What a Wild Ride! Looking Back Over 20 Years

20 years is a really long time. When you are young and think about "where will I be in 20 years?" it seems so far off in the future that anything could be possible! For 4 incredibly naive, enthusiastic wine geeks in the tiny community of Dixon, New Mexico, it was a finish line. 

25 years ago, Jesse and his brother Chris (not yet 21 years old) put into motion the dream of creating a winery. This winery wouldn't just be a side project like many of the wineries they saw around them, wineries that were filled with retired men from other professions, but a winery with purpose, focus and momentum to exact change on the industry. Lofty aspirations? Absolutely! But it is the young, brash, egocentric that make things happen right? 

The goal was to make truly dry European style wines, from NM fruit, and put NM on the global wine map. These brothers also hoped to get married, have kids, raise their families in Dixon and have a built in support to allow each family to travel for extended durations. 

Liliana and I joined the team, amazingly at the same time, when she moved from Mexico to New Mexico to be with Chris. I had rekindled my relationship with Jesse and decided not to continue my plan to move to New York City. The 4 of us were sure we would be millionaires in 5 years. We thought we could sustain a highly productive, debt free winery out of a 800 square foot rastra block building. We thought we could rule the world from the childhood rooms of the winemakers. Yes, we had moved into the old adobe home the guys grew up in, grateful for every home-cooked meal their mother provided, every wonderful wine their dad opened, and every square foot of their farm they lovingly turned over to us. We heard the advice from those in the industry at the time who said we would fail if we made dry wines, said that we needed a dose of reality, and maybe we did, but we didn't sit still for a moment. 

Working other jobs to afford grapes, pay for school loans, buy barrels, buy groceries, buy bottles and corks and labels and and and... landed us on food stamps with house-sitting jobs. We definitely did NOT have a million dollars. But 5 years after Liliana and I joined the team in 2001, we had built and opened our Dixon tasting room, gotten married (yep, we did that at the same time too) and were on our way to starting families. Our dry wines had become something of a cult attraction after we showed up to wine festivals with giant 'No Sweet Wines' banners. We were actually struggling to keep up with the demand for product. Believe it or not, even with the constant stress and around the clock work, it was a really fun time in our lives. 

Now as we celebrate our tasting room's 20 year anniversary, it is amazing to look back and recognize how far we have come. It is incredible that we struggled to grow this winery year after year after year. Conversations where we all wondered if we were going to make it through another winter. Times when hiring help meant we didn't pay ourselves. Times when we suffered heartbreak after discovering someone stealing from us. The betrayal after putting your heart and soul into building something, then having someone take from it hurts immeasurably. Through it all, we stayed determined to meet our goal. 

Today we can proudly say that we have won gold medals for our wines around the world. We have had the most revered wine critic, James Suckling from Wine Spectator Magazine, say our Refosco wine was up there with some of the very best from Italy. We can boast wine ratings in the 90s and have stellar reviews in so many magazines, blogs, shows and podcasts we've lost count! Along the way we have also gathered certifications, continued education, extensive travel, phenomenal opportunities and an amazing platform to shout to the world that New Mexico Wine is here to play. 

If you follow our social media, you know all about the incredible events, competitions and publications we have contributed to. We believe in building up our industry and guiding in the new generations, of which there are many. We are thrilled to have been able to assist change as we took NM Wine to New York, Washington, France, Germany, Italy and everywhere in between. When our friend's wineries have a win, we celebrate with them. When our industry takes strides forward partnering with organizations like the tourism department, we raise a glass. And when our children took jobs with the winery, we beamed with pride. 

20 years have gone by in a flash. The signs of growth are sprawling vineyards over the hillside, packed patios and fine lines around our eyes. I'd say we wish for more looking toward the next 20 years, but I don't know that there is more we can wish for. We have continued to be a dynamite foursome making our dreams come true. We have put New Mexico on the global wine map and will continue to do so with international events, showcases, classes and maybe a few things we have up our sleeves. One thing is for sure, the next 20 will be less about struggling to get somewhere and more about holding on tight to this rocket of success. It sure feels good to be 20 years down the road from where we started.

