Lake Chapala’s mild climate, elevation, and volcanic soil combine to make it an ideal place to grow grapes.
At present, there are seven vineyards, mainly along the south shore, and many more in the early stages of development.
Perhaps the most visited viñedo in the Chapala area is Finca La Estramancia, a pioneering, family-run boutique vineyard famed for its very popular tapas pairings, and easily reachable by boat from the north shore.
For Estramancia’s owner, Gerardo Torres González, developing his vineyard was literally a dream come true.
“It all began when I turned 50,” Torres told me. “I had had a successful career as a lawyer, and now I was ready to do something completely different. Because my wife, Ana María, and I had met and fallen in love in Chapala, we decided to move out of Guadalajara and live near the lake. But prices were very high on the north shore, thanks to all the foreigners living there, so we decided to take a look at the south side. There we found a small tract of land for sale, but full of thorny huisache trees. So we cleared the land and started constructing our home.”
At this point, Torres and his wife took a trip to Germany for a vacation, ending up on a small boat on the Rhine River.
“One morning, on the boat, I suddenly woke up from a dream, in which I had been standing on the shore of Lake Chapala, looking up at the hills,” he told me. “But in my dream, those hills were completely covered in vineyards, just like you see all along the Rhine River. And there I was, walking among them. It made me feel completely at peace.”
Torres said when he returned and told people about his dream of vineyards along the lake shore, most told him he was “loco” (crazy). Nonetheless, he decided he had to try growing grapes on his land and managed to acquire 100 Tempranillo vines.
“But for a crazy project, this turned out to be a big success,” Torres continued, “Soon we had lots and lots of beautiful grapes. The question was how we were going to turn them into wine. I had no experience in this line whatsoever. Of course, we went to YouTube and sought out how to make wine.
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