Tequila from the blue agave plant and beer imported from Mexico — few bars or package stores in San Antonio, let alone households, would be without them.
But wine produced from vineyards south of the border?
Que bueno, que vino, say the owners of Casa Guipzot.
Salena and Eduardo Guipzot discovered some of the lesser-known wines of Mexico three years ago while traveling in Cuatro Ciénegas and shortly after brought the palate-pleasing product to San Antonio.
In less than a month, they will open the doors of their new tasting room in San Antonio’s oldest former neighborhood.
Mexico’s wine industry goes back to the late 16th century with Casa Madero, one of the oldest vineyards in all the Americas. Today, most of the country’s vineyards are located in Baja California, a Mexican state on the top half of a peninsula south of San Diego, with wines commonly exported to California.
But at Parras de la Fuente in Coahuila, a Mexican state bordering Texas, there are now 35 vineyards in full production.
The market for Mexican wines is still new, but growing, Salena Guipzot said. “Even Mexico is barely catching up to drinking Mexican wines. It’s interesting because it’s not part of our culture to drink wine, it’s not part of the Mexican culture.”
In fact, all of Texas drinks more wine than all of Mexico put together, she said.
Those who are drinking the luxury item in Mexico commonly consume wines from places like France, Argentina and Chile, but Salena Guipzot cited a recent study showing that now three out of 10 wines being consumed in that country are of Mexican origin.
With a goal to build the Mexican wine market in Texas, the Guipzots opened their tasting room and warehouse in 2022 in Salena’s former Westside neighborhood, then created a steady following and built the business into one of the largest wine clubs in the city.
The wines of Mexico are as pleasing to frequent wine drinkers as novices, she said, with the types varying between Old World-style and natural and organic wines.
Prices for a bottle of wine through Casa Guipzot range from about $30 to $90 with some offerings as high as $200 to $300. If the incoming administration raises tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports by 25%, as President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to after taking office this month, those prices could increase.
“I’ve told our customers we will worry about crossing that bridge when and if we get there [so] until then, keep enjoying the amazing wines Mexico has to offer,” Salena Guipzot said.
Vino in La Villita
Located in the Losana House at La Villita, directly across from the entrance to the Arneson River Theatre, the new Casa Guipzot site at 418 Villita St., Building 2, will serve the visitor market in downtown San Antonio, Salena Guipzot said.
“It’s really the epicenter of San Antonio and its history and its culture,” she said, adding that she hopes to highlight that history through Mexican wines.
With the final touches being put on the tasting room in an 1859 residential structure that most recently served as a clothing boutique, the owners expect it to open in early February.
Salena Guipzot plans to first host a vino con vecinos event for her new La Villita neighbors, followed by grand opening events with local chambers of commerce. Then she will return to Mexico to buy more wines, her favorite part of running the business, she said.
“My husband and I travel all throughout Mexico and go to all the vineyards,” she said. “So there’s not one wine I don’t carry in my portfolio that I haven’t visited.”
The Guipzots have worked to develop relationships with vintners in Mexico, and bringing their wines to San Antonio has motivated other local wine shops to stock those wines as well, she said.
“When we visit these vineyards, it’s not seasonal workers,” she said. “These are generational families that take pride in cultivating the land and producing their wine.”
‘Something new’
Salena Guipzot pitched the City of San Antonio on the La Villita tasting room in response to a request for qualifications almost a year ago, and after a rigorous selection process, Casa Guipzot was approved for the lease in October.
City documents state that the selection committee determined the wine purveyor would add the “energy of a new entrepreneur to the village,” and that Casa Guipzot would complement the existing tenant mix and draw more evening foot traffic to La Villita.
The tasting room will be open Sunday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Salena got the keys to the house in early November.
“It just truly checked all the boxes in terms of history, culture, community, something new for people to experience, and wine tasting is something that everybody can enjoy,” she said.
The ongoing construction on South Alamo Street and throughout downtown that has vexed business owners and visitors for more than a year did not deter the wine shop owners from pursuing the La Villita site.
For one thing, the city discounted the rent due to the construction, making startup less risky for Casa Guipzot while the couple continues to maintain its offices and tasting room at 118 S. Sabinas St.
At La Villita, Salena Guipzot envisions customers sitting at bistro tables outside the Losana house along Villita Street enjoying a glass of wine while they stroll, relax or people-watch, and believes that such an experience is needed in the artisan shopping and dining village.
“It’s just going to help tremendously … for people to enjoy the rest of La Villita,” she said.
