Harvest Fest
Yesterday, Strix and I went to the Harvest Fest at the Wines of the San Juan Vineyard, which is on the Easterly side of the County.
The vineyard is in a beautiful location near a little unincorporated village called Turley. We've been here before, near a shear bluff and in a copse of huge trees, enjoying good music, good wine, and a nice breeze. Yesterday, the breeze wasn't so much a breeze as a gail. The wind was terrible, and kept kicking up little sandstorms, and yet everyone stayed and enjoyed themselves anyway.
On the way in, looking back to the highway. Yes, it's an oil well in a vineyard.
We got there just in time to hear the last couple of sets from the Stillwater Steel Drum band, which is made up mostly of children, but they were really good. Unfortunately, we missed the grape stomping contest.
Christmas lights made out of shotgun shells adorned one of the artist vender boothes.
I couldn't get a clear shot of the tasting bar, because of how many people were there.
The outdoor tasting area. You can see how sandy the soil is here, which you would think would be difficult to grow anything in, but it's actually not a bad kind of soil to grow wine.
There are several tiny little houses on the property, presumably where the proprietors live.
A little walkway leading back to the pond. Strix is on the left side of the frame taking a pic of the house above.
A pic of another house, with vines out front, and the gorgeous bluff in the background. The picture doesn't do it justice, that bluff rises up out of flat ground just on the other side of the highway about six hundred feet straight up.
The worst thing about this garden would be going out and picking the peacock feathers out from between the plants every morning. Yes, they have peacocks on the property, too, but they had them all locked up and out of the way for the festivities.
Okay, there are drawbacks to living the rustic life, like having to use outhouses. But, hey, horses!
A couple more views of the bluffs, near sunset.
I've said it before about New Mexico: we do "dramatically dead trees" better than anyone else.
If you find yourself at Wines of the San Juan someday, I suggest the following wines: Girls are Meaner (their Gewurztraminer) or the Manzanaras Red (red Zinfandel). Strix really likes the Blue Winged Olive, their Muscat, but only get that if you like your wine really sweet.
Comments
You can see some pretty amazing mountains from here, but they're on the other side of the border in Colorado. Four Corners is all mesas, bluffs, buttes, and badlands, but you're right, it is pretty.