SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO
For state's winemakers, the future looks bubbly
New Mexico set to observe 400th anniversary of wine industry in 2029
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DEMING 鈥� With the approaching 400th anniversary of New Mexico viticulture in 2029, the state鈥檚 winemakers see an opportunity to raise their products鈥� profile nationwide and reach new markets 鈥� in particular, with high-quality and low-priced sparkling wines.
During a visit to his congressional district this week, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez met with Deming鈥檚 two prominent wine producers, the Luna Rossa and D.H. Lescombes wineries, which have grown grapes and produced wine in the area for decades.
Paolo D鈥橝ndrea, who founded Luna Rossa with his wife in 2001, grows 53 varietals on his Luna County vineyards. The Lescombes family harvests its grapes near the Pyramid Mountains southeast of Lordsburg.
Marco D鈥橝ndrea, Paolo鈥檚 son and a fifth-generation wine producer who trained in Italy and at New Mexico State University, offered guests an early taste of a sparkling wine he is perfecting from the ribolla gialla varietal, to be bottled and marketed at a later date.
Both wineries are investing in new sparkling wine products, which have endured in popularity amid recent declines in sales volume and revenue.
鈥淚n terms of product lines and categories that we can boast about, I think sparkling wine is something going into the 400th anniversary that is going to be definitive,鈥� said Christopher Goblet, executive director of the New Mexico Wine and Grape Growers Association, who helped brief Vasquez on the state of the industry.
Goblet told the congressman sparkling wine is New Mexico鈥檚 largest export wine product, second only to California.
鈥淭he sparkling wines have a certain advantage in the fact that you harvest them very early, so you don't wait for the grape to be fully mature,鈥� Goblet said in an interview. 鈥淣ew Mexico isn't the most perfect place for pinot noir, for example, but if you're making sparkling wine, you're not waiting for that fruit to fully grow into its capacity.鈥�
Goblet credited the Gruet family, who founded their Albuquerque-based winery in 1984, with demonstrating how high-quality sparkling wine at affordable prices could compete with imports from California and Europe.
鈥淕ruet really launched sparkling wine and pushed the boundaries of what it could be for New Mexico,鈥� Goblet said, by quietly producing wines for the Trader Joe鈥檚 and Whole Foods labels as well as their own signature wine and champagne.
New Mexico dates its viticulture back to 1629, when Franciscan monks transplanted Spanish grapevines to produce their own wine. The vines spread over thousands of acres and an industry blossomed from the Middle Rio Grande down to the Mimbres and Mesilla valleys.
After a period of decline, winemaking families from Germany, Italy and France in the late 1970s and 1980s arrived in New Mexico for its hospitable climate and relatively inexpensive land and labor. The higher elevations and drier air reduce pests and mold, and the fluctuation of daytime and nighttime temperatures 鈥� referred to as diurnal shift 鈥� present advantages.
Yet Paolo D鈥橝ndrea, who has been cultivating in the region for over four decades, said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not as easy to grow grapes here as in California, or France or wherever in Europe.鈥�
Besides being more labor intensive, it was hard to find markets for New Mexico labels outside the state, according to Goblet. This led to the founding of a trade association and wine festivals, including events in Las Cruces and Albuquerque over Memorial Day weekend that reported high attendance and sales.
During the meeting, Goblet briefed Vasquez on industry conditions alongside D鈥橝ndrea, D.H. Lescombes President Florent Lescombes and his company鈥檚 CEO, Brandon Young. Their discussion ranged from recent headwinds created by tariffs and escalating production and transportation costs, and lingered on the subject of labor shortages from the fields to the tasting rooms and production facilities.
Goblet said southern New Mexico growers such as D鈥橝ndrea achieved grape diversity that stocks producers all over the state and makes New Mexico products unique. And D鈥橝ndrea gave credit to Mexican laborers for building and cultivating the thousands of acres of vineyard in heat, high winds and blowing dust.
鈥淲ithout the south, this industry doesn鈥檛 exist.鈥� Goblet said. 鈥淩eally all of the hard work is down here.鈥�
Algernon 顿鈥橝尘尘补蝉蝉补 is the Journal鈥檚 southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.
