Wine and Santa Fe
WINE & SANTA FE
Rich, full-bodied Châteauneuf-du-Pape, one of the renowned wines of the Southern Rhône Valley of France, has a history stretching back to the Romans, who planted vines in the area, and the vino-loving popes of the 14th century who resided in nearby Avignon. It’s enjoying renewed pop larity. In April, some 5,000 wine enthusiasts, reta lers, restaurant owners, and sommeliers showed up t meet the growers at the eighth annual Printemps de hâteauneuf-du-Pape. In August, closer to home, so e 40 people, mostly from Santa Fe, attended a Sat rday seminar on the famous wine held on the sha y patio at Arroyo Vino, the restaurant and wine sho just northwest of Santa Fe where the ables were set with sparkling real glas es. The friendly establishment pres nts weekly opportunities to taste the ines it sells and serves regular wine dinners in its restaurant. Co founder Brian Bargsten was preared with maps of the wine-growing gio s of the Southern Rhône and six se ections ranging in price from $24 to 72. Before pouring the first, a 015 D maine de la Solitude, he gave uests a it of history of the appellation Chât uneuf-du-Pape, which dates 19 , and what the French call rroir. he soil contains sand, lime, gra l, and in parts large rocks, o as bowling balls, called g roulés, he said. They absorb the e during the day and help the apes to ripen. Each of the soils roduces a different style of making Châteauneuf-du-Pape quite erse. These wines are mostly Grenache, es , a grape that grows well in the hot e iterranean climate, but they also often include Syrah and Mourvèdre. Arroyo Vino’s wine seminars, hich generally sell out, are an inteal part of the lively wine scene in Santa Fe. Susan’s Fine Wine and Spirits and Kokoman Fine Wines & Liquor, just up the road in Pojoaque, have long offered regular tastings, often led by wine distributors, on Saturday afternoons. In the Hotel St. Francis on Don Gaspar Avenue, the Albuquerquebased Gruet Winery has a tasting room where people can sample their award-winning sparkling and still wines. Even grocery stores offer the occasional samples.
But what really earns Santa Fe its international reputation as a wine mecca is the annual Wine & Chile Fiesta, which runs from Wednesday, Sept. 27, to Oct. 1 this year. It’s a global bonanza of seminars, winemaker dinners, food pairings, an auction, and chefs’ demos (this year’s include luminaries like Rick Bayless, James Campbell Caruso, Kai Autenrieth, and Martín Rios). Thousands of tickets are sold for the grand tasting on Sept. 30, which, this year, will include 100 wineries and 75 participating restaurants. New to the fiesta calendar is a “walk-around,” with champagne and Hog Island oysters served four ways at the Community Convention Center on Sept. 29.
The fiesta “has made us an oenological destination,” said 315 Restaurant & Wine Bar owner Louis Moskow, who is known for his extensive wine list and knowledge of pairing wine with food. The event, he said, is “a great opportunity for restauranteurs and retailers to really connect.” According to the fiesta’s executive director Greg O’Byrne, Santa Fe has a prestigious place in the wine world, in great part because of its exceptional restaurants that have become culinary partners over the years. “Wineries love to see their wines on restaurant lists here in Santa Fe,” he said. That includes small producers who can pick and choose where they sell their wines, and O’Byrne added, “Many of those people love Santa Fe.” La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, a fraternity which promotes the wines of Burgundy, and the