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In 1629, Fray Garcîa de Zuñiga and Antonio de Arteaga smuggled Spanish Mission grapes into what is now New Mexico State—in direct violation of Spanish law—and planted vines just south of modern-day Socorro.
Winemaking thrived here for centuries, but the auspicious beginning was followed by a series of severe setbacks: A massive flood of the Rio Grande in 1864 and that old bugaboo Prohibition essentially killed commercial winemaking until the late 1970s, explains Christopher Goblet, executive director of the New Mexico Wine & Grape Growers Association.
