Thursday, December 5, 2019

Top 10 Things You Don't know About Vivac Winery

Are you rolling your eyes at yet another 'Top 10' list for you to read? I know, we are sick of them too. But, if you can't beat them... join them?

What could this list possibly include you are asking yourself? You already know the media coverage from the last blog post. You already know the amazing wines or you wouldn't care about this blog in the first place. And, you probably follow us on various social media platforms that show you the fun stuff us 4 owners run off and do with our families...so what DON'T you know???

1) NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! The sound you do not want to hear coming from the winery.
We would rather uncork (by hand) hundreds of bottles to fix a wine than release it to you with a problem. Yes, this has happened, and while devastating and costly, we will not put a bottle of wine out there with a problem. They may not all be to your taste, but they are correct.

2) They are sometimes 'twining' but they are not twins.
The winemakers are NOT twins. Many of you know this, but so many do not, that is seems to still rank as one of our top unknowns. Jesse is 18 months older than Chris.

3) Jimmy Two Times. (*1)
Our port style wine "Amante" (meaning 'lover'... yes, it does sound like a telanovela. We have no idea what we were thinking with that name either. It sounded good at the time) is made with 100% Tempranillo grapes, which is the traditional grape used for port in Portugal. Here is the sly part... we are dedicated to using 100% NM fruit 100% of the time... to make the port, we halt the fermentation with a high alcohol brandy... made by our friends down the road at Don Quijote Distillery who use 100% NM fruit to make their 100% Tempranillo brandy! I know! So slick right!?! End result is a 100% Tempranillo, 100% NM True fortified wine.

4)  How about them apples?
Dixon, where we live and have our winery and anchor tasting room, is a place just south of Taos; one of the most charming places on earth! It is a small town that has many apple farms (including the land our winery is built on), they also sell these apples, BUT we are not the "famous Dixon Apples" people have heard of. That was a family named Dixon who ran a historic apple farm near Cochiti Pueblo. And yes, their farm was destroyed by the Las Conchas fire a handful of years ago. Our town of Dixon has not had any major fires and still has beautiful apples available. Confusing I Know.

5) That's Amore!
During winter months, we have a small grouping of tables and chairs inside our cozy tasting room! Yep, you can still have date day at our place even when it's cold outside.

6) Run Forrest run! (*2)
Both winemakers have run many full marathons, Jesse has even run several ultras (including a 54 miler!). I ran one full in Napa, then stuck with halves, so much more civilized. And both of Chris and Lili's kids have started competing in triathlons! Their son Maddox has actually won a bunch too. This is how our "Fueled by Vivac" sponsorship for races started and why we have super cool sports shirts available in long and short sleeve. Send us a pic of you in one of our shirts, in a race, and we will give you a free bottle of wine.

7) Super cool!
We have created specialty wines for the incredibly talented musician/ artist/ actor Robert Mirabal under the label "Mirabal Reserve". These unique wines mirror Robert's life story and include a choke cherry addition to the dry Sangiovese wine. We made this choke cherry wine from fruit grown in Taos, where Robert is from. You can buy these wines at our tasting rooms or our website, order from their website or find them in select locations soon!

8) The lean years
We were on food stamps for years as we got the winery started and had babies. We are immensely appreciative and grateful for that assistance. We hope that now as we offer more and more jobs to the community and give back through local organizations that we are in some small way paying it forward.

9) Start them young
While we all love Taos Ski Valley (I mean hello! It is continually listed as some of the best skiing in the world), little known Sipapu Ski area only 30,mins from us, is a delightful destination and very family friendly. It is also where we had all of our kids (3 between us two couples) on skis by the age of 2! If you visit northern NM in winter, stay there and drive down the hill to see us.

10) Being smart 
Yes we have a wine for every palate (including a soon to be released RESERVE ROSE that is mind blowing), and yes we have 14 NM craft beers on tap and a local cider, but we ALSO have Nitro Coffee on tap, sparkling apple juice, specialty root beer and will soon we hope to have HopTea and NA Prosecco! We know not everyone in a group is a drinker (or likes to drink as much as we do) and we support having a DD and being safe so we want to offer amazing treats for those needing something without booze.

This probably could have been twice as long, but we know you have drinking to get to so we don't want to hold you up. If you have questions, about us or the winery, ask! We have updated our new website with a fun fact filled 'About Us' section and there are now tons of details about each wine available, but we know your curiosity doesn't stop there so message us, maybe your question will become our next blog post!

(*1) reference to the movie Goodfellas and a character named Jimmy Two Times because he said everything twice. Doubling up on Tempranillo is our version of Jimmy Two Times.
(*2) if you need this reference explained, you are not watching enough movies! From the movie Forrest Gump.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com

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

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