GalleryAsk A Sommelier: The Best Wines For Mexican Food We usually drink beer with Mexican food: sometimes a crisp lager, sometimes a hoppy IPA or a roasty stout (especially with mole...yum!) But there are pairings to be found in the world of wine as well, whether you're talking about a tart Sauvignon Blanc or a gamey Syrah. Which wines work well with a plate of juicy carnitas or a carne asada burrito? We asked 17 sommeliers for their advice. Here's what they had to say.Chat with SE: Drinks on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. Keep in the loop with our weekly newsletter. The tastiest bites delivered to your inbox! Keep up with our latest recipes, tips, techniques and where to eat!Getting thereFrom Los Angeles, it’s about a 3½-hour drive (without traffic) to Valle de Guadalupe. Take I-5 South to Mexico’s Highway 1. Stop for lobster in Puerto Nuevo, a fishing town 50 miles south of San Diego—we like the aptly named restaurant Puerto Nuevo #1. Order yours pan-fried with melted butter and chili sauce and a side of chips and salsa.

Home baseThe wineries to hit are less than a 15-minute drive from Encuentro Guadalupe’s modern cabins, which are built into the boulder-strewn hills. After a day of wine-tasting, pour yourself a final glass, light a fire in your outdoor fireplace, and get ready for some epic stargazing. Ruta del VinoFor excellent reds and a chance to go horseback riding through a vineyard (tip: ride first), stop by Adobe Guadalupe. At Finca La Carrodilla, sit in the rooftop garden and have a glass of the crisp biodynamic chenin blanc (few whites are produced in this red-heavy area). Don’t miss Monte Xanic, whose masterpiece is the Gran Ricardo, a mix of cab, merlot, and petit verdot grapes. This is the one bottle (or case) to bring back. In between tastingsThe French Laundry of Baja is ­Diego Hernández’s restaurant Corazón de Tierra. The five-course tasting menu is brilliant (and a fifth of what it’d cost up north). For a casual vibe, check out Deckman’s, which is more lavish cookout than Michelin bistro—though chef Drew Deckman does have a star.

Order the quail and pork belly roasted over carob wood. The food truck Troika is great for a quick bite or a beer; good dry red wine cheapget the seafood tostada—fresh octopus, shrimp, and scallops piled high on a crispy tortilla. best italian wine everRecommended for YouTravel Inspiration25 Surprising Facts About the World, Courtesy of Ken Jenningsbest wine cooler reviewsColorful, vibrant Mexico City (it's no wonder why Frida Kahlo lived here) is home to a lavish wine scene hidden beneath the exteriors of many of its hotels and restaurants. best red wine for christmas gift 2015I recently pushed aside images of Mexico's capital as merely a good place for tequila and tacos and went in search of the best wine-sipping spots. box of wine canada

I drank wine—including many Mexican wines, a treat considering so few are exported to the United States—alongside delicacies like huitlacoche, empanadas, mole, plantains, and ceviche.high end wine furniture Even with just a couple of days in Mexico's capital city, it's nearly impossible to not find Mexican wines on a wine list. best wine to drink when your on a dietSo here are five perfecto spots to start sipping.perfect gift for wine lovers Open since May, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's restaurant is tucked into the three-year-old, 31-story St. Regis Mexico City. best wine bars east sideIt sits on some choice real estate. Just outside the hotel entrance is Paseo de la Reforma, a tree-lined pedestrian-friendly boulevard that's home to the famous Diana fountain.

Within J&G Grill the best seat in the house is on the terrace, which overlooks the fountain. For a sampling of Mexican wines, this is a good place to start. There are about 2,000 bottles of wine in the restaurant's cellar and many are from Mexico. Note that J&G Grill is open for dinner only and just like Vongerichten's other restaurants, the cuisine is avant-garde. In this case, many dishes are inspired my Mexican flavors, like the avocado pizza (topped with cilantro, lime, and jalapeno) and roasted Yucatan grouper (served with "aromatic" black beans and cilantro puree). Perfect for pairing with Mexican wines like Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc. Not so touristy—although it's directly behind the second location of Museo Soumaya, housing much of financier Carlos Slim's art collection, and within Plaza Carso, a luxury shopping center and mixed-use complex that Slim spent $1.4 billion on—Carolo Carso is a hit with locals. It's part of a family-owned collection of restaurants and bakeries.

Touting a bistro feel on the menu, the wine list (clocking in at around 250 selections) is designed to pair with a variety of flavors, spices, and herbs, much of which are organic and locally grown. Grab a table on the outdoor terrace and gaze out at the glittering Museo Soumaya's curvy shape. To pair with ceviche, duck tacos, and BBQ shrimp with black-bean puree and white rice, I chose a glass of Casa Madero Chardonnay (Mexico) This has got to be the most colorful, vibrant eatery I've ever dined in, right on down to the details in the presentation—like a baby pink rose in the center of a frozen margarita, desserts displayed on a toy carousel with burning incense, turquoise rock salt rimming a plate, or a party favor poking out of empanadas. Dulce Patria—from chef Marta Ortiz of Mexico City's Aquila y Sol—is tucked into the two-year-old luxury boutique hotel Las Alcobas, the property resembling a cute and tidy white cube with just 35 rooms. The dining space is decked out in reds and pinks.

Within a fishbowl of flowers at each table is a Mexican flag. Choosing a glass of 2011 Piedra de Sol Chardonnay (Ensenada, Baja, Mexico), it matched up nicely with "vampire ceviche," an elaborate dish consisting of mango chips, chile pepper, fish, and chopped fresh mango arranged in a martini glass with a tin "camping" spoon stuck in. On the wine list of close to 400 selections are many Mexican wines, as well as some from Israel, Uruguay, France, Spain, South Africa, Chile, Italy, Argentina, New Zealand, and California, reflecting the global nature of Dulce Patria's menu. As charming as its surroundings in the Condesa neighborhood, Azul Condesa boasts a garden setting that's a buffer from the street noise, and a crisp palette of blues and whites, complete with embroidered napkins depicting the restaurant's logo and pretty blue pottery used for dishware. Food historian and chef Ricardo Munoz Zurita has crafted a menu (for both lunch and dinner) of plates that serve as a gastronomic map of Mexico, such as "green ceviche" and organic hibiscus-flower enchiladas.

From the wine list, I chose Rincón del Barón Double Blanc, a Guadalajara, Mexico, white wine that's a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc. A whopping 13 desserts help close out the meal on a sweet note, folding in various Mexican takes on flan, cheese, cake and chocolate. In an unassuming storefront along a very stylish street (Avenida Presidente Masaryk) in Polanco is Restaurant Izote, its dining room long and narrow, and the breadth of cuisine and wine very diverse. Chef Patricia Quintana, who has authored several cookbooks about regional cuisine, merges flavors inspired by many Mexican states (plus the Southwestern US) to come up with small plates like roasted-duck enchiladas topped with Oaxacan mole sauce or corn tortillas with lobster and pumpkin-seed sauce done Tuxpan style. The entire wine list, of about 40 selections, consists of Mexican wines. With a glass of Note de Cata Casa Madero Shiraz (Parras Valley, Coahuila, Mexico), its jammy, crushed-raspberry imprint on my palate, I attacked the menu by sharing small plates with my table as the night wore on.