Welcome to Part 2 of my coverage of the modern New Mexico wine scene, from a media tour I took of the southern NM wine producing last year (2023). If you haven’t done it yet, check out Part 1 to get up to speed!
Amaro Winery
If you have read Part 1, you likely got the sense that there’s a bit of a wild frontier vibe going on in the New Mexico wine scene, combined with a healthy smattering of “Old World old” school ingenuity. Few embody that combo quite as well as Bernd Maier (who is NOT the former footballer, by the way), proprietor and winemaker behind Amaro Winery in Las Cruces. Originally from Germany, Maier operates with a bit of the ingenious efficiency for which his home country’s culture is known, originally naming his company after the Negraomaro grape variety but abbreviating it so that his would be listed first in alphabetical listings of NM wineries.
Maier has a decidedly European approach to his production, saying “I grow grapes; making wine is the second thing that I do.” But the frontiersman-ship of his chosen locale seems to have seeped deeply into his methodology; asked why he chose NM, he answered that, out here, “I’m not beholden to anybody.” Describing his production (and the experimentation with grape varieties that’s typical of NM’s higher end producers art the moment), he was equally home-on-the-range poetic: “It’s cowboy quantities. It takes me five years [before determining if the varieties are worthy of commercial production].”
2022 Amaro Winery Chenin Blanc, New Mexico, $22
“I was so surprised by what Chenin Blanc does here in the valley,” Maier remarked, “It’s one of our best sellers.” It’s not hard to see why when you taste this citric, floral, crisp white. Combining pinpoint fruit flavor with a hint of wet wool and a broad mouthfeel, this is for sure a crowd-pleaser.
2021 Amaro Winery Marsanne, New Mexico, $NA
Whoa! The nose on this white is absolutely jumping, showcasing peach, jasmine, and yellow apple. Perfumed, voluptuous, long, rich, and full, there’s little not to like (apart from its tiny production, I mean) about sipping a chilled glass of this on a sunny, hot NM afternoon.
2023 Amaro Winery Saperavi, New Mexico, $NA
Bright, earthy, meaty, peppery, perky, spicy, and very, very fun, this red offers up super-tart red cherry flavor, and is a great example of the fearless approach that NM’s better producers are taking towards trying anything and everything to see what their terroir is capable of manifesting in the glass.
2021 Amaro Winery Alfrocheiro, New Mexico, $NA
Speaking of experimentation, Maier’s take on this Portuguese red variety is sexy and full-throttle, a big, bouncy, powerful mouthful of prunes, cured meat, and blueberry compote that is a natural for pairing up with the hearty, grilled meat dishes or fantastic Mexican cuisine that seem to be staples of the NM diet.
2021 Amaro Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, New Mexico, $38
Mineral and juicy, this Cab is dark, structured, but surprisingly polite in its restraint and purity. Combined with dried herb notes and red and black currant fruit flavor, this is Amaro showing its European roots.
Noisy Water Winery
Located in Alto, Noisy Water is one of NM’s more modern success stories. Started up in 2009, Noisy Water has grown from a single-person operation into the third largest wine producer in the state (making about 30,000 cases per year; so, still pretty small by most standards). This is in no small part due to their focus on crafting what winemaker Fabien Olvera told me were “commercially viable, accessible” wines that are clean and well-made. Still, they are part of NM’s grand experimentation phase, and in 2022 they used nearly thirty different grape varieties in their wines.
2022 Noisy Water Winery Vintner’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, New Mexico, $42
Tasted from a barrel sample, this red has a very, very nice mouthfeel that’s balanced between structure and roundness. The mingling of blackcurrant, blueberry, vanilla, black cherry, and dried herbs is textbook modern Cab material.
2022 Noisy Water Winery Carignan, New Mexico, $NA
A wine club exclusive, tasted from the barrel; as a self-expressed Carignan nut, I thoroughly enjoyed this pure, tart, fresh, and red-fruited gem. It should prove to be an extremely versatile wine for matching up with food, given all of the freshness they were able to capture here.
2023 Noisy Water Winery Skin-fermented Muscat, New Mexico, $NA
Another in-process sample, which spends a bit of time in Acacia barrel, this take on orange wine emphasizes Noisy Water’s focus on clean production. Mandarin, orange blossoms, blanched apples, peaches… this is solid, fresh, tasty, and has a sense of both fun and craftsmanship.
2020 Noisy Water Winery ‘Wild Ferment Old Vine’ Pinot Noir, New Mexico, $NA
A red that shows off the winery’s skills in grape sourcing and cellar handling, this Pinot is bright, spicy, and incredibly lively, contrasting with—and providing a nice counterpoint to—Noisy Water’s more extracted and powerful Reserve Pinot Noir offering.
2019 Noisy Water Winery ‘Absolution’ Proprietary Reserve Red, New Mexico, $96
That price is not a typo, this is actually a near-$100 reserve red from New Mexico. This label is not produced every vintage, and in 2019 was a combination of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot that spent two years in oak. The red fruit action here is very, very dark, with red berry compote, extreme juiciness in the mouth, and fantastic spices on the nose. Big body, big tannin, big finish, and a big platform for showing NM’s promise as a wine region.
Cheers!