Thank you to each and every one of you who have bought wine, come to drink in the view, watched our videos, read our blog, liked our posts, attended our events and told friends about us. You managed to raise 4 wild kids and turn them into thriving winery owners. I'd say we've grown into adults, but have you met us? 

Final note:

With excitement, we announce that we will make our very first “Beaujolais Nouveau” style wine! As far back as the 1800s, Beaujolais Nouveau producers would gather to celebrate the end of the harvest by toasting the vintage with some of the young wine produced that year. Traditionally using the Gamay grape, we are using our incredible 1725 Estate Vineyard Pinot Munier. This very special wine needs a very special label, so we are having a LABEL CONTEST! We want you to be a part of our story, open this wine in October when we release it, and cheers with us. If you have a label idea, check out the guidelines to participate here . 

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family! Written by Michele Padberg, co-owner of Vivac Winery. If you enjoy this blog, check out her personal blog at Wine First Adventures

New Year, New You?

Happy New Year! The confetti flies, sound makers sound and glasses of Champagne clink... but do you change? No, of course not. If you are anything like me, you make the vow to cut back on drinking, swear to eat better and to start that exercise plan you downloaded, all of which you immediately fail at because you are hungover. FYI the best hangover cure is a spicy Bloody Mary, eggs, bacon and toast. Needless to say this delays a "fresh start".  

Many people, better people than I am, over the years have kicked the year off with "Dry January", a tradition I see less and less of since the pandemic. Sure you might lose weight, get more done and actually start back at the gym, but come Mardi Gras, it seems those same people are in rare form to catch up. Instead of the black and white, all or nothing plan, what if we have "DAMP" January? 

This leads me to suggest a kick-start your palate workout as your new year, new you plan. Sure cut back on the drinking, maybe select a specific day to open something special or a specific number of drinks a week you are allowed, but don't go DRY... errrrr unless your Doctor has suggested it which probably means you need to listen to them. 

How does one kick-start their palate and more importantly why should someone do that? The plan is simple, you are going to retrain your brain and receptors so that you can actually enjoy more of the world's wines! It is a huge world out there full of incredible art in a bottle, but it will remain closed off to you if you stay in a rut. Don't think you are in a rut? If you have recently tried a wine outside your usual go to and said "I don't like this kind of wine", you are in a rut. OK OK OK slow down! I can hear you argue with me even as I type! Yes, there is such a thing as a wine not being to your personal palate (which by the way is the correct way to tell someone that has opened a wine for you that you don't love, or God forbid you are telling a winemaker that they have a "bad wine" when really it isn't that it is bad, but simply not a match for you). But I promise you can train your palate to open up and appreciate a new style of wine! Always drink Pinot Noir from cool climate regions and "hate" Napa Cabs? Only drink bold, fruity wines and "hate" the lean acid driven ones? I promise, you are shutting yourself off from a world of adventure, love, happiness, success and riches! Yes all those things may be only found in your mouth through this exploration, but better there than not at all am I right?

Here is the deal, when someone first starts off drinking wine, they like fruity white wines, then they discover jammy reds, then they come back to appreciate crisp whites, followed by structured reds and finally learn to appreciate a finely made dessert wine. There are also people that stop exploring and stick to a zone that they inevitably tire of and claim wine just isn't as exciting or that they just don't like it they way they used to. Imagine if you actually only ate tacos for every single meal... bad example because tacos are amazing and I'm pretty sure I could eat them for every meal and never get tired of them. Lets try grilled fish, you start having grilled fish every single day, at first you might love it, but over time you'd stop tasting the nuances, it wouldn't even matter if it was trout or salmon, it would be boring fish. You can actually tell a lot about where someone is at in their wine journey by asking them what their favorite wine is. Enough chit chat, lets get into how to kick-start your palate in a few easy steps!

*please assign a notebook to be your private wine journal. Take a moment with each wine you open to note the name, where it is from and at least some kind of description. If you can come up with more info about the wine such as if it has dark fruit, high acid or a smooth finish, definitely add that, but don't feel you need to. You can even describe a wine in non-wine terms, I've seen people use personality traits or even colors!

