The Lescombes Family

We are sixth-generation French winemakers whose family’s lineage has spanned 3 continents. Our father Hervé Lescombes created the successful Domaine de Perignon winery in Burgundy, France.  He was drawn to New Mexico due to its similar climate to his native Algeria, where he and his ancestors grew grapes and made wine for generations. In 1981, he made his first plantings in New Mexico. Later in 1984, his first vintage was bottled.

Over the past few years, my brother Emmanuel and I have taken over managing the business while our father spends his time enjoying the vineyard from his on-site home and wine cellar he built himself. My brother, Emmanuel, is the Viticulturist and oversees the vineyard’s operations, while I manage the winery. The careful balance of nature and nurturing, both in the vineyard and winery, leads each wine to its full potential. Our passion for making great wines is only surpassed by our desire for them to be shared in good times with your friends and family.

-Florent Lescombes, President

Our Vineyard

Our 220-acre Lescombes family-owned vineyard is located 47 miles west of Deming, New Mexico, at an elevation of 4,500 feet. This creates warm days and cool nights where there is often a difference between day and night temperatures of 30 degrees or more. This climate makes it possible to grow some of the best grapes in New Mexico. Our Viticulturist, Emmanuel Lescombes, manages the day-to-day operations of our vineyard, producing 7-10 tons of grapes per acre on average. We currently grow Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Moscato, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Chenin Blanc, and dozens of other varietals. The vines are planted on 8′ x 5′ spacing which allows over 1,000 vines per acre, and also gives proper access to sunlight and water.

The Harvest

The harvest begins in late July or early August and lasts through the end of September. The grapes are harvested by our mechanical harvester. The grapes arrive by the truckload and are dumped into a grape hopper, which conveys the fruit into the de-stemmer. Inside the de-stemmer, the clusters of grapes are separated from the stems by being struck by paddles. The loose grapes fall into the crusher which lightly breaks the skin of the grape for easier pressing. From here, white grapes are sent inside the winery to be pressed, whereas red grapes are sent for fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The partially crushed white grapes are pumped in from the de-stemmer to twin 20 ton Bucher presses. Red grapes will not be pressed until 3 to 15 days after primary fermentation is complete. Our pneumatic press uses a bladder that fills with air to press the grapes against the bottom of the chamber. The pressure exerted is a gentle 30 psi. At this pressure, the skin of the grapes will not be pressed too hard, which would cause the resulting wine to have an off-taste and overly tannic properties. The juice runs through grids inside the chamber and into a pipe to be pumped directly to a storage tank. It takes approximately 2 to 3 hours to extract the juice from 20 tons of grapes. Juice from 20 tons of grapes is approximately 3,600 gallons. The grape skins and seeds are emptied from the press and conveyed outside to be recycled for use as compost at our vineyard.

Our Winery

Our winery facility is nestled in the heart of the Mimbres Valley in Deming, located in southwest New Mexico, America’s oldest wine-producing region. Now known as D.H. Lescombes Winery, originally the property was known as St. Clair Winery, even though the Lescombes family has owned and operated the facility for over 30 years. The winery is situated on 15 acres and has a 500,000-gallon capacity. Our winery is composed of over 50 tanks, each up to 16,200 gallons in capacity. Most of the tanks are equipped with computer-controlled temperature jackets. An even temperature during fermentation and maturation ensures a consistently high-quality product.  After aging in stainless steel tanks, many red wines (and a few whites) are matured in oak barrels to smooth out tannins and add character inherited from oak contact. Each oak barrel holds approximately 60 gallons and is composed of either American or French Oak. The wine must remain in-barrel anywhere between 3 months to 2 years. and each barrel costs anywhere from $300 to $900 and last 3 to 5 years. Racking, fining and filtering is used to remove sediments that accumulate during fermentation and maturation. Delicate care is taken during every step to ensure quality, consistency, and safety. Tasting panels continually sample the product to check flavor and aroma development, and lab testing is tracked to ensure the wine is crafted to its full potential.

Bottling

When the wine is ready to bottle, it must be refiltered to ensure that it is sterile.  Our plate filter removes all particles larger than .35 microns (1 micron is 1/1000 of a millimeter). We also use a secondary filter, a cartridge filter, to be sure that the wine is clean and ready for bottling. A tasting panel does a final sampling to ensure the wine is of exceptional quality and something we can be proud to serve our customers. Finally, the wine is ready to be bottled! Our bottling capacity peaks at over 200,000 cases annually, and we are the only winery in the state which offers contract processing and bottling for other wineries in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The bottling line is made up of many different pieces of specialized equipment. First, the bottles go through a bottle rinser which ensures they are perfectly clean. Next, the bottles are filled with wine. The wine is pumped from its holding tank into the filler, which fills the bottles with exactly the right amount of wine. Then, the bottle is conveyed to the corker, which takes each bottle, one-by-one, compresses a cork, and inserts it into the bottle. A rinser then cleans off any residue on the outside of the bottle, and the bottles are dried so that the labels can be applied. Finally, the bottles enter our capping machine, which places a capsule on the top of the bottle and applies pressure to tighten it to protect the cork. The bottles then immediately enter the labeler, which spins the bottle onto a waiting set of labels. The bottles are then packed into cases and stacked onto pallets to be stored in our climate-controlled warehouse. Every step is carefully controlled to protect the integrity of the wine and the Lescombes family legacy.

Our Bistros

We own and operate two D.H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro locations across New Mexico, located in Alamogordo, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces. Our winemaking team collaborated with our chef and the Lescombes family to create an extensive, epicurean-style menu that easily pairs with our wines. Our locations, also including our D.H. Lescombes Winery & Tasting Room in Deming, and Hervé Wine Bar in Santa Fe, are open for wine tastings and have an extensive inventory of wine for retail bottle and case sales. Come by and enjoy a uniquely New Mexican experience and enjoy the wines that are the favorite of many!