Gruet just keeps growing

[Jenise]

From Shanken's rag:

As sparkling wines continue to enjoy rapid growth, producers from established regions aren’t the only ones reaping the benefits. New Mexico’s Gruet Winery, founded by a French winemaking family, is a case in point. Boosted by a solid critical reputation and accessible positioning compared with other sparklers in its super-premium price tier, Gruet’s volume has now reached 120,000 cases and is advancing at about 10% annually.

Gruet, which counts New York, California, Texas, Illinois and its home market of New Mexico among its strongest sales regions, produces 11 different expressions of bubbly, ranging from around $15 for its flagship Brut up to $46 for upscale vintage offerings. Company president Nathalie Gruet tells SND that while the Brut continues to garner a large portion of sales, lately the brand has also seen marked growth in its rosé sparkler. Gruet’s Blanc de Noirs has likewise expanded significantly in recent years, especially after landing among Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2011. Both the rosé and Blanc de Noirs retail around $16-$17 a 750-ml.

This year, Gruet will release two new wines in honor of the winery’s 25th anniversary. Next month it will launch a 25th Anniversary Silver Label Blanc de Blancs, retailing at $16-$17. Later in the year another special edition, a vintage Blanc de Blancs under the label G25, will follow at a price point of around $25. In terms of trade channels, the company tries to maintain an even split between the on- and off-premise markets. Recently, Gruet widened its exposure with some national account placements, including Kimpton Hotels in the on-premise and Whole Foods at retail.

I don't see them often, but I buy when I do. I've long thought they were pretty dang good, and not just pretty dang good for New Mexico.

[James Roscoe]

They are pretty darn solid. I would put them up against any American sparkler.

I think Gruet Brut is OK/good for what it is. Good for a large crowd or party where a sparkling wine is needed but I don't think its anything to get too too excited over. That said, at its price point its tough to find better.

At around $14 the Gruet Brut is a decent QPR. To me it is on par with Prosecco.

[Jenise]

I'm with the rest of you--just good for the price. Haven't seen any of the more special bottlings. What's their grape source again? I'm thinking they couldn't possibly produce all the grapes needed in NM.

As far as I know, their source is entirely New Mexico, on hillsides with a cool microclimate and some limestone in the soil.

I was impressed enough with their NV offerings (the brut, brut rose, and blanc de noirs) to order a mixed case of their other sparklers directly from the winery. Their higher-end stuff is good, but they're not not the big stand-out compared to their price peers that their NV offerings are.

-Paul W.

I'm with the rest of you--just good for the price. Haven't seen any of the more special bottlings. What's their grape source again? I'm thinking they couldn't possibly produce all the grapes needed in NM.

Rethink, Jenise.

New Mexico has quite a bit of cooler mountain-influenced valleys and foothills. Get away from the extreme south and up towards the middle and northern part (but I'm thinking the lovely middle where the Chiricahua and Jicarilla Apaches reservations were, and which is now race horse, skiing, and casino country, but still damned beautiful, and you've got some lovely temperate to cool growing zones, especially in all those little pocket valleys.

Same with Texas....some excellent all around growing areas within that capacious state. It's not all high plains drifter and oil sands.

To this best of my knowledge, all of the Gruet sparkler is sourced from their vnyd in Engle, NM.
That's to the East of TruthOrConsequences, NM and East over the lower/southern extension of the ManzanoMtns.
If you GoogleMap Engle, NM and look around the area, you should be able to hone in on the vnyds.
Not actually been there, but it's a high-desert plain, no hillsides. They got lots of irrigation water, so
they can get the grapes to grow over there. Probably use it for frost protection as well.
Tom