Step 1. Even if it is only in sets of 2, invest in glasses that have a cut rim, in a white wine and red wine size bowl. My go to is Reidel, but there are others out there. If it rounds at the rim, it is giving your palate a speed bump and the wine doesn't settle into your mouth properly.

Step 2. Try every wine you open in both glasses (small and big bowl). Pour an ounce in each, smell them back to back, taste them back to back. Try to pick out differences. (note it in your journal)

Step 3. Start smelling other things in the glasses. Herbs, fruit (peel vs. rind), grass, leaves, even the glass itself! Yes, I am serious, smell the empty glass. It may smell of musty sponge, soap, cabinet dust or have the residual of a previous wine. All of these things will taint the next thing you smell in the glass. Maybe you don't like the wine because it smells like the sponge you need to throw out. (note differences in smells from having it in your hand vs. in the glass)

Step 4. Now here comes the homework... once a week, do a comparison of the same grapes. And don't skip any even if you THINK you know the grapes, your likes, or the regions. Remember you are training your palate and your palate evolves and changes over time. Pick a time of day and try to stick to it. Eliminate distractions and other smells (don't do this while you are cooking). Pour wine #1 in a glass, pour wine # 2 in the same type of glass (mind the size of the pour, should be the same and only an ounce or two). Smell and compare, taste and compare, do not JUDGE, compare. Make notes on differences and similarities. Now do the same in the bigger bowled glass. Your opinion does not matter, it is comparing the 2. You will do this with the following:

Vivac Riesling vs Alsace Riesling or Finger Lakes Riesling

Vivac Chardonnay vs Chablis (Burgundy) or Russian River Chard

Vivac Rose of Sangiovese vs French Rose or Spain Rose

Vivac Pinot Noir vs Burgundy or Oregon Pinot Noir

Vivac Cabernet Sauvignon vs California Cab or South African Cab

Vivac Syrah vs Washington Syrah or Argentina Syrah

You get the idea, yes I did stick Vivac wines in there, they are winning gold medals around the world after all and represent a varietally correct (that is what we say in the biz for a grape showing through in a wine well, representing place and classic characteristics for that place) wine. You don't have to stick to this list, the idea is to pick 2 wines made of the same grapes from different places. Now COMPARE, what is the fruit like? Is it citrus? Berry? Herbs? Are they the same or different in the 2 glasses? Taste them, what flavors are you getting? Do you get an acid zing along the sides of your tongue? How dry is your tongue when you swallow? Is one wine bolder than the other? How are they alike? 

Step 5. Look up the region. You just tried 2 wines back to back, now learn about the wine growing regions! Cool climates (also high elevations like our winery) are leaner, higher acid with bright fruit and lots of complexity. These are in striking difference to warm climates that will have riper fruit, darker notes, bolder body and less acid. Now taste the 2 wines again after learning about the soil and climate, can you taste "place"? 

Step 6. Find a pairing. When you look up a wine region, they usually make note of pairings. You can also get a ton of info off a winery website so make sure to start there. Taste the wine, pay attention to fruit, acid, and tannin. Now take a bite of the food selected as the pairing (this can be as simple as a slice of cheese, some nuts or some other morsel you find in your fridge), then taste the wine again. How did it change? Even a bad pairing can tell you a lot, but a great pairing can really change your perception of a wine! Higher acid wines really need food, especially when you are acclimating your palate to them. Big bold wines need acid or fat to help cut the richness, again especially when acclimating your palate.

Step 7. Do it all again! Change up the regions, the wineries, add new grapes to the list, but remember to come back to this classic 6. The more notes you can make the better and using a wine aroma wheel will really help this learning experience.

I know this sounds like a lot, but you wanted to have a "new you"! There is nothing more amazing than appreciating new flavors, I promise, this will create a new you and open up a huge world of amazing experiences.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family! Written by Michele Padberg, co-owner of Vivac Winery. If you enjoy this blog, check out her personal blog at WineFirstSomm.com