On Walkabout At: La Vina Winery, New Mexico

Whenever we spend a day out over at La Mesilla, New Mexico my wife and I always make sure to make a stop at the La Vina Winery on our way back to El Paso which is overlooked by the rugged peaks of the Franklin Mountains:

To the North the winery also has a fine view of the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces as well:

It may be hard to believe but here in the middle of this arid desert is a handful of wineries, which are only possible because of the Rio Grande River which cuts out a swath of green in the middle of the brown desert that can be seen for miles around.  The waters of the Rio Grande provide water for not only these wineries but the various farms and ranches located along the river as well.  My wife and I really got into wine when we were living in Australia and were members of two different wineries there and visited many others.   Our wine cabinet here in El Paso is still stocked full of Australian wines we brought back with us.  The New Mexico wineries totally fail in comparison to Australian wineries, but La Vina is one we like the best in the area:

La Vina claims to be the oldest winery in New Mexico that has a pretty good selection of wines, and some nice grounds which is often used for functions such as weddings:

Oddly La Vina had no cafe, it was strictly just wine tasting with a bit of cheese.  In Australia my wife and I had a number of wineries we used to go check out and have lunch at.  It was a really good way to spend a half a day out with my wife.  Unfortunately that is not something we are able to do with the southern New Mexico wineries and thus instead we go to La Mesilla for lunch before driving over to a local winery.  As far as the wine at La Vina it isn’t too bad, with a decent merlot.  The shiraz I thought was pretty poor, but then again I love the shiraz wines in Australia so it is tough for La Vina to compete with that.  Overall not a bad place and decent wine for the El Paso area.  That is why the La Vina winery is the place my wife and I most often stop by compared to other wineries to pick up a few bottles of wine from.