New Mexico’s Old Times & Old Timers

by Don Bullis, New Mexico Author DonBullis.biz

The use of wine in New Mexico dates back to the arrival of the first Europeans in the region in the late 16th century, but even then, the wine consumed was not made locally. Early in the Spanish colonial period (1598-1821), grape-growing in the New World was prohibited by the Spanish government to protect the vineyards in the Old World. Wine for use in the Catholic mass, and for personal consumption, was imported from Spain. So important was wine, though, that one source indicated that one quarter of exports from Spain to the New World was wine.

Spanish sacramental wine was called “Angélica.” The church demanded that it contain 18 percent alcohol and about 10 percent sugar. One source described it as “sherry-like” in taste. Church law also prohibited diluting it. It was expected that each shipment to New Mexico would last each friar three years.

By the time a shipment of Angélica arrived in New Mexico, it had traveled from its point of origin in Spain to the coast, then across the Atlantic Ocean by ship. Once in Mexico, it was transported by ox cart from Veracruz on Mexico’s east coast, probably to Chihuahua, then north to Santa Fe. Shipments were made in clay pots that held the modern equivalent of two and one half to three and one half gallons. The pots were sealed with a glaze that contained lead, so wine quality probably suffered accordingly, as did the health of the consumer. Spanish Governor Francisco Manuel de Silva Nieto who served from 1629 to 1632 reported that by the time the wine got to New Mexico, often it was not much better than vinegar.

Governor Silva Nieto undertook to do something about the matter. In 1629 he and the New Mexico Church hierarchy agreed to develop a grape growing, and wine making, operation without regard to the official ban. (Some sources have indicated that individual priests began grape-growing and wine-making as early as the 1620s.)

The first 1534 vines were planted at the Piro Pueblo of Senecú near the present-day Socorro by Franciscan fray García de Zuñiga and Capuchín monk Antonio de Arteaga. What they planted were commonly called mission grapes and they may have been the

Spanish variety, “Mónica.” Wine production began in 1534. While it is unlikely that New Mexico wine reached 18 percent in alcohol content, no one seemed to mind. (One source reported that wine production was not against the law in the Rio Grande valley. If that is so, it is curious that the friars waited 36 years to begin producing wine.)

Grape growing acreage and wine production continued to grow during the Spanish colonial years, the era of Mexican rule (1821-1846), and into the American Territorial period leading up to statehood in 1912. By 1880, more than 3,100 acres of grapevines were under cultivation and more than 900,000 gallons of wine were produced in annually in New Mexico.

The coming of Prohibition—the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act—in 1919 changed some things, but not everything. It became illegal to make wine, but not to grow grapes. One source reported that vineyard acreage in New Mexico actually doubled between 1920 and 1930. The wine market seems to have simply gone underground.

Legal wine production resumed in 1934 but at a reduced level. A dozen or so wineries began production, but by 1977 only three remained in business. In the 1980s, though, the industry experienced rejuvenation and by the late 1990s, production was nearly 350,000 gallons. Wine making is now a well-established part of the New Mexico agricultural economy, but it is probably not as popular as custom beer brewing. ▫

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