New Mexico Wine Festival, Labor Day Weekend

New Mexico has a long tradition with winemaking beginning with Franciscan Friars in 1629 who planted grape vines.  This past weekend was the 25th annual New Mexico Wine Festival in Bernalillo, NM.  It's one of the largest wine festivals in New Mexico.  Close to 20 different wineries were represented, as well as food vendors, arts/crafts and live music.  Held on a large field in the village of Bernalillo, the wine festival is very popular.  Many people collect each year's unique wine tasting glass and poster. After an ID check, hand stamp, ticket exchange and wrist band application, walk through the tents to the merchandise booth to receive your tasting glass.  Then turn right and begin the experience!

I went with my friend, Sandra, on the first day of the festival.  It was pretty crowded but not overwhelming.  We decided to first check out all the arts and crafts all the way around the field.  The vendors and winery tents were lined up around the edges.  In the center was a large tent with seating and a dance floor and stage where live music ran continually providing a festive background.  There were also numerous smaller tents to provide shade from the unrelenting heat.  And it was hot - in the high 90's!  There were plenty of artisans displaying handmade jewelry, paintings, purses, artisanal goat cheese and more.

After the first go round, we decided to try a few of the wineries.  I had only tried one NM wine so far which was St. Clair.  So I skipped that booth and concentrated on a few others.   Because of the hot sun in New Mexico the grapes here have a high sugar content.  So most of the best wines here are sweet. First stop was Acequia Vineyards & Winery LLC.    Pronounced Ah-sa-key-ah, this vineyard is located in Corrales, NM in the Rio Grande Valley.  The name, we were told by a lady in the booth who vowed it was her contribution, is spanish for irrigation canal - which is what carries in the waters to grow the grapes the wine is made from.  They had a lovely 2011 Chardonnay which was quite buttery with a nice smooth finish.  Had to buy a bottle of this one.  Sandra enjoyed their Muscat Canelli - which is a very sweet wine.

Next stop was Guadalupe Vineyards tent.  Their vineyard is located in San Fidel, New Mexico and they specialize in white wines - particularly Riesling (which has won silver medal awards in New Mexico and San Francisco), Gewurtztraminer and Muscat.  I found the Gewurtztraminer a bit too sweet.  But I really enjoyed their newest offering called Our Lady's Blend.

After all the sweet whites, we decided to try a few reds.  So our next stop was Black Mesa Winery from Northern New Mexico in Velarde.  Sandra had said she really liked their chocolate red wine.  I had my doubts, as I'd seen those milky bottles of so-called chocolate red wine in the stores.  They looked horrifying.  But being a good friend, I decided to go with it and give it a try.  So we got into line and waited our turn.  Once at the tent/counter, we asked about the wines.  Generally at each tent, you get 3 tastings.  So it's best to ask about their wines, even ask for suggestions if you like - as they will often point out their award winning wines - and then pick the ones you like best.  I asked about the Black Beauty -which is their chocolate wine.  Apparently it's their most popular wine, a nice red dessert wine that is combined with natural chocolate flavoring.  I relaxed a little when she poured out this deep garnet wine into the glass - no milky substance here!  The taste was smooth - berries up front, a hint of tobacco and then the slightest hint of dark chocolate shone through.  Very nice!  And I added a bottle of that to my collection.

The last stop after that was Tularosa Vineyards.  This vineyard is located in the Tularosa Basin, 45 minutes from White Sands National Monument and has won numerous medals regionally and internationally.   I tried several wines here and bought 2 bottles.  My favorite being their 2011 Cabernet Saugvignon - which as rich and fruit forward with notes of tobacco.  The other bottle I bought out of pure silliness and because I liked the taste.  It is a cherry table wine called Burro Flats.  It's a very light red wine (I'm sure wine snobs would call it hard kool-aid), but I liked the light cherry flavor and I liked the label.  What can I say?  I know just enough about wine to be dangerous - yet it's still all about flavor and what you like.  Sandra enjoyed their Muscat Canelli as well.

The combination of the heat and the wine was beginning to wear us down at that point.  But I wanted to stop at a booth to purchase some tasty garlic oil I had sampled on our earlier round.  I set my tasting glass down while paying and started to walk away from the tent only to realize I'd left the glass behind. When I went back it was gone!  Someone had taken it.  It was such a disappointing ending to a nice day.  So here's my caution if you attend this festival - hold on to that tasting glass and watch it like a hawk.  Apparently they are a hot commodity and will be stolen!  I tried asking for a replacement, but no luck.  In the end, Sandra kindly gave me hers.  That's a true friend!!

