Rio Grande Vineyard & Winery

About Winery and Wines

Home Our Story Finding Us Events Winery Wines Links (attractions & web sites) Case Club Order Rio Grande Vineyard &Winery in Las Cruces, New Mexico Rio Grande Winery 5321 Highway 28 (at mile maker 25) Las Cruces New Mexico 88005 Phone call: (575)524-3985 email us: riograndewinery@aol.com We are open Friday / Saturday / Sunday 12 to 5:30 pm and groups by appointment Mondays and Thursdays 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 the West Coast of the US. There we visited the wine regions of Germany, England, Italy, France, Spain, Washington, and California. We made every moment count by traveling to wineries and 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 with 12 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 with a New Mexico twist. Gordon was born in Hatch, New Mexico and his father introduced him to winemaking from an early age. His ancestors moved to Mesilla in the 1880’s, and planted vineyards. His dream of having a vineyard and winery developed early in his childhood, and he has prepared extensively for this large undertaking--studying vineyard management and winemaking at UC Davis & Washington State University. Rio Grande Vineyards/Winery is located in the historic Mesilla Valley where vineyards were initially established by the Spanish priests in the Late 1500's to early