Presidential tasting

President Felipe Calderón of Mexico, speaking at Sonoma County's first winery founded by a Mexican immigrant, said Wednesday he is troubled by the continuing migration from his country to the United States.

"In Mexico, we are working very hard so people don't have to come here from hunger to work," said Calderón, speaking in Spanish on a small stage in front of the tasting room of the Robledo Family Winery in Sonoma.

Calderón, who was accompanied by the governors of three Mexican states, said he was disturbed by the hate and anger spawned by immigration and he had come to the United States to emphasize the contributions Mexican immigrants make to the U.S. economy.

"We've also come to support the many, many families that are here," he said in Spanish. "It's a critical time, a delicate time."

Calderón, who holds a master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, is on his first official visit to the United States since taking office in 2006.

His trip to Sonoma County was an effort to reach out to local Mexican-American winemakers and grape growers as a way of highlighting the successes many Mexican immigrants have had in this country.

He arrived at about 3:30 p.m. for an invitation-only event at the Robledo winery in a motorcade accompanied by CHP officers, Mexican consular officials and security officers.

It was a rare public appearance in the North Bay by a chief of state, but local officials and politicians were absent from the event.

Calderón met privately with members of the Robledo family before tasting wine from some of the dozen Latino-owned wineries from Napa and Sonoma counties represented at the event. A small white sticker at each of the tasting tables indicated the Mexican state that was the original home of the winemaker's family.

Reynaldo Robledo, the family patriarch, immigrated to the United States nearly 40 years ago from Michoacan, which is Calderón's home state.

Vanessa Robledo, president of the family business, said the origin of the winery -- the first started by a Mexican immigrant -- was a perfect fit for the theme of Calerón's visit.

"It's an amazing opportunity for our family," she said. "He praised us for our success, and we welcomed him humbly."

Among the wines Calderón tasted was a dessert wine from Ceja Vineyards in Napa.

"This is an appropriate wine for tomorrow because it's Valentine's Day," said Amelia Morán Ceja, the winery's president and owner. "It's a very seductive wine."

"This is a seductive wine?" Calderón asked, before he and his wife, Margarita Zavala, tasted it.

In addition to Calderón, the governors of the Mexican states of Colima, Guanajato and Zacateches spoke to the gathering, each repeating the president's themes about wanting more Mexicans to stay home while emphasizing their contributions to the U.S. economy.

Before visiting the winery, Calderón spoke to a joint session of the state Legislature and attended a luncheon with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger where two wines from the Ceja Vineyards were on the menu.

He left Sonoma at about 4:30 p.m. and headed for Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield to fly to Los Angeles, the final stop on his U.S. tour.

Before he arrived at the Robledo winery, a handful of protesters gathered on Bonness Road in front of the winery.

Paul Farmer of Bay Point was one of the protesters. He is one of two members of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps of Sonoma County, a group that favors a crackdown on illegal immigration and tougher security on the U.S.-Mexican border.

"We're here to protest Calderón because he supports illegal immigration," Farmer said.

Inside the winery, Reynaldo Robledo visited with guests who tasted wine as they waited for Calderón.

"I feel proud because I've been able to keep my family in the business," said Robledo, who worked his way up from the fields to own vineyards and finally a winery, which he runs with his children.

Many of the winemakers and grape producers said they were happy the Mexican government was acknowledging their successes in the wine business. Some described the growth of Latino winemakers as the next generational wave in the industry.

"We Mexicans are involved in this industry from the ground up," said José Méndez, one of three associates involved in a new wine label called Alma. "We're cultivating the plants and that allows us to see the quality of the product and we're also learning to produce quality grapes."

Alex Sotelo, one of Méndez's associates, said they hope to expand their business into Mexico.

"We're getting the attention of the Mexican government," he said.

Vanessa Robledo said her family hopes to expand its business into Mexico, but the subject didn't come up during the private visit with Calderón.

Robledo called Calderón's visit "an amazing recognition of Latinos in the wine industry, from everybody working in the vineyards to the wine cellers to the bottling plants."

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.