Quote:
Originally Posted by songinthewind7
Any wine folks here?
I went into the Pistachio Tree Ranch in Alamogordo to get some pistachios and also ended up doing some wine tasting.
My favorites are:
Chocolate Diablo which is a red wine with chocolate flavor.
Cabernet Sauvignon which is red and dry.
I enjoy red wine sometimes.
I purchased a bottle of each.
I like the fact that I'm getting something made locally and I also bought a book on the different places throughout New Mexico that have wine tastings of local makers.
Also talks about how to pick a good wine, etc. etc. which helps me because I go by what I like which is dry and red.
Any input on this???
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I'll bore you to tears
with wine chit-chat, sitw....be careful what you ask for
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There is, contrary to the opinions of some, very good wine made in New Mexico.
Now...
my idea of very good is wine that is made in the classic fashion...not chocolate, chile, lemon-lime or other flavor concoctions. But that's ME....everyone has the right to pick what they want and enjoy it.
Good doesn't have anything, necessarily, to do with sweetness or dryness...some of the world's greatest and sometimes most expensive wines are dry and some are sweet or a variation somewhere in the middle.
Good means pleasant flavors...and a balance of those flavors with the acidity and, possibly some sugar left from the fermentation process found in all grape wines.
A Cabernet Sauvignon is normally made very dry...little or none of the sugars found in the ripe grapes remains after fermentation. When I taste a Cabernet that is sweet, I am immediately suspicious, because the easiest way to hide a flawed or just very uninteresting wine is to leave some sugar in it or add some after the wine is made. Sweetness can hide a multitude of sins in this case.
But a wine made deliberately sweet (usually more whites than reds), with accompanying ripe fruit flavors and some acidity to balance it, can be very fine...moderately sweet wines make for nice sipping while watching the sunset or chatting with friends. Some very sweet wines, in balance, can make for an incredible dessert, especially when paired wiht some ripe fruit and/or a tasty cheese.
The first and most important thing is to do what you've done...taste.
Find out what you like and learn more about it. Here in South New Mexico we're lucky because we live in a wine producing area. Visit wineries and tasting rooms in the region. Taste. Ask questions. Learn. Buy a few bottles to try at home with different foods. Explore. Enjoy.
If you get to Mesilla, visit Vintage, a wine bar just off the Plaza that serves New Mexico wines exclusively. They serve wine from vineyards to the North and also Southern NM vineyards. In fact, two South NM wineries have tasting rooms in Mesilla: Luna Rossa and Lascombes. You can visit their rooms, taste, compare and ask questions. Pretty soon a new winery on 28 will be opening, but if you drive down south of Mesilla now you'll get to La Vina and, later on, Zin Valle wineries. They both make great wine in many styles, and answer questions and will be happy to see you. Don't forget to buy a bottle or a few that you like. Tasting rooms aren't there to pass out free wine, they're there to sell their wine. Be polite and drop a few bucks if you find something appealing.
The nice thing about visiting a winery is that you can taste before you buy...which you can't do at a store..... and the folks there really know what's up with their wine. If you tell them what kind or style of wine you like they can guide you to something they make that will probably please you.
Besides, it's FUN. Just don't get carried away, literally or figuratively, if you're driving to visit wineries.
I'll talk about what NM wines I like another time. There are a number of them in various styles.