The first step in making a great wine is to raise great grapes. The vines must be carefully pruned each year when they are dormant to ensure the best possible growth in the coming year. All of our wines are made with grapes grown in New Mexico. Our 30 acres of grapes are located in the Mesilla and Mimbres valleys. We grow Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and many more grape varietals. We average 100 tons of grapes from this acreage, which will produce  17,000 gallons. We sell approximately 7,000 cases per year. New Mexico, in the heart of the Mimbres valley. We grow Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Muscat, Pinot Noir, and many more varietals. We also buy grapes from other vineyards occasionally if the price is exceptional or if we have had a freeze. The grapes do well in this climate, in part because the hot desert cools rapidly when the sun sets. Summer temperatures often vary by 40 degrees between the day and night temperatures. The soil is sandy and provides good drainage for the roots, which makes the vines less susceptible to root rot and other diseases.

Harvest begins in mid -August and continues through the end of September. We pick the more delicate grapes by hand, and use a harvester on others. The grapes arrive by the truckload and are dumped into the grape hopper and conveyed into the destemmer. Inside the destemmer, the clusters of grapes are separated from the stems when they are struck by paddles. The loose grapes fall out of the holes in the sleeve of the machine, and down into the crusher, which lightly breaks the skin of the grape so that pressing will be easier. From here the grapes are pumped into the winery to be pressed if they are white grapes or to be put into a fermentation tank if the grapes are red. The partially crushed white grapes are pumped in from the destemmer to the twin 20 ton Bucher presses. Red grapes will go directly to a tank and will not be pressed for 3 to 15 days. Our pneumatic press uses a bladder to press the grapes against the bottom of the press. The pressure exerted by the press is a very gentle 30 psi. At this pressure, the skin of the grapes will not be pressed so hard that they would give the wine an off -taste. The juice will run through grids inside the tank, and into the pipe attached to the presses. This juice is pumped directly to a storage tank. It will take 2 to 3 hours to extract the juice from 20 tons of grapes. The juice from 20 tons will be approximately 3,600 gallons. The grape skins and grape seeds are emptied to the hopper under the presses, and is conveyed outside, where it wil be hauled off to be used as mulch or animal feed.

The capacity of the winery is 500,000 gallons. This has the potential for 210,000 cases a year. It's capacity is rated in the top 75 sized wineries in the U.S. We take advantage of this capacity to buy grapes during surplus years, then later sell tankers of wine to other wineries. There are over 50 tanks in the winery, ranging in size from 1 gallon to 16,200 gallons. The cooling jackets are controlled by the state of art control panel, as pictured. An even temperature during fermentation ensures a consistent product. Our bottled wine is stored in our tempertaure controlled warehouse so that they are not exposed to the dangers of the desert.

After red wine has aged for 1 to 2 years in the stainless steel tanks, it might be put into oak barrels like these for further aging. Aging helps smooth out the tannins in red wine. Young red wines are generally very tannic and not very pleasant to drink because of the sharpness the tannins impart. The oak barrels allow the wine to age faster than it normally would because a certain amount of oxygen passes through the wood, which speeds up the aging process. In addition, aging in oak also lends its own taste to red wines, which enhances the natural berry flavors in the wine. Oak barrel aging is done most often to Merlots and Cabernets, and can be done with Chardonnay. Each barrel hold approximately 60 gallons, and the wine must remain in the barrel for 3 months to 2 years. A new oak barrel will cost between $300-$600, and will last 3 to 5 years.

When the wine is ready to bottle, it must be refiltered to ensure that it is sterile. If any bacteria or yeast are left in the bottle, the wine might referment if there is any sugar left in the wine, or turn to vinegar. Our plate filter removes all particles larger than .35 microns (1 micron is 1/1000 of a millimeter) which will remove all bacteria, yeast, and sterilizes the wine. We also use a secondary filter, which is a cartridge filter, to be absolutely sure that all particles have been removed.

Finally the wine is ready to be bottled! The bottling line is made up of many different pieces of equipment. Here they are in order of appearance on the bottling line.

BOTTLE RINSER: This is the first stop for the bottles. They enter into this machine, which pressure sprays water into the bottles to ensure that they are perfectly clean.

FILLER: Next the bottles are filled. The wine is pumped from its holding tank behind the bottling line into the filler. The bottles go into the filler and are filled with exactly the right amount of wine.

CORKER: The bottle will go into the corker, which takes each bottle one by one, compresses a cork, and inserts it into the bottle.

RINSER: This will rinse off any residue on the outside of the bottle.

DRYER: This will dry off the bottle so that the labels can be applied .

LABELER: Applies a self-adhesive label onto each bottle.

CAPPER: Places a capsule on the bottle.

HEAT SHRINK TUNNEL: Shrinks the capsule onto the bottle.

The bottling line on a good day can output 30,000 bottles in an eight hour day. The labeler can handle 10,000 bottles in the same time. After the wine is bottled, labeled, and palletized, it is ready for sale. It will be stored in our climate controlled warehouse until that time.

On special orders, we custom hand-paint artwork onto our champagnes. Click here to see our online catalog of custom designs.

Our tasting room is located just off of 1-10 exit 140 at 1720 Avenida de Mesilla in Las Cruces, NMIf you are ever in the area, please stop by to try our wine. The wines and champagnes are all available for tasting in the tasting room free of charge daily. Click here for wine descriptions, awards and prices. We are open Monday through Thursday 11am to 6 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am to 8pm, and 12pm to 6 pm Sunday. Please call toll free 1-877-NM WINES for more information. In addition to the samples, the tasting room also features a great selection of custom handpainted bottles for any occasion. One of our artists can also assist you in creating a one of a kind design just for your private cellar! We also carry a variety of wine accessories to complete the customers wine experience.