Mexican red wine prices at Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta: 585 to 785 pesos a bottle, and a 185-peso Cobb salad

The cheapest Mexican reds we found at Mercado Gourmet inside Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta on 11 July 2026 cost 585, 675 and 785 pesos. Expensive. The best value of the day was a 185-peso Cobb salad.

On 11 July 2026, the sixth day of our 21 nights at Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta, we went back to the supermarket to buy red wine for the second day running. The day before, a buy-three-get-one-free offer had not gone through at the till, and we had the three reds taken back.

This time we gave up on the free bottle. We narrowed the shelf to Mexican wine, read price after price, and ended up with three bottles at 585, 675 and 785 pesos. That was the cheap end. Then we walked across the same floor to Sweet Paris for a crepe and, for the first time, its Cobb salad.

The Sweet Paris receipt printed a US dollar reference of $25.31 against our 405 pesos, which works out to 16 pesos to the dollar. That is the rate we use for every dollar figure here.

The walk to La Plaza

La Plaza is the shopping building in the middle of the resort, and we go there often. The way there goes past a fountain roundabout with a resort shuttle at it, then along a wooden boardwalk between flower beds. A small green lizard was out on the deck; we followed it for a photo. Across the pond stood the sign for Cirque du Soleil’s LUDÕ, which we had one evening of this stay set aside for — that night has its own post.

At La Plaza a round showcase catches the eye, from Costa de Cacao Chocolatier: chocolates shaped like shoes, handbags and swans in cellophane, and jelly sweets labelled piña and frambuesa. A tall glass case beside it holds chocolate sculptures, an elephant and calf called La Matriarca and an octopus called Deep Sea. Along the same row is a bakery, baguettes and muffins on red-and-white cloth. The baguette at the front had a 90-peso tag, about $5.60.

Mexican reds only, every bottle turned over

Mercado Gourmet is the supermarket inside La Plaza. We know resort prices are high, so the plan was not “cheap” but “the reasonable end of expensive”.

The wine is lined up in long rows, and finding anything in it is work. So, to start with, Mexican wine only. After that it was just prices: pick up a bottle, turn it over, read the price. This one’s expensive. This one’s so-so. We went through all of them together, and three were left.

That is the lowest tier we could find, and it is still expensive. For scale, a Tecate rang up at 30 pesos at this same supermarket on our receipts that month, so the cheapest of the three cost the same as nineteen and a half Tecates.

But we wanted red wine. We talked it over, said “oh well”, and bought all three. It went on the room; the receipt is stamped 15:11.

The wine-and-spirits counter has its own name, Vid a Vid. Vidanta’s shopping page says it also does tequila tastings.

What the receipt said, and what Gemini said

We had chosen three Mexican reds with no idea what any of them was, and the receipt did not help: T. 31.8 TINTO, T. CAVA QUINTA. So back in the room we stood the three bottles in a row, took a photo and asked Gemini.

It named all three. The 31.8 is Paralelo 31.8 Norte from Bodegas de Santo Tomás in Baja California, a blend of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. The L.A. Cetto is the Reserva Privada Nebbiolo. CAVA QUINTA, it said, is the producer Cava Quintanilla, and the bottle is Laberinto, a Malbec from San Luis Potosí in central Mexico. Then it called the three a perfect lineup for comparing Mexico’s regions and grapes, with a lot of adjectives.

We thought we had picked the cheapest wine in the resort, so that was a lot of praise. We are taking it with a pinch of salt, but it did turn the bottles into something to look forward to.

None of the three was opened that day, and we had not decided when they would be.

Sweet Paris: a carbonara crepe and a first Cobb salad

This was our second crepe from Sweet Paris. The first, on 8 July, was the chicken Alfredo, full of mushrooms and very good. This time we tried the chicken carbonara, 220 pesos, about $14. The guess was bacon, cream and something eggy.

We had also looked the shop up and found it sells salads. Vegetables are expensive at the resort and we had hardly been eating salad, so, for once, a salad: the Cobb, 185 pesos, about $12. The two came to 405 pesos, tip not included, on a receipt stamped 15:21.

Back in the room

After a bath we set out the evening. Tecate again to start.

The salad went first. Leaves that looked like spinach, corn, avocado, tomato, bacon, goat cheese and boiled egg: a lot in one box. The dressing was good. The bacon was crisp and toasty, and the goat cheese had just enough funk to keep it interesting.

“We’ve found a good salad.” “That’s our fallback salad sorted.” It is a salad you can drink beer with, and at 185 pesos it is one of the better deals at this resort’s prices.

The second beer was a Corona Extra, with leftovers from the day before: Balche’s buffalo wings and shrimp from the Mercado Gourmet deli counter. My wife, eating, said, “This really is good.” She says that almost every day here.

Tecate again for the third, with the carbonara crepe. Inside: melting cheese, crisp bacon and chicken. It was properly salty and very good. Sweet Paris had come through a second time.

The price felt fair enough for this place. It is still 220 pesos for a crepe.

Which crepe was better? My wife likes mushrooms, so her vote went to the Alfredo. The one of us who likes meat voted for the carbonara, bacon and chicken both. Then we agreed they were both good and laughed about it.

The fourth beer was a Corona Extra, and with it Balche’s Pizza Extravaganza, bought the day before and frozen: one slice each. Pizza and beer to finish, and that was the evening’s drinking done.

What the day cost

Both went on the room bill. The wings, the shrimp and the pizza had been bought the day before.

Would we buy them again

The wine: a compromise. We paid 585 to 785 pesos a bottle because we wanted red wine, not because the price made sense to us. We cannot tell you how they drink from this day, since all three stayed shut. If you want Mexican red in your room here, this is what the low end looked like in July 2026. The rest of the shop’s shelves, including a white-wine day, are in our Mercado Gourmet price post.

The Cobb salad: yes. It became exactly the fallback we said it would, and our Sweet Paris receipts show it again on 14, 16 and 21 July.

The crepes: yes. Which one depends on which of us you ask.

Practical bits

• Where: Mercado Gourmet is the supermarket inside La Plaza, and Sweet Paris is on the same floor. We didn’t time the walk from our room.
• Wine prices: we found the price by turning each bottle over. The receipt shortens the names (T. L.A. CETTO, T. 31.8 TINTO, T. CAVA QUINTA), so photograph the labels if you want to know later what you bought.
• Paying: both shops went on the room. The Sweet Paris receipt printed a US dollar reference, and its 405 pesos did not include a tip. The Sweet Paris menu we saw on 8 July 2026 said no cash, you sign.
• Hours: the Sweet Paris menu footer read 7:00 am to 10:45 pm on 8 July 2026. Supermarket hours we didn’t check.
• English: the Sweet Paris menu we saw on 8 July 2026 had Spanish and English side by side. Whether the wine shelf or the staff work in English we didn’t check.
• Tequila tastings: Vidanta’s shopping page lists them at the Vid a Vid counter (checked July 2026). We didn’t check the times or prices.

With the Cobb salad’s boiled egg, my wife quietly took the smaller piece and passed the bigger one across. With the pizza, too, she went for the smaller slice. Thank you, as always.

Facts checked 2026-09-29. Prices, hours and menus are what we saw on our visit; they change. Nothing here was sponsored or comped.