The next day I decided to get up early and try taking the dogs for their first hike in the Sandias.  We drove to the Ellis Trailhead and parked.  It was another gorgeous sunny day with a few white puffy clouds in the vivid blue sky.  Doc and Jane were really excited to be somewhere different.  Doc took to it like he'd done it all his life.  We passed two women on horseback - and the dogs were beside themselves.  I know Jane has never seen a horse up close before.  I thought she'd just die from excitement!  Once we got past that, Jane - as usual - decided that it wasn't as fun as she thought it might be and started looking for patches of shade to pull me into so she could stop and rest.  She hates the heat!

So I turned off onto a wooded trail off to the side that was more shaded.  This trail was much more popular - lots of mountain bikes, people hiking and talking, amateur photogaphers.  But it was also peaceful to be out in nature, watching the several hawks lazily circling the sky, listening to birds and cicadas buzzing.  Jane like this path much better.  I might make a hiker out of her yet!

The other part of my weekend was to be attending a baseball game for our local team, The Isotopes.  Catchy name, huh?  Apparently all things nuclear are popular here in New Mexico.  I still have to go see the Museum of Nuclear Science here in ABQ.  But that's for another day.   I have to like this baseball team as they recently adopted a blind dog as their team mascot.   "Stevie Wonder" was blinded from infection and abuse, but lucked out when pitcher John Ely and his teammates adopted him.  Ely has since left the team, but Stevie went with him and now lives in Chicago.  In any case, I was unable to attend the game - which I think was their last home game.  So I will have to catch The Isotopes next season.  Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Indian market and Sandia Crest

It's been a full weekend here in Albuquerque.  I may not have gotten much else done, but I did have fun exploring.  On Saturday, my new friends (Sandra & Dara) and I drove up to Santa Fe for the 91st Annual Indian market.  It is the largest and most prestigious Native Arts market in the world and the largest cultural event in the southwest - over 1100 exhibitors are present.  We went on the last Saturday of the event.  The plaza in Santa Fe had been closed off to car traffic and the streets and plaza were lined with white tents and vendors galore!  We saw the most amazing and gorgeous pottery, art, textiles, sculptures, paintings, carvings, jewelry, clothing, and more!  Hard to take pictures there, as many artists rightly do not want pictures taken of their work.  The artists represented 100 different tribes and indigenous people from the U.S. and Canada.  I saw works from Lakota, Sioux, Navaho, Apache, Pueblo, Northwest & Canadian natives.  All of the products for sale are authentically Indian made and come with a certificate of authenticity according to the Indian Arts and Crafts Act.  They tend to be more expensive than your average souvenir because they are authentically hand made works of art. So be prepared for higher prices. We only had about three hours there due to a previous commitment, but I highly recommend planning to spend a large amount of time there - if not the entire weekend.  There are also native performances (storytelling, singing, dancing) and lots of food!

On Sunday, I decided to take a drive.  I recently found out that you can drive up to the Sandia Crest without taking the tram (which I'm leaving for another day).  My friend, Sandra, tells me that the views are spectacular and there are lots of hiking trails there.  So I headed out I-40 east to Hwy 14 - the beginning of the Turqoise trail.  The weather had been hot and sunny, but I did see clouds up over the Sandia Mountains that did not bode well.  Out here, you can see the weather coming from miles away.  But the flip side is that if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes and it will probably change.  So despite the heavy clouds, I proceeded.  Sure enough, as I pulled onto Hwy 14, it began to rain, and continued to shower off and on as I reached the Sandia Crest drive just to left after passing through Tijeras.  Turning left off 14, I started up the drive with headlights on and wipers swishing.

The Sandia Crest by-way is about 11 miles long, traveling through the Cibola National Forest and rising to roughly 11,000 feet above sea level!  By the time I was halfway up, the skies had cleared and it was dry and sunny!  But much colder.  While it had been close to 90 in ABQ, by the time I reached the top of the drive, the temperature was down to 60!  Very refreshing for a summer drive!!  On the way up, I had to pull off twice for a group of red corvettes cruising up behind me.  I guessed that they were having a rally at the top, and since my little Soul wanted to go slow and take in the scenery, I pulled over to let the sports cars zoom past me - two groups of them.  Once I reached the top, a permit was required to get to the summit and since I did not have one, and wasn't sure how to get one, I turned around and slowly meandered back down.  The road was dotted along the way with sunflowers.  And the forest was filled with Aspen and fir trees.  I rolled down the windows and cruised my way through the switchbacks and hairpin turns.  For a moment, I felt as if I were back in the Virginia mountains!!  The views were incredible!  Sadly, my little camera doesn't do it justice.

