anything on the menu at this popular place)
Baja Cactus? (I think that what it's called, Main St., Milpitas. Killer mole)
Buritto Factory (new veggie burrito, chile verde, regular chicken burrito mojado)
Royal Taco (they closed our favorite location but still operate in Milpitas)
Salvadorian at Capital and McKee, in the old donut shop (pupus, I think that's what they call them)

That's just a few off the top of my head. Again, nothing fancy but good eats and we've become friends, or at least familiar faces, with many of these establishments.

Beer/margaritas, but there isn't any decent mexican food on the island, so I do not eat much anymore. I long for the southern california mexican food of my youth.

Another vote for beer.

That said, I understand that a Mexican winery, L.A. Cetto, produces a Cab and a Zin that are drinkable. On the theory that an area's wines are geared to accompany its foods, maybe it would warrant trying them together.

I'll wait for someone else to report on that one.