Wine Tasting: New Mexico!

Enjoyed in Roswell, NM - can you tell?!?

In our continuing mission to find good wines outside of California, we finally found some in an unexpected place - New Mexico! Considering the whole state is at mid- to high elevation and it’s fairly dry, we were quite surprised.

We tasted wines in the Santa Fe/Taos area and in the Roswell area and learned that both sets of wineries grew some of their grapes locally, but a lot of it was also sourced from Demming, a town in the south west of the state.

The Low Road to Taos from Santa Fe (yes, there is a High Road) has a few wineries, two of which we enjoyed along the way.

Our first stop was La Chiripada, a family owned winery that has been growing grapes on the same hillside for more than 50 years and making wine the same way for 40. It was a really cute place, a bit off the beaten path, and they served up a bunch of different varietals, more than you usually see at one winery. The tasting was free, and the bottles we bought were reasonably priced for their varietals and taste. We particularly liked their Merlot (me more than Craig), their vintners reserve (a meritage), and their Port (which was yummy, but we didn’t buy any because we generally don’t drink it).

The second place, Vivac Winery, was a bit more commercial and had a completely different feel, but was also really good/fun and has been producing wines there for two decades (legit!). First, there were two dogs who were the welcoming committee - always a good sign at a winery. Second, we could taste outside, with a beautiful view of the grapes and the mountains. They also served up some home made chocolates (which Craig thought went well with the wines). Our favorites were their Sangiovese and Temperanillo.

Surprisingly, we also enjoyed wine tasting in Roswell - not somewhere I would have expected that. Pecos Flavors Winery & Bistro has live music, local wines and beers, brunch on Saturdays and great food. They serve their own branded wines in addition to other New Mexico wines and some familiar California wines. The local wines were not as good as the previous places we went, but the experience was quite fun - and check out those pour sizes on the tastings (it’s a good thing we were walking, not driving).