Local vineyard is a ‘passion project’

 

By Alisa Boswell

Travel, food and wine have always been a passion for one Portales family, so after they visited Napa Valley and Sonoma, California, they could not help but began talking about the idea of their own Eastern New Mexico vineyard.

“We started wondering if we could create a place that we could live in, and how well would grapes grow and is that something that would put New Mexico on the map for wine and also be something different for our communities?” said Cassidy Self. “One thing led to another, and that’s when we started getting New Mexico State (University) down to test our soil. And it just spiraled from there.”

Roosevelt County winery Enchantment Vineyards was an endeavor of Self, her sister Megan Hamilton, their husbands, Rustin and Bobby, and their parents, Max and June Merrick.

“I think it’s always kind of been a love through our travels. We found all of ourselves any time we traveled going to seek out vineyards and just enjoying that atmosphere,” said Self. “About four years ago, the six of us went out to Napa and Sonoma (California). “

After that trip, what started as “dream talk” became a reality as the family began to talk about the possibility more and more. The family planted the vineyard in 2015 and began work on building a tasting room next door to it.

“This will be our first year that we can actually have our first harvest and turn our grapes into wine, which is really exciting,” said Self, adding that the first harvest will be small, but they will produce more each year. She said they did not want to over exert the plants to have quality over quantity with their wine.

The tasting room held a soft opening on March 1 and has been open for business from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday each week since.

“The soft opening wasn’t so soft,” Self said with a laugh. “It was slammed, which was really exciting. We didn’t know what caused that, because we haven’t done any advertising yet. I think people are just excited that something is different in Eastern New Mexico, so word-of-mouth caught on quick.”

Self said one misconception people have had is that the family is purchasing the wine they are currently offering, but all of the Enchantment Vineyards wines have been made locally by the family’s wine maker with grapes being purchased from different vineyards in New Mexico.

“It’s 100 percent our product,” she said. “We spent hours and hours curating all the wine that is in the bottle now.”

The vineyard will hold its grand opening May 3-5 with live music and possibly themed with Thursday being a white wine night and Friday a red wine night, while Saturday will offer everything. Self said the family has also been considering making the red wine night in honor of the military with part of that night’s proceeds going to the military.

“It’s kind of a passion project for all of us,” Self said of the winery. “We all enjoy drinking wine, but I think we all really enjoy the culture behind it as far as the relaxation of it, but also the chemistry behind it. It’s just such a fun, new topic for all of us.”