Wine Places in Santa Fe, NM

WINE TALK
1

Will be going to Santa Fe, NM in October, any notable wine places, restaurants with good wine lists, wine bars? Also what is the corkage policy in New Mexico? TIA.

  • J
2

I used to live in Santa Fe and I am going there myself in October. The wine scene changes quite a bit, but one go to place is the wine shop attached to La Casa Sena restaurant. They sell the wines on the restaurant wine list discounted from the restaurant prices as well as others. (You might be able to check out the restaurant’s or the store’s list online.) The shop is located in a pretty courtyard in downtown Santa Fe and they used to do free tastings on Friday night. I’m not sure if they still do.

3

Arroyo Vino - http://www.arroyovino.com/
i haven’t had a chance to visit it yet, but my sister and her husband love it. as does TomHill.

The Compound and La Casa Sena both have big lists - I prefer The Compound’s food to LCS, but LCS’ wine list is bigger.

Susan’s is a nice shop in downtown SF, but from what I hear Arroyo Vino has taken over the top spot for wine lovers.

4

I’m also a fan of La Casa Sena. As for corkage… Unfortunately, it is illegal to bring your own wine to a restaurant in NM.

5

Frank,

I’m with you on the food, and I love the whole 60’s styling of the Compound. I used to sit at the bar and eat there, especially after Escalera closed, with great pleasure. But not just the wine list, but the wine shop at La Casa Sena also used to be quire special; someone–Dennis or Richard?–ran it, who knew a hell of a lot about wine.

6

NOOOO!!! These state laws on alcohol are really @#&%!@! I asked because I went to Maine this year and same hing happened (although you can BYOB in places that DO NOT have a wine/alcohol license).

Thanks for all the replies.

7

I just helped my girlfriend move to New Mexico, to Albuquerque specifically. We were sad about the lack of retail options there but stumbled across La Casa Sena, near the plaza in Santa Fe surprisingly. We stocked up. The shop provides the wine for the restaurant next door, I believe, and the shop has off-list stuff if you ask nicely. They had a fairly geeky offering (for New Mexico’s distribution options). The owner recommended Susan’s as well.

Will have to check out Arroyo Vino… sounds promising.

8

Where were you in Maine? There’s a great little shop in Southwest Harbor on Mt. Desert Island. I think the food in the restaurants is pretty good there–it’s an excellent area to BYOB.

9

That is parallel to my experience. The options in Albuquerque are mediocre. I haven’t been able to go back to Jubilation Wine & Spirits since I was there in the summer with mid-80s temperatures inside.

La Casa Sena, on the other hand, has serious temperature control and has a very nice selection. Derek and Stefanie really care about curating their inventory, from the mid-range wine nerd stuff up to high level collectibles.

10

Do a search here, with Tom Hill’s name as part of the search, you’ll find a couple of recent threads with a lot of suggestions.

11

Jubilation was disappointing. Sadly, I did my stocking up at Total Wine… but that was on hard liquor, not wine. Ended up putting together a really serious bar and drank almost no wine.

The no-BYOB law is a real bummer. Wine lists in ABQ, even at high end restaurants, seemed pretty lowest common denominator. Had a really nice bottle of vintage Schramsberg blanc de blancs at Los Poblanos Inn for a minimal markup. That was the dining highlight of the two weeks I was in town in August.

I liked that La Casa Sena had a whole Ridge-branded section. I’m sure Tom likes that as well.

12

Albuquerque’s not a total wasteland… you just have to know where to go for what you are looking for. The “vault” (temp controlled room) at Quarters usually has some interesting, even esoteric stuff. I once found a whole section of '90s Chateau Musar slightly hidden away amongst other stuff… totally loaded up. At the east side store, I’ve also found Tempier (red and rose), Produttori del Barbaresco, a beautifully aged Grand Cru Chablis, Tablas Creek, Anderson’s Conn Valley and plenty of other stuff I can’t even recall. When Total Wine forced the west side location out of business, I stocked up on late 90’s barolos and 2002 Burgs all at 40% off.

With that said, I thank the Lord every day that NM has easy shipping laws [cheers.gif]

13

That an uninspired but reasonably organized chain can enter into the market and pillage the competition says quite a bit about Albuquerque. A wine shop shouldn’t be a museum where only the most valuable items are properly curated, i.e. maintained in a temperature controlled environment. Really good wine shops, whether their inventories are small or large, put care into their selections from top to bottom. Generally I’ve found prices on the high end, but without the ‘value added’ of creative selections in mid-range wines that typically won’t be cellared.

I didn’t make it to the west side location before it closed–it sounds like it might have been the best store in the area. And it’s also a shame I missed the liquidation sale.

14

Actually, it’s more a commentary on America than Albuquerque… Total Wine moved in across the street, dropped their prices to bare bones levels until Quarters went under and then raised them back up again… apparently it’s their M.O. They are the Walmart of wine.

15

Hi Matt,

I didn’t realize you were the one comparing the Compound and La CS; apologies. And thanks for the heads-up about Arroyo Vino. Not easy to get to–maybe why you have not been there–but definitely looks promising.

Josh

16

Ahhh,…yes, Matt…the ultimate accolade for any establishment!!! [snort.gif]

ArroyoVino is, IMHO, the best wine source in NewMexico nowadays. Brian/Matthew/Dustin all do an exceptional job. There are plenty
of high-end wines to splurge on. But they also do a very good job on ferreting out bargain wines as well. Not a large shop. And their prices
as as good as anywhere.
Susan’s FineWine&Spirits is also quite good, as is LaCasaSena. And Kokoman’s out in Pojoaque.
ArroyoVino now has a restaurant with it. MarkConnell is an exceptional chef and the food is terrific. Usually need reservations.
You can buy any wine in the store and have it in the restaurant at $20 corkage. They have a nice selection of wines by the glass.
And every night they have 3-4 btls for the standard retail price…usually a real bargain.

There’s a new place that’s opened up in the TrattoriaNostrani place on Johnson St. Terra Cotta Wine Bistro. Quite good food at a very
good price. Fairly decent/interesting wine list.

But ArroyoVino is the star in SantaFe nowadays.
Tom

17

Thanks for all the recommendations, made reservations at Arroyo Vino already and considering the others as well.

18

Josh - actually Arroyo Vino is much closer to my family’s house than places downtown…so they’ve been quite happy about it! Hoping to check it out over my holiday trip out there.