PUEBLO PARTNERS
Pueblo members aid Guet Winery with harvest
The tradition of pueblos growing grapes for wine in New Mexico goes back a long way, and with a recent partnership between Santa Ana Pueblo in Sandoval County and a premier winery, that tradition is seeing a revival.
Joe Bronk, director of agricultural enterprises for Santa Ana Pueblo, said this summer’s harvest of grapes grown for New Mexico-based Gruet Winery was the fourth crop since the pueblo first planted grapes for Gruet Winery in 2014.
Bronk contacted Gruet “about their interest in the feasibility of forming a partnership” and the winery provided a letter of intent to purchase, so that Santa Ana could secure grant funding from the Administration for Native Americans under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Southern Pueblo Agency, Bronk said.
Gruet was “more than happy to entertain the idea, they basically said, ‘Well sure, if you are gonna build it, we have a need for it,’ ” he said. The idea was that the project would be self-sufficient and the pueblo takes over ownership and management, he said.
The pueblo plants mostly Chardonnay and pinot noir and some pinot meunier for Gruet, the same varietals that are grown at the winery’s Engle vineyards near Truth or Consequences.
For Gruet “this was an obvious win-win,” Gruet spokeswoman Heidi Witherspoon said by email. “The pueblo diversifies economically, we buy the grapes they grow (definitely working with them on technique and varieties), its labor force learns how to grow and harvest vinifera (the common grape vine), and Gruet gets another source for grapes that has reliable and proximal access to water.”
Private/pueblo grape growing partnerships could be a growing trend, said Christopher Goblet, executive director of Viva Vino, New Mexico Wine, a statewide trade organization.
tional-style Pilsner.
“It still doesn’t quite feel real,” said brewer Mick Hahn. “It feels great to walk past the tap and see the medal for Wooden Teeth. It puts a smile on my face.”
Turtle Mountain, like Rowley a small outfit, is a perennial beer festival entrant, but this is the first win in its 19-year history. Hahn said he’s been brewing for five years, half of that time with Turtle Mountain. He said he learned brewing at Albuquerque’s Marble Brewery.
Wooden Teeth started with a recipe developed by Hahn’s predecessor at Turtle Mountain, brewer Tim Woodward, for a Pilsner called Hockey Teeth, Hahn said. He tweaked the recipe and called it Wooden Teeth American ale, a tribute to George Washington.
Another Albuquerque brewery, La Cumbre Brewing Co., won a silver medal for its Malpais Stout in the export stout category.
Three other New Mexico breweries won bronze medals: Sierra Blanca Brewing Co. of Moriarty for its Cherry Wheat in the fruit wheat category; Bosque Brewing Co. of Bernalillo for its Pistol Pete’s 1888 Ale, in the golden or blonde ale category; and Starr Brothers Brewing Co., also of Albuquerque, for its Lampshade Porter in the other strong beer category.