Wine Industry Champion Christopher Goblet: Taking the Long View to Benefit New Mexico Wines

“My job is to see what others cannot — to believe in our potential and inspire the rest of the industry to live up to our legacy.” —Christopher Goblet

By Laura Ness

Since 1629, grape growing and wine production have been a part of New Mexico’s agro-economy. Today, the New Mexico Wine & Grape Growers Association works to keep the industry vital. 

Executive Director Chris Goblet (pronounced “Go-blay”) has been with the organization, whose mission is to facilitate the direct sales of wine to consumers, since 2016. Prior to that, he was with the New Mexico Brewers Guild and has worked in the craft beverage sector since 2012. The main impetus for founding the wine association in 1991 was to create more paths for selling wine directly, as New Mexico wineries had previously been shut out of all wine retail channels. 

“In the past, New Mexico wines were considered sub-par, and there was no path to sell them at restaurants, wine shops or in grocery stores,” says Goblet.  “A handful of wineries created an association to organize wine festivals as a mechanism to sell direct-to-consumer. These festivals have become the backbone of the New Mexico wine industry — funding the association while providing essential sales and marketing for small wineries.”

The twice-yearly festivals, which take place in Albuquerque and Las Cruces on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, sell upwards of 50,000 tickets for each event. They play a critical role for wineries and for the association, accounting for 80% of its annual operating budget. 

“Over the last 30 years, these festivals have become a beloved tradition,” says Goblet. “To demonstrate our commitment to these events, we planted more than 100 trees in 1993, at the fairgrounds in Las Cruces; three decades later, the canopy provides essential shade and protection from the elements. As they say, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and this long-term vision has helped us build a thriving association. Last year, we donated $15,000 of festival profits to the Smokey Bear Stewardship Fund, which is part of the National Forest Foundation, after wildfires tore across New Mexico, because the second-best time to plant trees is right now.” The 2022 McBride Fire in the Lincoln National Forest, near Ruidoso, destroyed the homes of several employees at Noisy Water Winery. 

Planting trees to enhance festivals is one thing: keeping vineyards alive and thriving in such a challenging climate is another. Goblet again takes the long view. “The New Mexico wine industry has existed for 395 years, which means it has survived natural and man-made disasters including droughts, floods, wars, Prohibition and more. We are resilient and we are trailblazers.”

Vineyard Restoration Funds

Despite serious long-game energy, nothing could prepare Goblet or the association for the Pandemic. And yet, resilience is a calling card here in the Land of Enchantment and, in 2022, New Mexico Wine approached the state legislature with a proposal to invest some of the state’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds from the pandemic recovery into grape production. 

“The wine industry in New Mexico was hit hard and everyone was looking for ways to stimulate industry,” says Goblet. “Our proposal was a vast replanting effort called the ‘Vineyard Restoration Fund.’ We were awarded $1 million with the goal of planting 200+ new vineyard acres.” New Mexico’s main grapegrowing areas are the Mesilla Valley and Mimbres Valley AVAs, the only regions suitable for viticulture. 

In 2022, the first year, $248,000 was granted to 11 applicants. That number jumped to 19 applicants, with $300,000 awarded in 2023; four of these were new vineyard operations. The final $340,000 is set to be awarded in 2024, closing out this grant cycle. 

“We see the Vineyard Restoration Fund as being critical to maintain the authenticity of our industry,” says Goblet. “For the 55 wineries we have in New Mexico, the 1,200 acres of vineyards provide enough fruit that 95% of our wineries can source entirely from New Mexico. We want a product that is grown and produced in-state.”  State law requires 51% of the fruit in New Mexico wine be locally grown, although most use 100% local. New Mexico wineries are each allowed four tasting rooms: one onsite and three offsite.

Goblet says the “Vine Fund,” was critical in turning the tide on shrinking vineyard acreage— and for demonstrating the viability of the state’s wine industry. The funds will be repaid to the state via sales tax on the finished wine. 

Although the bid to renew the Vine Fund during the 2024 legislative session failed, Goblet says the association has a new strategy for renewal in 2025, which should help it install another 200+ acres in the coming years. 

Key to this is hiring a state viticulturist (the previous one left in 2022), and a state enologist, a new position funded earlier this year. Goblet deems both positions essential to guiding the industry forward. 

His most pressing task, though, is opening a new tasting room storefront in Old Town Albuquerque this summer. Called the Viva Vino Wine Studio, it will be a retail outlet for member wineries, an education and event facility, and a wine welcome center for tourists. It takes its name from the association motto, ¡Viva Vino!.

A Little Background

Goblet grew up around the Great Lakes in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio. Pursuing degrees in marketing and in German, he traveled overseas to study in Munich, Würzburg and London, which introduced him to the iconic wine regions of Europe. In 1999, his parents and sister moved from London to Santa Fe, and he followed. 

Although he loves living in New Mexico, he almost didn’t take the Executive Director position. “I understood New Mexico had a wine industry, but like most people, I was entirely unaware of its history and depth,” admits Goblet. “Before my interview [with the association], I had decided I did not want the job. But after meeting the Board of Directors and learning about their needs, I quickly changed my mind. Here was an authentic, traditional, multi-generational industry with sufficient resources to succeed: they just needed a passionate, creative director to guide them.”

For guidance, he turned to George Christie from Wine Industry Network, to whom he laid out an audacious plan to build the New Mexico Wine brand. In concert with Healdsburg-based consulting firm, Tincknell & Tincknell, Christie helped develop the organization’s first 5-year strategic plan. The New Mexico Wine & Grape Growers Association is now working on the second plan, in preparation for the 400th anniversary of New Mexico wine production coming up in 2029.

Unique NM Challenges

With a climate both hot and cold, depending on location, and its lowest elevation vineyard at 3,400 feet above sea level, New Mexico is definitely high-elevation winemaking. “The dry climate means virtually no need for spraying, but irrigation is essential, and canopy management is minimal to protect the fruit,” says Goblet. Soil is poor quality and sandy, and water may be the biggest issue on the horizon, as dry farming in the high desert is not an option. 

Asked which grape varieties are best suited to New Mexico, Goblet says they’ve been trying to solve that riddle for 400 years. “Mission is our original grape and we are planting more every year,” says Goblet. “Italian varieties are quite prevalent, including Montepulciano, Nebbiolo, Barbera, Aglianico, Ribolla Gialla and Arneis, to name a few. Growers are also planting new varieties such as Saperavi [origin: Georgia] and Alfrocheiro [origin: Portugal].”

Unsurprisingly, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the largest varietals by planted acreage, with the bulk of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay planted by the Gruet family for sparkling wine. 

“Nobody is expecting New Mexico to step into the spotlight for wine production,” says Goblet. “But we are on the precipice of a historic moment, a milestone that speaks to our resilience. My job is to see what others cannot — to believe in our potential and inspire the rest of the industry to live up to our legacy. We have a golden opportunity to call attention to our industry around the 400th anniversary of wine production in New Mexico, which is just 5 years away. I want to be a champion for the industry and prove we have something special, something worth celebrating.”

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Laura Ness

Laura Ness is an avid wine journalist, storyteller and wine columnist (Edible:Monterey, Los Gatos Magazine San Jose Mercury News, The Livermore Independent), and a long time contributor to Wine Industry Network. Known as “HerVineNess,” she judges wine competitions throughout California and has a corkscrew in every purse. However, she wishes that all wineries would adopt screwcaps!