Interesting article by Dave McIntyre in ystrday's WashPost:
MissionGrape
on some new plantings of Mission grape by ScribeWnry in Sonoma on the old Dresel property. He points out that Mission grape was first planted in the US in NM around 1629 by the padres along the RioGrande. I'm trying to dig up my TN's on those original wines, but haven't yet found them.
VARA wnry in Albq has made a Mission apertif wine from old-vine Mission planted down near Alamogordo, made in the style of Angelica. Called Vino Cardinal. Absolute dreadful stuff. The fumey alcohol is so potent that it cauterizes the inside of your nostrils. The fortifying brandy they used was distilled from the initial Mission wine. Their consulting winemaker described it as a failure. Reportedly, the SS tank that they stored the brandy in spontaneously combusted.
Anyway, a rather interesting article again on the renewed interest in Mission in Calif.
Tom