Today's New Mexico Bounty

By happenstance, we discovered a Labor Day weekend wine festival just outside of town. We enjoyed a lazy Sunday morning (no alcohol sales before noon, don't you know) before sallying forth.

Had an unexpectedly difficult time finding somewhere for an early lunch. Those who know and love me understand that I am worse than a four-year-old when my tummy is grumbling and we can't find food. Bruce was ready to go into the fields to harvest anything he could find. Fortunately, we landed at El Comedor for a nice New Mexican repast.

The Southern New Mexico Wine Festival is held every Labor Day weekend at the Southern New Mexico Fairgrounds just outside of town. Surprisingly, no charge for parking and only $13/each for admission. We were surprised to find 13 southern NM vineyards represented. And all very reasonably priced. The most we paid for a bottle was $21.Our favorites:

• St. Clair's Mimosa: a Mimosa already in the champagne bottle. Tasty as well as pretty.
• DH Lescombes Royal Kir: flavors of black currant. Yum!
• Luna Rossa's Nini: a nice medium-bodied red

We first did a "circuit" tasting and made notes of the wines we wanted to come back for. Interspersed were food and craft (needed more) vendors, including a hat maker where I purchased a fabulous new shady hat. Sounds odd, but it's like wearing a parasol on my head....terrific for hot sunny days.

Three discoveries:

• New Mexico has a state cookie: Biscochitos. Really. Melt in your mouth yummy.
• Who knew New Mexico had so many good wines?
• Near-miss rain in SA just steams things up. Near-miss rain here cools things off quite nicely, thank you.

Overall, we found this festival much better organized than the Hatch one, and very laid back and enjoyable. Great salsa music, too. Lots of people, but all polite and just enjoying the wine. This plus Hatch makes for a good southern-NM destination weekend.