by Marcella Ortega
Daily Lobo
Keith Johnstone, owner of Corrales Winery, said there is nothing magical about making wine.
"They've been doing this for 6,000 years," he said. "How complicated can it be?"
This weekend, the Corrales Winery will participate in the New Mexico Wine Festival at Bernalillo. Johnstone said it will be the winery's sixth year in the festival.
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"If you think about the Bernalillo Wine Festival and the 20,000 people who come by and get to see your winery, where else could you do that?" he said.
Johnstone said there is no fee to participate.
"They get to try your wines," he said. "It's great exposure. It's kind of like getting paid to advertise your product. All the wineries get a big follow-on after the festival."
Johnstone and his wife Barbara began growing grapes 15 years ago. In 1999, they opened their winery.
"We just decided it would be a fun thing to do," he said. "We planted a few vines, and then we planted a few more, and pretty soon the vines were in control."
Johnstone said he took classes that taught him how to run a winery. He said people who know how to make wine are also willing to help.
"It's a really interesting business to be in because people are friendly about the whole thing," he said.
All the work put into running the Corrales Winery is done by Johnstone's family and friends, he said. Johnstone said his winery has increased production every year.
"It's an expensive process. It's more tanks, bigger buildings, more barrels - it's more space in general," he said.
Johnstone, a retired engineer from Sandia National Laboratories, said working with equipment is not a problem because of his technical background.
"The best part of the whole thing, from a guy's standpoint, is there is a whole new set of toys - stuff I never had to play with before," he said.
Johnstone said he has lived in Corrales for 36 years.
"When we bought the land, which was vacant, it was an orchard," he said. "Over the years, we've converted the apple trees to vines."
Johnstone said New Mexico is an ideal place to grow grapes.
"Grapes are an incredibly hardy plant," he said. "They are hard to kill, and they grow surprisingly well in this climate."
He said he only grows white grapes because the red grapes can't survive the winter in central New Mexico. Johnstone said he buys red grapes from a vineyard in Deming, N.M.
"We don't buy any grapes from out of state," he said. "We only buy New Mexico grapes, and all of the wine is made here."
Johnstone said he will increase the size of the vineyard in years to come.
"This year, we'll produce about 1,600 cases, and the following year, we will produce about 2000," he said. "We're making three or four times as much as when we started."
When it comes to popularity, all his wines are equal, Johnstone said.
"We don't make a wine that we don't sell out of completely," he said. "It's hard to point to any one wine. They are all different in their own way, and different people like different wines."
