COLONIAL ROOTS
Vara produces wine from grapes brought to New Mexico by Spanish monks
Vara Wines’ Viña Cardinal is a tribute to the first wine created by Spanish monks in what is now New Mexico.
The wine, made entirely from New Mexico-grown heirloom Listán Prieto grapes, recently received double gold, best of show and packaging sweepstakes at the 2020 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. The roots of the wine go back to 1629, when Spanish monks planted Listán Prieto grapes in the Rio Grande Valley just south of what is now Socorro.
“It was a successful propagation, and that bore fruit for winemaking four years later, which is true today,” said Doug Diefenthaler, Vara owner, chief operating officer and executive vice president. “You can take cuttings or vine plants and put them in the ground. It takes four years to get quality mature fruit for winemaking, and that’s what it took for them. They made wine for sacramental purposes. They made this from all 100% Listán Prieto.”
Listán Prieto was the first European variety that was planted in what is now California, and that was 140 years after Listán Prieto was planted in New Mexico, according to Diefenthaler. Meanwhile every year in New Mexico the wine grapes were harvested and wine was made. The monks planted the European variety at their mission vineyards in California, and over time the variety became known as Mission in the United States.
“When you look back at that, New Mexico doesn’t get to be first in many things, but it’s the virtual cradle of the American wine experience by 140 years,” Diefenthaler said. “It was here before it was in California. California took the baton in the big relay race, and it really did very well.”
The wine was fortified with grape spirit or brandy for storage and sanitation. Because refrigeration and stainless steel were not available in the 1600s the wine was fortified to serve as a preservative to prevent bacterial infection. Fortifying the wine also made it stable for traveling.
“We don’t know what the actual winemaking process was as far as the order of winemaking steps they took. We had to kind of guess, but we … thought, ‘What would you do with the technology of the day?’” Diefenthaler said about creating Viña Cardinal.
Vara used 100% Listán Prieto and fermented it almost completely, leaving a tiny amount of residual sugar. Vara then fortified it. The result is similar to old European apéritif wines of the 1920s-1940s. It is something to be enjoyed in the afternoon with an appetizer or before or after dinner.
“It’s actually very lovely and holds up very well, and now it is kind of a ‘back to the future,’” Diefenthaler said. “… Modern people aren’t using apéritif as much lately, but through the postwar years — ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, they were using them quite a bit. … All we’ve done is brought that back, at the same time making something as close as we could get to what they would have made back in the early 1600s, so that’s our Viña Cardinal.”
Viña Cardinal is Vara’s first 100% New Mexico wine. The family-owned company, based in Albuquerque, mostly makes its wine in Spain.
“We harvest grapes and make wine into a preliminary stability in Spain,” Diefenthaler said. “We bring it (to Albuquerque) after it’s made. We bring it here in bulk, and then we finish it here. We age it, we blend it, we finish it here and bottle it here.”
Vara offers a couple ways to explore its wine and several options to enjoy it with Spanish-influenced cuisine on different days of the week. Vara offers a flight of four its wines for guests to taste. It also offers a guided tour of all the wines Vara offers, with a tasting included. Scheduling a time for the presentation is suggested. The first Saturday of each month is Saturday Cena. The menu for the event changes monthly. The first Wednesday of the month during the winter is Wine Up Wednesday and features live music. The event is held every Wednesday during the summer. Every Friday is Paella Night. On Sundays, guests can enjoy brunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
“We have a great chef, great service, but we’re a winery with food as opposed to being a restaurant with wine,” Diefenthaler said. “That’s our first emphasis, and we want to make sure when people walk through our door we give them a little break. It’s almost like we’re not in Albuquerque. They’re not all the way to Spain, but they’re on their way.”