Changes Afoot at GruetVnyds

I had the opportunity to try a Gruet Brut at a party ystrday. I was a bit underwhelmed. I have, of course, followed Gruet from the very start when they put in their vnyds over in Engle, NM; just east over the mtns of TruthOrConsequences. It didn't seem to have the bit earthy character that I recalled from previous btls. Then I looked at the label and it said American SparklingWine. I then looked in a wine shop today and all the Gruet labels identified the wine as American wine. There is..gasp....even a Gruet American CabernetSauvignon.
Gruet was purchased (they characterize it as "partnering") by PreceptWines, a very large operation up in Seattle a bit less than a yr ago. In an interview, Laurent touts the benefits of the partnership allowing them to expand production levels (from some 120,000 btls/yr) and gives the usual lip service to increasing quality. So it appears that Gruet is now bringing in grapes from Calif & WashState and Gruet NewMexico wine will no longer be. They have put in a (fairly) large (for NM) vnyd near the SantaAnaPueblo just East of the I-25 going into Albq. But your Gruet will no longer be NewMexico wine and the Gruet sense of terroir is probably a thing of the past.
Tom

This is, of course, an extrapolation based on a single data point. But LosAlamos guys can usually make extrapolations based on zero data points, of course.

That's a pity.

I always buy a Gruet fizz when I find it when in the USA. Won't bother in future

It was the soil and microclimate there in New Mexico that gave Gruet its character and made it so good. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

-Paul W.

Used to be thoroughly impressed by Gruet bubblies. Never bothered with the still wine though.

But the last class I taught we finished with an evening of sparkling wine. I threw in a Gruet, thinking it would garner some serious attention and people would appreciate the great QPR.

No one liked it. I thought it was uncharacteristically insipid, dull and all-around blah (Kansas colloquialism). I suspected then that perhaps Gruet was going the way many young wineries go, beginning with zealous and intense quality and then going more toward a successful (i.e., profit driven) corporate model. This seems to verify my suspicions.

It sounds like Inglenook all over again, for those of us who remember back that far.

-Paul W.

Too bad. I've been a fan of the Gruet bubbles as good QPR for a while, but was a bit disappointed over last couple years, though think those were still NM. Not sure I could recognize NM terroir, but old BdB and BdN were pretty dependable.

That's a bummer, Tom, especially since it takes away the one exposure most people have to New Mexican wine. It's hard to believe there's a market for "American"-labeled sparkling wine, but maybe that's why I'm only a consumer.n

That's a bummer, Tom, especially since it takes away the one exposure most people have to New Mexican wine. It's hard to believe there's a market for "American"-labeled sparkling wine, but maybe that's why I'm only a consumer.n

Yup...that's sorta the way I looked at it, Walt. They still state on the btl that it's made in NM.
Tom

[Jenise]

What a shame! But thanks for the heads up, Tom.