THE FRUITS OF THEIR LABOR
D.H. Lescombes combines its award-winning wines with hearty fare
New Mexico’s booming wine scene today is especially remarkable considering the state of affairs just a few decades ago.
Throughout the 1970s the industry was hanging by a thread — or maybe a vine? — due mostly to competition from California. Only a few small vineyards operated statewide.
Enter Hervé Lescombes. A fifth-generation winemaker, Lescombes was born in Algeria and moved to France during the Algerian Revolution of 1962. He ran the Domaine de Perignon winery in Burgundy, France’s storied winemaking region, before lighting out for New Mexico in 1981 with his wife Danielle and their three children. The family set up shop in the fertile Mesilla Valley of southern New Mexico, where the sandy soil and dry climate proved ideal for growing grapes for wine.
A string of successes followed. The Lescombes expanded their vineyard near Deming and acquired St. Clair Winery. Its Mimbres Red became the bestselling wine in the state. Hervé’s sons Florent and Emmanuel took a more prominent role in the business and helped launch a wine bar in Santa Fe and bistros in Las Cruces and Albuquerque.
The Albuquerque spot opened near Old Town in 2005 under the name St. Clair Winery & Bistro. It was later renamed the in honor of Hervé and Danielle.
The pitched-roof structure that is home to D.H. Lescombes stands at the entrance to the Rio Grande Plaza, a complex of buildings just south of I-40. I last visited in December 2020 when a surge in COVID cases had shut down indoor dining. I remember the melancholy experience of picking up my order in an empty dining room decorated for the holidays with Christmas songs playing from speakers.
What a contrast then to walk into the place on a recent Saturday night and experience an immediate assault to the senses. The sounds of conversation from the crowded dining room and the three-sided bar competed for attention with the musical stylings of a couple of guys playing guitar and keyboards against one wall.
Our party of four was seated in a booth in the back, next to a private room where a birthday party was taking place. The booth was a bit cramped and set under a light bright enough for an interrogation.
The friendly server materialized quickly and poured us samples of the night’s featured wine. My palate was not sophisticated enough to pick up the notes of black olives he described, but the wine was good enough that we ordered a Custom Flight ($15).
The flight was served as four 2-ounce pours in fullsize glasses suspended in a wooden stand. The two whites — a sweet, smoky cabernet sauvignon and a buttery, vanilla chardonnay — provided an appealing contrast. The reds included a crisp and fruity pinot gris and the highlight of the flight: a plummy merlot from the winery’s 6∙3∙1 line. The name is derived from the six generations of Lescombes winemakers spanning three continents and one passion. The flight is an ideal way to taste-test the wines and choose what to take home in a bottle.
One look at the food menu
makes it clear that this is no wine bar, pairing dainty small plates with the drinks. The food is hearty, stick-to-yourribs stuff. Many of the dishes incorporate Lescombes wines into the marinades and sauces.
A couple of items on the menu earn the tag “Guest Faves.” One is the Southwest Meatloaf ($18), two broad, thin slices topped with shoestring onions. Meatloaf can be a pretty dull affair, but the combination of Hatch green chile and the mango-chipotle glaze in Lescombes’ version made the fine-grained, juicy blend of wagyu beef and pork crackle in the mouth. Accompanying the meatloaf were chunky mashed potatoes laden with butter and a peppery mix of sauteed veggies in which the zucchini was overrepresented.
Country Pot Roast ($17), the other “Guest Fave,” is braised in merlot and served in a sweet, winey gravy that had a refreshingly light touch with the salt. It was a successful dish, the meat tender, the large hunks of steamed carrots soft but not mushy.
Outside of beef and pork, the menu offers pasta, fish and chicken dishes. The Pecan Crusted Chicken ($17) presents a flattened breast coated in finely ground pecans from the same Mesilla Valley that is home to the Lescombes winery. I was a big fan of this dish. The crust was at once crisp and buttery, and adhered well to the chicken. A tangy-sweet maple brown mustard sauce cut its richness. Like the meatloaf, it was served with mashed potatoes and the same veggie mix as in the meatloaf dish, although this one had more green beans in it.
On the lighter side was Honey Dijon Chicken ($17), a chardonnay-marinated chicken breast striped from the grill. Plating was odd, as the chicken arrived buried under a mix of vegetables and chunks of applewood bacon, with the honey-Dijon sauce underneath it. The chicken was moist, smoky and tender, but the dish could have used more sauce. The kitchen was able to accommodate a dairyfree diner by swapping out the mashers for roasted potatoes.
Like the entrees, the desserts lean toward the heavy side. There’s a Brownie and a Shortbread Cobbler, both served with ice cream. A lighter option — and the lone gluten-free choice — is the Crème Brûlée ($8) served in a wide, shallow dish. The custard in this had an almost pudding-like consistency and a slight hint of wine under the vanilla flavor. Very good.
Gluten-free options are helpfully identified on the menu, and some of those that have gluten can be altered for glutenfree diners. The server was knowledgeable and friendly.
In the more than 40 years since arriving in New Mexico, the Lescombes family has become a standard-bearer for the state’s wine industry. The D.H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro is a great place to experience the fruits of their labor.