New Mexico Wine from Milagro Vineyards and Winery

Wine from Milagro Vineyards and Winery in Corrales New Mexico

In The News

May 3rd, 2010
Miracle on West Ella Street
By the Local IQ Magazine

For the past 15 years, Rick and Mitzi Hobson of Corrales' Milagro Winery have been quietly producing the Land of Enchantment’s best wines Read Article

March 30th, 2010
Wine of the Month - Milagro Vineyards 2007 Chardonnay
By Jim Hammond the Southwestern Wine Guy

This month the wine of the month was also a gold medal winner at the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition; the largest wine event judging domestic wines. That wine is the Milagro 2007 Chardonnay, crafted by Rick Hobson of Milagro Vineyards in Corrales, New Mexico. I have repeatedly rated Rick's Chardonnay the best in the state, and now it is rated tops in its price category in the U.S.

I also gave high marks to the Milagro 2007 Cabernet Franc in a previous newsletter. Boy, does this guy know how to make good wine. My love affair with Milagro actually goes back many years to a wine dinner at Terra restaurant featuring Milagro wines. Since then I've only been more impressed as Rick hones his skills on making food-friendly, very drinkable wines that reflect the best marriage of art and technology in winemaking.

The philosophy that "the best wine is made in the vineyard" is reinforced here, because of Rick's hands-on approach to managing and harvesting the fruit from Corrales and the surrounding area. French oak provides an enticing set of spices and gentle aging of the wine. A full year in the bottle before release also permits adequate time for the wine to come together. No malolactic fermentation (MLF) is performed, which all too often over-manipulates the Chardonnay grape and robs it of its acidic backbone which is essential for complementing food. Instead the grapes are left sur-lie, or on the lees, to add a toastiness and creaminess without compromising the grape's fruit-forward qualities by oak bludgeoning and MLF. It's called respect for the grape and terroir, a common philosophy employed in Burgundy where Montrachet and Meursault Chardonnay-based wines rein. At $20 per bottle, this is a very inexpensive way to get the elegance of a Burgundian wine without the much higher price. If you've been bored with the sameness of many California Chards, you need to sample what's cooking in Corrales these days.

March 6th, 2010
Milagro 2007 Chardonnay Wines Gold Medal in San Francisco
By The Albuquerque Examiner

The largest American wines competition again this year was the San Francisco Chronicle event held in February each year. One of the gold medal winners was the Milagro 2007 Chardonnay crafted by Rick Hobson. Milagro Vineyards is located in Corrales; with vineyards they manage dotting the landscape of the village as well as onsite of the winery and tasting room on West Ella. All the fruit in this wine was from Corrales, NM. Read Article

Current Winery Newsletter

Greets* to all in 2010!

While trying to hook up a new DVD player during the holiday season, we came across a vintage video from 1986 that showed the first season of planting the Milagro Vineyard on West Ella and Old Church Road. Day one showed Rick along with Dave Browning pounding in the stakes that anchor the trellis system. The video followed the planting season that spring as family and friends showed up on Saturday and Sunday for months to transform an empty field into a vineyard.

West Ella was a dirt road in 1986 and Ernest and Julio (the resident springer spaniels) were seen ducking in and out of the fencing. The kids who helped plant are now grown, but, all are still very much a part of our life. One of the workers was our nephew, David. David will be moving to Corrales in February to work full time with us as we continue to develop the vineyard and make the best wine we can from the grapes we grow. He is currently an engineer with Intel in Austin, but, thinks grape growing and winemaking is in his future, so, we are very excited and honored to have him join our efforts. It will allow Rick to share what he has learned and to collaborate with new energy.

It is a long way from the empty field of 1986 to a Gold Medal from the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, which was awarded to our 2007 Chardonnay a couple of weeks ago. Most doubted Chardonnay or any vinifera could be grown in Corrales. Since we picked the name Milagro (miracle in Spanish). we too had our doubts, but, along with targeted instruction from Dean Harrell, (our viticulturist who now lives in Paso Robles, Ca.), we have learned to tailor the pruning, irrigation and nutrition to our vineyard sites, Farming in a sustainable manner is a win/ win proposition and the grapes respond by producing fruit that reflects the terroir, or, variables of the site.

Improving our wine led us to equipment investments in 2009 for use in our vineyards and wine making. We purchased a rotary tiller (Weed Badger) enabling us to thoroughly mix the organic compost and amendments with the soil, increasing the effectiveness and availability of the nutrients to the vines. In the winery, we significantly improved the temperature control of our white wine barrel fermentations, adding a heat exchanger to each barrel, to increase the fruit character of the wine.

HARVEST 2009

The first year ( 1997 ) we picked enough grapes to make a ton, were elated; using a “T” (ton) instead of the “#” (pound) made it seem like we had accomplished quite a goal. In 2009, nearly 32 Tons of grapes came from the vineyards! Mother Nature gave us a perfect spring absent a late frost and a long cool growing season. The harvest was long, August to November, but, quality cannot be rushed. End of harvest was just before Thanksgiving and Rick could be found in the vineyard thanking the vines for their hard work, as he always does: another miracle on record and in the barrel.

Spring is just around the corner and that means the labeling done in the winter is complete and activity moves outside for pre-pruning. The tasting room garden is starting to awake and color is beginning to peek through. The other day a crocus made its appearance. We had a customer tell us to try saffron crocus, so we will. We love to get suggestions of interesting flowers, herbs or veggies to plant.

We hope to see you in the tasting room sampling the work we do at Milagro.

* Official greeting of Anja Bladergroen, of Blades Bistro who is from Holland.

JEFFERSON CUP WINE COMPETITION

Milagro "2006 Zinfandel", "2007 Chardonnay", and "2006 Merlot" awarded "Certificate of American Merit"! It is an Honor just to be invited to this "Invitation Only" competition. One of only two NM wineries invited, we are pleased our wines, again, showed so well against wines from the Best Wineries in the U.S.! Read about the Jefferson Cup Competition at www.jeffersoncupinvitational.com.

MILAGRO - TOP 10 VALUE

Doug Frost, Master of Wine and Master Sommelier, in "The Wine Report 2009", again rated Milagro Vineyards wines a Top 10 value! It is a Global Report, in which we have been listed the last few years, and you can view his section in pages 274-284.