Living in paradise is wonderful. In the Before Times, lots of my Canadian friends would come visit Vallarta over the winter months, and I frequently heard the same refrain from many of them that I want to address here: “Why is there no good wine in Puerto Vallarta?”

This common perception is categorically untrue. While it is true that many local all-inclusive resorts only offer basic plonk, and that the local grocery and convenience stores can have rather uninspiring selections, this doesn’t mean you need to curb your wine-loving ways while on vacation in our slice of paradise. By all means, please do enjoy the dizzying array of outstanding tequila, raicilla, and mezcal selections, and make sure to check out the independent craft breweries that are popping up all around the city. And yes, tip back a Corona or two with the requisite wedge of lime while lounging on the beach. But wine belongs here too.

The truth about wine in Vallarta is that we have access to some of the world’s best bottles… if you are willing to do a little digging. Yes, there actually is an importer in town who sells wines from the iconic Burgundy house Domaine de la Romanée Conti. Betcha never expected that! But what about everyday wines with a more realistic price tag? Here, things get a little more nuanced. Yes, you will absolutely be able to find an excellent selection of wines across all price and quality ranges from France, Italy, Spain, the USA, Chile, and Argentina.

However, if Australia, New Zealand, Germany, or Austria wines tickle your palate, you have sadly found the weak points of the available Vallarta wine selection. Yes, there are some wines from these countries available here, but they are often prohibitively expensive or of a very limited selection. But if only a bottle of Egon Müller-Scharzhof will do, that can be arranged. And no, it’s not going to be found at your local Soriana.

As a wine educator, I work with several local importers to bring the best, most classic examples of wines in for my classes, and I see a lot of excellent wine portfolios that don’t accurately reflect what you’re going to find on most store shelves. Often, these wines are sold exclusively to restaurants, but that’s only because of the sad hamster wheel we find ourselves on: if our wonderful visitors knew that they could access better bottles, the demand would be apparent at the local grocery stores and better bottles would start showing up on the shelves.

I’ll do my part to start showcasing some of these wines here, in the hopes that word will get out and we begin to see more diversity on our store shelves. There are a handful of excellent boutique wine shops in Vallarta (Uncork Mexico comes to mind) who are already working hard to break this boring old wine rut the big shops are in - seek them out and support them, because we all benefit in the long run. Every bottle counts.

A note about any wine reviews you find on this site: I pay for all my own samples and all reviews are my personal opinion. Reviews cannot be bought.