Wineries & Art Tour from Taos

Almost no one realizes that New Mexico, not California, is the birthplace of American wine. Nearly four hundred years ago, Franciscan friars planted Mission grapes along the Rio Grande to make sacramental wine, in quiet defiance of Spanish law, and seeded a high-altitude wine culture that still thrives today. This

full day drops you into the heart of it, the Embudo Valley, where three family wineries sit tucked along the river at around 6,000 feet, in volcanic, mineral-rich soil that draws honest comparisons to the south of France.

You will taste at Embudo Valley Vineyards, at Vivác, whose name means high-altitude refuge and whose adobe tasting room the owners built by hand, and at La Chiripada, the oldest winery in the state, pouring award-winning bottles including reds aged in terracotta amphorae. Between pours come a picnic lunch from Manzanita Market and an artisan chocolate tasting, and the winemakers themselves, family operations where the people behind the label are half the story.

Then the day climbs the storied High Road to Taos, winding up through piñon and juniper forest with the Trampas Peaks on the horizon. Here, in a quiet mountain village, you are welcomed into the home studio of Andrew and Lorrie Garcia, master artisans keeping New Mexico's Spanish Colonial traditions alive: Andrew carving furniture in the old Spanish Revival style, Lorrie shaping and painting the bultos and retablos of the santos. Because we hold the license and the keys, the only thing you manage all day is your palate!