Wines of New Mexico (Espanola, Ruidoso: mortgage, utilities, shops)

[songinthewind7]

Thanks tecpatl for the links and all your information.

[tecpatl]

Yet another reason to visit Mesilla to taste, enjoy and purchase some fine New Mexico wines. A new tasting room is opening and New Mexico's newest winery, Rio Grande Vineyards, has recently opened south of town on 28. Salud!!!
Through the grapevine: Cluster of wine shops ripens in Mesilla - Las Cruces Sun-News

[tecpatl]

The lovely Mrs. Tecpatl and I visited Milagro Vineyards & Winery in Corrales last week, a trek I have been wanting to make since first tasting Milagro Cabernet at Vintage Wine Bar in Mesilla last year.

The owner and winemaker Rick Hobson, with wife Mitzi, produce wines that must rank among the very best in New Mexico. They focus on reds, with a Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel, but also produce a fantastic Chardonnay. All wines are made from New Mexico grapes, most grown in their own vineyards or nearby, and the stack of French oak barrels filled with aging wine speak of their serious commitment to growing and making fine wines. Milagro wines often spend over 20 months in oak.

Rick says that great wines are "made" in the vineyard and on the vine, a statement I fully agree with, but his modesty cannot obscure the fact that a great winemaker "makes" all the difference. I think Rick belongs in the same class as Arizona's Kent Callaghan: one of the Southwest's best winemakers.

Milagro winery has a cute-as-a-button tasting room, but does not have regular open tasting hours. True wine aficianados must really want to seek out this vineyard and make an appointment to do so. If you are serious about your appreciation for fine wines it's a must-stop.

Info can be found on the winery's
site www.milagrovineyardsandwinery.com The wines are not cheap (from 14 to 25+ bucks), but top quality never is. I consider the prices very fair for value received, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time and tasting with Rick. Enjoying a glass of Zin right now!

[hogfarmer]

Originally Posted by chilegal

I love getting local wines anywhere in the country. But I do like Tularosa Vineyards.

Chile,

Where is this winery at? Off 54 going up toward Three Rivers, or somewhere else? Thanks

[tecpatl]

I've gotten a couple questions as to why I mentioned the oak barrels at Milagro. Oak barrels add a LOT to wine as it ages, and French oak, for a number of reasons, is the world standard for quality. They're also amazingly expensive, so when I see a winery using French oak I'm impressed...not that they spend the money, but that they care so much about quality that they use the best. It shows when you pull the cork

[songinthewind7]

Originally Posted by tecpatl

I've gotten a couple questions as to why I mentioned the oak barrels at Milagro. Oak barrels add a LOT to wine as it ages, and French oak, for a number of reasons, is the world standard for quality. They're also amazingly expensive, so when I see a winery using French oak I'm impressed...not that they spend the money, but that they care so much about quality that they use the best. It shows when you pull the cork

What do you think of wines with the screw top as compared to the ones with a cork?
Is there a difference in quality?

[tecpatl]

Originally Posted by songinthewind7

What do you think of wines with the screw top as compared to the ones with a cork?
Is there a difference in quality?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with screwtops. I have a couple friends, very accomplished and award winning winemakers/vineyard owners, who swear by them and believe they are better than corks. Less chance of air getting to the wine, which is a major reason that a bottle of wine gets funky (assuming it's consumed before it gets too old). I'd certainly prefer a screwtop to a plastic cork, which I hate.

There's no way to know what will happen in the tiny minority of wines that can be aged for 10 or 20 or more years...but we'll find out. Most wines are made to be consumed within a few years anyway, and many should be enjoyed within a year or so of being bottled, so it will never matter in most cases.
I don't think the very high end will ever go to screwtops, but now you can go into a shop and see many, many fine wines closed with screwtops. New Zealand and Australia seem to have led the way, but an increasing number of American wines now use the screw on closures.
I will, however, dedicate myself to careful evaluation on a regular basis , it's a dirty, nasty job, but somebody gotta do it

[tecpatl]

I just got an email from the folks at Milagro Vineyards, one of my favorite New Mexico wineries. Their tasting room is normally only open by appointment, but this Sunday, Fathers Day, they'll be open from 12 to 4 as part of a larger event going on all around Corrales.
I'm not in NM at the moment, so I won't be going, but any wine lovers in or near Albuquerque should think about taking advantage of this open day and go taste their wines. They are exceptional...something that can't be said about all NM wines. Their Chardonnay is probably the best in the state, and the Cab and Zin are also deelicious. Not cheap, but worth it. OK..I"m a big fan...can you tell? lol I like to see nice people who work hard for quality do well.
Visit Milagro Vineyards & Winery

[songinthewind7]

Thanks for posting this.
Wish I could go but it doesn't look like I can this time.

[ziaAirmac]

The Santa Fe Wine Festival is coming up July 4th weekend...

Wine, food vendors, local artists and demonstrators!

El Rancho de las Golondrinas - a Spanish Colonial Living History Museum in Santa Fe