The Mission grape (also called Listan Prieto in Spain and Criolla or Pais in South America) is considered to be New Mexico’s heritage grape. In the mid 1600’s Spanish settlers began a grape culture within New Mexico. The cultivar ‘Mission’, a vinifera grape, probably came from these early plantings.[1] Today, the Mission grape is planted sporadically throughout the state on its own roots and generally south of Albuquerque. This article seeks to “open the dusty cover” of its long history as America’s first Vitis vinifera wine grape and discover the current direction of the Mission grape, its until recently, anemic cultivation and production, and its potential future and impact on the wine industry.
The Spread of the Mission Grape from Mexico to New Mexico and then a hundred years later…to California
The Mission grape first came to Mexico from Spain, with Father Junípero Serra, whose priests planted vines from Baja north into modern day New Mexico; it is also grown in Peru and Chile.[2] The Spanish Catholic priests continued to plant Mission fruit once they arrived in California in the late 1600s from New Mexico. Wine made with the Mission grape was typically in two sacramental styles for use at of the region’s 21 missions; a sweet still wine and a fortified wine, called Angelica.[3] Ultimately, the Mission grape was widely planted throughout California and would become that state’s mainstay wine grape until the mid 1800’s.[4]
Natural Wine Spike, Low Production, and Now What?
The history and journey of the Mission grape in the Americas is making a comeback in modern times. Natural winemakers, such as Noel Téllez (owner of Bichi Winery in Tecate, Mexico), are making Mission “cool” again in markets such as Los Angeles with clever marketing (scantily clad lucha libre fighters) that undermines the old narratives of Napa and Sonoma.[5] Bichi’s farming is organic and biodynamic, adhering to traditional methods and minimal intervention in the cellar.[6]
There is a smattering of older, more established wineries producing quality red Mission wines. The authors tasted Mission red wines from California producers and found the wines to be thin, lightly colored, with a paltry smattering of tannins, limited acidity and a somewhat “metallic” finish on the palate. With limited plantings of the Mission grape, it is difficult to justify the costs (and work) to produce a varietal red wine from Mission. It has been tried by many wineries not only in California but in New Mexico as well…both are less than something that satisfies…much less inspire.
Despite its long use in winemaking and obvious widespread consumption in past years and even across epochs, the question remains on whether or not the Mission grape can produce wine appealing to the modern palate of today’s wine consuming (and purchasing) public.
A Rosé Mission – A Technical Winemaking Trial in New Mexico
After visiting Mission vineyards in New Mexico in the summer of 2020, the authors decided to conduct a Rosé trial from five year old own rooted Mission vines out of Teardrop Vineyards in Tularosa, New Mexico, in an effort to explore the viability of a Rosé wine from the Mission grape. In August 2020, Daniel Goodrich ((New Mexico State University (NMSU) Viticulture Program Coordinator)) and NMSU undergraduate, Fausto Barazinin-Rogel (a native of Sonora, Mexico), received ~1,000 lbs. of Mission grapes from Teardrop Vineyards in Tularosa, New Mexico, courtesy of winegrower Barry Brown and Consultant Michael Dominguez. Michael was interested in New Mexico Mission as a heritage variety, and how a Mission rosé wine would turn out using two different yeasts: X-5 and DV-10 and two different fermentation temperatures.
Mission clusters - 2020 harvest – Teardrop Vineyards
Big Mission cluster - 2020 harvest
NMSU viticulture partnered with Michael to produce four rosé wines. The wines were fermented using each of the two yeast strains at two different temperature regimes, basically room or lab temperature and the other, much cooler at < 60 degrees F. The winner as far as color and taste? The wine on the far left in this photo, X-5 yeast fermented at room temperature.
Notice the ‘Provence’ style pink to salmon-pink color? The wine has a full bouquet and aroma, a medium finish and many fruit and tropical notes throughout with enough tannins to advantageously highlight the entire package on one’s palate. All treatment wines were finished completely dry. All wines were cold and protein stabilized (with bentonite), blended together, and then fined with Isinglass and filtered prior to bottling.
The Future of Mission – Why Not a Rosé?
Rosés continue their upward trajectory across the wine industry. What better way to promote a New Mexican wine but to present a refreshing and accessible rosé from the finicky Mission grape? A rosé that is meant to be consumed in the following spring/summer of the previous harvest on hot, parched Southwest days. Perhaps the future of the Mission grape as a quality rosé was always in front of us, it just required some keen collaboration, innovative risk taking, and open-minded, value conscious consumers to come to fruition. More experimentation will take place, but for now, these authors will gladly toast history from a slightly chilled, Mission Rosé perspective.
[1] Esteban Herrera, “Growing Grapes in New Mexico,” New Mexico State University Circular 483, July 2000, https://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_circulars/CR483/
[2] Richard Parks III, “The Mission Grape is Cool in L.A. Again, Thanks to the Natural Wine Movement,” 9 May 2019, Los Angeles Times, https://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-natural-wine-mission-grape-bichi-noel-tellez-20190509-story.html
[3] Jess Lander, “A New Mission for California Makers,” The Wine Enthusiast, October 2020.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Parks.
[6] Jose Pastor Selections, Bichi – Naked Wines in Baja, http://www.josepastorselections.com/bichi.html