Rio Grande Vineyards & Winery

Winery Description

For the past 25 years, Sandi and Gordon Steel envisioned building a great New Mexico vineyard/winery and in 1995 began the process. While still in the Air Force we had the opportunity to be stationed in Europe and California. There we visited the wine regions of Germany, England, Italy, France, Spain and California. We made every moment count by traveling to wineries, tasting rooms and tasting wines from these and other regions of the world.

In the spring of 2004 we returned home to New Mexico and proceeded with our dream. It was at this time our 10 acre vineyard was planted, which includes 8 different European grape varieties. Our first grape harvest was in 2007 and we have had an increase in production each year. We opened our tasting room in February 2009 following Gordon’s retirement from the Air Force. We process the grapes and produce the wines in our modern onsite winery. In the tasting room we offer a taste of New Mexico’s historical Spanish past.

Gordon was born in Hatch, New Mexico and his father introduced him to winemaking from an early age. His ancestors moved to Mesilla from Northern Ireland in the 1880’s, and planted two separate vineyards. Gordon’s dream of having a vineyard/winery developed early in his childhood from talking with his father and hearing what it was like in the Valley when grapes were the dominate crop. Gordon has prepared extensively for this large undertaking--studying vineyard management and winemaking at UC Davis and Washington State University.

Rio Grande Vineyards and Winery is located in the historic Mesilla Valley where vineyards were initially established by the Spanish priests in the mid 1600’s. In our Tasting Room, visitors may view a number of old photographs of the area, talk with our winemaker, Gordon, or just relax and enjoy the grand view of the majestic Organ Mountains.

We invite you to come and experience the taste of New Mexico.