King of the Road - January 2010
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Best of Class
Uncork the unexpected in Deming
Story and Photography
by Lesley S. King
As I drive into Deming, a town of some 15,300 residents along I-10, 60 miles west of Las Cruces, I practice my French. “Merci,” I say, cruising past the graceful 19th-century buildings that stud the main street. I’m preparing for an afternoon rendezvous to sip wine with a Frenchman.
In Deming? The town known for duck races and rock hounding? Mais oui! And that’s only one of the surprises offered by this town, one of the fastest-growing in New Mexico.
One of my favorite experiences is feeling confounded when my expectations are thwarted, then seeing life anew. That’s what happens all day here, beginning downtown, at the Gold Street Gallery. There I meet artist Don Ross, who paints mostly portraits—boldly rendered depictions of iconic personalities. His favorite subject, Andy Warhol, along with other Warhol-esque works, hangs on the walls of the 7,500-square-foot gallery, which Ross opened in 2004.
“Warhol changed the face of art,” he says, as we tour images rendered in bright colors. “He melded the commercial-art world with the fine-art world.” Who would have thought I would get a lesson in the history of high culture in the little town of Deming? Beyond the Warhol portraits, the gallery displays graceful wrought-iron sculptures plus stunning black-and-white photographs by Laguna Pueblo’s master photographer, Lee Marmon.
The gallery’s broad reach stems from Ross’s view of Deming. “I’m here because Deming is the hub of the universe,” he says. “To prove it, you can get to anywhere in the universe from here.” That bit of playful illogic seems borne out by the town’s history. In 1881, the spike that linked the tracks of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway with those of the Southern Pacific was laid here, connecting New Mexico to the East and West coasts. The town was named after Mary Ann Deming, the wife of the Southern Pacific magnate Charles Crocker.
DAY-TRIP TIPS What to do: St. Clair Winery & Visitors Center Where to Dine: Where to Stay: Where to shop and peruse: Deming Arts Council Deming Luna Mimbres Museum Gold Street Gallery |
Determined to find out more, I head to the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum. Housed in a stalwart brick armory built in 1917, it’s a labyrinth of regional history. “What sets this museum apart from many others is its amazing collections,” says museum administrator Marian Dyer.
I assume she’s biased. Then I actually see what she means. First, Dyer leads me through rooms full of Mimbres pottery. The graceful bowls and pots were made by Native Americans who lived in the region from around 950 to 1250 ad. The collection brings tears to my eyes, not only for the sheer number of pieces, but for their beauty. These days, one so often sees Mimbres images re-created on T-shirts or coffee mugs; but to see a fish, a quail, or a frog in its original rendering on a pot—the grace of these images defies description.
We see many other collections, ranging from dolls to 19th-century home furnishings to military history dating back to 1862. But the museum’s real eye-catcher is its collection of geodes, featured several years ago on the Travel Channel: some 1,000 of the stone globes, sliced open to reveal their gem-filled centers, and all part of the collection of local rockhound Robert (Paul) Colburn, a.k.a. The Geode Kid. More of his finds can be seen south of town, at the Basin Range Volcanics Geolapidary Museum, en route to Rockhound State Park, another of Deming’s jewels.
While storm clouds gather around the Florida Mountains to the east, I head for one of Deming’s two wineries, St. Clair (the other is Luna Rosa). New Mexico’s history of winemaking dates back some 400 years, to when Spanish priests planted vines here. At St. Clair, I make my way to the tasting room, where I meet Florent Lescombes, a sixth-generation winemaker from France. In a lilting accent, he tells of the winery, which was founded in 1984 to bring his family’s tradition of winegrowing to New Mexico. Since then the business has expanded to become the largest winery in the state, growing 40 different types of grapes and employing 200 people. In addition to their tasting room here, they have others—with accompanying bistros—in Las Cruces and Albuquerque, and a new one is slated for Farmington. “Part of our success comes from tracking the types of wine consumers are looking for and then meeting their desires,” Lescombes says. As I sit down to sample some St. Clair vintages, I must admit that I’m romanticizing my mind-opening experience in this little town. The sound of French accents and the velvety, berry flavor of a Shiraz lulls me into a sweet, dreamy state.
My mind boggles further when I learn the extent of St. Clair’s success. Lescombes explains that a Cabernet Franc produced here won the prestigious Sweepstakes Award of the 2009 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, sharing with a California vineyard the Best of Class and Best Red honors out of a field of 4,675 wines. Some in the wine business rank this accolade with California’s first victory over French wines in the “Judgment of Paris” of 1976, a blind taste test in which the wine regions faced off. But this time it is my home state, New Mexico, that is flouting preconceived notions, just as it does for me every day.
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"King of the Road" columnist Lesley S. King visits another little-known community in New Mexico each month.
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