Purchase and Print Tickets Online!

You can now purchase tickets from our secure online storefront, and print them at your convenience. Have a peace of mind knowing that your outing will be hassle-free. Just bring your ticket(s) to the gate, present your ID, and then make way to the ultimate wine tasting experience in New Mexico!

Here’s how it works:
Go to to our secure online shop and purchase however many tickets you need for your party, and a profile/account will be created you for. After a successful transaction, you can login to your profile/account and print your ticket(s) at anytime. Bring your ticket(s) to the gate where it will be scanned for verification and then you can enjoy the New Mexico Wine Festival at Bernalillo!

One ticket represents one admission to the festival. You cannot print a ticket multiple times for multiple admissions. If you plan to attend the wine festival 2 days, then you must purchase 2 tickets, and so on.

Online Ticket Prices
Ticket and merchandise purchases at the online store are not taxable if you live in New Mexico or not.

Adult Admission $11.00 (Includes commemorative wine glass)
Youth Admission (13-20 years) $5.50
Child Admission (0-12 years): $0.50

Welcome to the New Mexico Wine Festival at Bernalillo!

The New Mexico Wine Festival at Bernalillo wraps up the summer with the premier
wine festival of the southwest! Just north of Albuquerque, the historic town of Bernalillo
is host to the biggest wine festival in the state. Most of all the New Mexico wineries will
be there, giving their customers a rare opportunity to taste and purchase New Mexico
wines at their best. Lots of great music, arts and crafts, and those summer foods we all
love make a perfect backdrop for wine, wine, wine!

Adult Admission $10 at gate, $11 online (Includes commemorative wine glass)
Youth Admission (13-20 years) $5.50
Anyone under the age of 21 must be accompanied by a legal age guardian.
Wine Sales and Tasting ends at 6pm.

Purchase tickets from our secure online store, and print them at your convenience.
Our entrance has been improved for greater efficiency in processing advanced tickets. Faster lines!!!!!!!! Have peace of mind knowing that your outing will be hassle-free. Just bring your ticket(s) to the gate, present your ID, and then make way to the ultimate wine tasting experience in New Mexico! More...

Contacts

Maria Rinaldi, Executive Director
(505) 867-3311
executive.director@newmexicowinefestival.com

Please send general inquiries to:
info@newmexicowinefestival.com

Commemorative Poster

Entitled: "Vino Caliente"
Artist: Darryl Willison

NM WINE FESTIVAL COMMEMORATIVE POSTER COMPETITION Bernalillo, NM –Mayor Patricia A. Chávez and the Executive Board of the New Mexico Wine Festival at Bernalillo has made the announcement that “Vino Caliente” by Bernalillo artist Darry Willison has been selected as the commemorative poster art for the 2007 event.  “Vino Caliente” was one of seven submissions in this year’s poster competition.  The image, painted in an illustrative style, depicts a Spanish dancer in colorful traditional dress stomping grapes to the music of a caballero musician in the back ground.  “I wanted to reflect the rich and colorful history of New Mexico and it’s culture’” says the artist.  “I am capturing the delight of the dancer as she celebrates the full body and richness of the land and its gifts that surround her,” he continues. “In my imagination, such a celebration takes place exclusively here in Bernalillo.”

Known to the world at “America’s Drawing Cowboy” and the nation’s only western contemporary pop artist, Darryl Willison is re-creating the wild west of “yesteryear” today.  His fiery, bold and whimsical approach to his subject matter sets him and his art apart from the rest of the artist community.  A career artist, Darryl is represented by thirteen galleries across the United States and his work is held in collections world-wide. He is also co-owner of Art Gallery 66! located on Historic Route 66 in Bernalillo in an adobe building that was a gas station during the hey-day of the highway. “This image represents the festivity of the experience of wine,” commented Maria Rinaldi, Executive Director of the New Mexico Wine Festival.  “It’s playful and great “poster art” she continued. “Vino Caliente” is number twenty in the New Mexico Wine Festival poster commemorative collection that boasts such names as RC Gorman, Betty Sabo, Paul Sanchez, David Chavez, Marcellus Medina and Rudi Klimpert The poster will go on sale in early July for $10.00.  A limited edition of 200 posters with the artist’s signature will be sold for $20.00 at the festival and at poster signing events to be announced prior to the festival.    The Town of Bernalillo MainStreet Association sponsors the New Mexico Wine Festival as an economic and tourism development project.  The American Bus Association has named the event a “Top 100 Event in North America”. View commemorative posters from previous wine festivals.

Entertainment Schedule

Entertainment will be listed soon. Check back for more information.

A Glimpse of Bernalillo History

A teaching religious order named La Salle Christian Brothers came to Bernalillo in
1872, to open a boys school at the request of Archbishop Lamy and Rev. John Peter
Faure, pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Bernalillo. The prominent Perea
family donated land for the school and a farm. To help fund the school, the Brothers
operated La Salle Ranch. In 1883 they opened La France Winery. In 1887 the Brothers went
to California to select new grape varieties that they hoped would be hardier than those already grown here. They returned with grapevine cuttings of Black Malvoise, Malbec, Zinfandel, Mataro, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petite Pino, and Cohasselas Fountainbleu.

Unlike wineries run by other religious orders, the Christian Brothers did not make wine themselves. They hired a French wine maker, Lois Gros who ran the winery until 1920, producing over 10,000 gallons of wine a year. Then an Italian wine maker from Tuscany, Giovanni Giorgio (George) Rinaldi, who had immigrated to Pena Blanca, NM took over and produced sacramental wine throughout the prohibition era until 1933. This was the only winery allowed to remain open during prohibition because Archbishop of Santa Fe, Albert Daguer had arranged to have this winery produce sacramental wine for all the Catholic Churches in New Mexico.

In the early 1920’s, Rinaldi enlisted the agricultural staff of New Mexico A&M college. in Las Cruces, now New Mexico State University (NMSU), to improve his grape production. With their help, he experimented with several types of grapes and growing styles. Zinfandel in a Burgundy style wine, still remembered by old timers, was a result of the experimentation with grape varieties by Rinaldi and New Mexico A&M. The Christian Brothers winery closed in 1948 when they sold the entire La Salle Ranch.

The Bernalillo winery predates the famous California Christian Brothers Winery in Napa Valley. This winery was not affiliated with the California winery, although the California Christian Brothers indicated some interest in this area in the 1950’s for brandy production.

Researched by Justin B. Rinaldi and Henry Street.