Near the bottom of the drive is an amazing place called Tinkertown.  According to their brochure: It took Ross J. Ward over forty years to carve, collect and lovingly construct what is now Tinkertown Museum....over 50,000 glass bottles form rambling walls that surround a 22 room museum.  Wagon wheels, old-fashioned store fronts and wacky western memorabilia make Tinkertown's exterior as much a museum as the wonders within.  Inside the magic of animation takes over...inhabitants of a racuous little western town animate to hilarious life...under the big top, diminutive circus performers challenge tigers and defy gravity.  Throughout, eccentric collections of Americana (wedding cake couples, antique tools, dolls) fill winding hallways.  Otto the One-Man-Band and Esmerelda, the Fortune Teller need only a quarter to lay a tune or predict your future...and a 35 foot antique wooden sailboat that braved a 10 year voyage around the world.

While Ross passed away in 2002, his wife Carla and family continue to keep the museum open.  Inside I saw numerous newspaper reviews, Good Morning America and even Bette Midler visited Tinkertown (the latter when she was in the area filming Outrageous Fortune).  It's an amazing little place and worth the $3.50 price of admission!

One last note for the weekend... as we are reaching the middle/end of August, it is chile harvest time in New Mexico.  And on Sept 1 & 2nd, the Hatch Valley Chile Festival takes place in Hatch, New Mexico - green chile capital of New Mexico.  Chile ristras are showing up everywhere.  But apparently, you really know it's harvest time when you start seeing bags of roasted chiles in the stores for $10; and, like today, the stores set up a chile roaster in the parking lot!  Just don't stand downwind! LOL!

Until next time...Love and Green Chiles from New Mexico!
Jules

Walking Tour of Nob Hill

On Saturday, Aug 11, I decided to join the Albuquerque Neighborhoods meetup group for a walking tour of the Nob Hill area.  According to the guidebook from WalkAlbuquerque.org:

Central Avenue became part of Route 66 in 1937 as it passed through Albuquerque on its way from Chicago to Los Angeles. Old and new mix in the colorful facades and neon signs that line Central. Kelly’s Brew Pub and the Monte Vista Fire Station are just two of the wonderful examples of adaptive reuse of buildings along the corridor. This walk includes four individual properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places and a designated national historic district, the Monte Vista/College View Addition.

Nob Hill residential areas offer some of the best examples of the regionalism that influenced suburban housing tastes in Albuquerque from the late 1920s through the late 1940s. The Monte Vista Addition was platted in 1926. The significance of this district lies not in individual structures, but in the fabric of houses of regionally-inspired building styles, set back from each street at a uniform distance, retaining a high degree of their original character-defining elements. Earliest houses were characterized by separate garages set back on the property.

We covered several styles of architecture during the walk, seeing examples of each.  We also had the chance to view several houses on the tour that were for sale ranging from 265k to 600k. One of the styles that we discussed was the Territorial style of architecture popular from 1846 - 1912.  This style of building was characterized  by adobe walls covered in stucco, with layer of brick coping at the top to make the adobe water tight.  Since adobe is made from clay, when it gets wet, it deteriorates quickly.  This is why most adobe walls are covered with stucco.  One example of Territorial style is seen at the Presbyterian church pictured below:

Another style that became popular in the late 19th century is Mission Revival.  Mission revival takes its characteristics from the spanish style missions.  Common aspects of the style include enclosed courtyards using massive adobe walls with limited fenestrations and door piercing (for protection), low pitched roofs with wide eaves and non-flammable red clay roof tiles, and white plaster stucco over adobe walls.

Nob Hill is filled with wonderful old architecture in quaint neighborhoods on either side of Central Avenue (Route 66).  The neighborhood is crossed by lots of small alleys allowing a closer look at the area and shortcuts between the streets.  The alleys were originally used for access to the garages of the houses. The Central Ave section is lined with lots of fun eclectic shops, artistic venues, coffee shops, antiques, pizza joints and much of the neon signs popular on Route 66.  It's a fantastic place to wander around and shop.

One other unique house we noted had a rounded feature at the top on one side.  It was originally a water tank for the University Heights neighborhood built in 1916 and was incorporated into the house once that area was incorporated into the city.

All in all, it was a nice tour - although brutally hot by the time we were done.  I recommend going during cooler weather or starting much earlier than 9-9:30 AM.  To cool off, we stopped in for lunch at Kellys Brew Pub on Central.  Kellys used to be the Jones Motor Company built in 1939 along Route 66.  It has a unique feature of using solar roof panels to heat the vats used in brewing their ale.  I will have to plan on going back this fall to shop the wonderful stores in the area.