In Los Cabos, G20 Summit Meets Tequila Appreciation

[Steve Mirsky]

 

It's no wonder that Los Cabos, located at the tip of 1,000-mile long Baja Peninsula, was selected as the host city for this year's G20 Summit scheduled for June 18 – 19. Los Cabos has long been a favored destination for those seeking once-in-a-lifetime vacation experiences where rugged desert meets pristine white sand beaches framed by the iconic El Arco de Cabo San Lucas. What really sealed the deal for locating this event here was the region's solid infrastructure and impeccable safety record. It also didn't hurt that a new state-of-the-art Convention Center is near completion and a $250 million dollar 4-lane highway was recently inaugurated by President Calderón stretching from Cabo San Lucas to the capital city of La Paz cutting travel time in half. New non-stop flights are also being introduced from major Canadian cities and Orange County via AirTran and Chicago via Frontier Airlines.

Most notably, Los Cabos has welcomed an array of new and re branded hotels over the last year including Grand Solmar Land's End Resort & Spa, opened May 2011; the Holiday Inn Resort Los Cabos, formerly the Presidente InterContinental Los Cabos Resort; and the Secrets Marquis Los Cabos, formerly the Marquis Los Cabos. Additionally, a new Secrets Puerto Los Cabos resort will open in November 2013 with 500 rooms. Within the next three years, The Ritz-Carlton Company and Morgans Hotel Group plan to break ground on resorts of their own.

If I were a lucky G20 attendee, I would make it a point to stay at the Grand Solmar Land's End. Not only are the location and

amenities one-of-a-kind, every Thursday evening at 5 pm, sommelier Isidoro Mendez leads tequila tasting classes at the property's

newly opened fine dining restaurant Don Luis. Here “lessons” transcend the academic focusing on sensory identification of Silver, Gold, Reposado, Anejo and Premium exclusively using color and flavor as guides. The best part is learning how these five tequilas pair best with foods ranging from hot and spicy to desserts, coffee flavors, and everything in between.

An unfortunate approach to tequila appreciation here in the States is the shot, salt, lime, and repeat method. This does little for detecting the subtle nuances of a particular tequila's flavor profile. In Mexico, the proper tequila enjoyment technique involves sipping and savoring with “Sangrita”, a tomato based non-alcoholic drink blended with lemon and orange flavors. So if I were a foreign affairs dignitary attending this G20 Summit, I would make it a priority to fit Mendez's tequila class into my more weighty itinerary of learning the finer points of diplomacy and cultural development.

Photos courtesy of Grand Solmar Land's End