Don Quixote Distillery & Winery

Quick Overview of the Distillery

Don Quixote Distillery & Winery is a craft-producing combination of a distillery and winery in northern New Mexico with two locations: a tasting room north of Santa Fe and a Los Alamos distillery on a high desert mesa. The company works in small batches, uses local ingredients such as organic blue corn, native herbs, and local grapes, and builds its own custom stills to tailor distillation to the high, hot, dry climate.

History

Don Quixote is built around the couple Ron and Olha. Ron began at a young age designing and building stills and has over the years developed several generations of prototypes focused on optimizing distillation in high-altitude environments. Olha brings the family knowledge of vodka and brandy production into the craft. Together they operate the two facilities: a tasting room near Santa Fe and the production site in Los Alamos. The history is marked by technical experimentation and a tradition of old distillation techniques combined with local ingredients and small-batch production.

Raw Materials and Production

Production at Don Quixote takes place in small batches on handmade stills, constructed for the region's altitude and climate conditions. A pot still is used for American whiskey, a reflux still for vodka, and a modified copper alembic for brandy, pisco, and grappa. The process includes elements such as doublers/thumpers, worm, and natural convection to encourage slow condensation and gentle aromas. The grains include organic New Mexico blue corn, and the grains are malted naturally to avoid chemicals. The wines are fermented naturally, and extracts are produced from organic ingredients such as vanilla, ginseng, and ginger.

Maturation and Barrel Types

The aging includes the use of brandy casks and barrels in connection with port production, where Don Quixote both produces wine and brandy in-house for their port versions. The note then describes brandy casks in the new distillery build-out, and the port production is based on in-house production of both wine and brandy, which integrates wine and spirits approaches in the aging and bottling process.

Whiskeys

The range includes bourbon and single cask bourbon, along with gin, vodka, brandy, pisco, wines, ports, extracts, and gourmet chocolate. Blue corn is highlighted as a raw material in both the bourbon and vodka, and single cask bourbons are mentioned in connection with bar setups and cocktail recipes. The products are produced in small batches, and the tasting room serves as a sales and tasting venue as well as a location for private events.

Whiskey Style and Flavor Profile

The material describes a consistent style of gently warmed and lightly sweet spirits with balanced aromas as a result of still design and processing choices. Blue corn is mentioned as a grain base contributing to the bourbon's corn character. In gin and botanical products, native New Mexico herbs and northern juniper as well as plants like mint and lavender are used in flavor compositions. Overall, the description points to mild sweetness, balanced aromas, and herbal/botanical notes across the products.

Visiting the Distillery

Visitors can taste at Don Quixote in the Santa Fe tasting room, located about ten miles north of Santa Fe on Hwy 84/285 just past the Cities of Gold Casino. The Los Alamos facility is the production site, located on a high desert mesa. The tasting room is also used for private events and corporate retreats. For bookings and inquiries, the phone number and email are listed in the company's contact information.

Philosophy and Craft

Don Quixote combines old, traditional distillation techniques with technical innovation from its own still designs and an explicit commitment to local ingredients. The company practices natural malting, avoids the addition of color, sugar, or other modifying substances after distillation, and implements energy-efficient measures such as passive solar systems and the reuse of distillation heat.

Sustainability

• Pre-heating the wash with passive solar systems.

• Reuse of heat from distillation to heat the facilities.

• Natural malting to reduce chemical use and CO2 footprint.

• Cleaning with citric acid solutions instead of industrial chemicals.

Latest News

Pi Day Campaign for Pi (Pisco) Brandy – 2016-03-10

In celebration of Pi Day, Don Quixote offered a discount on their Pi (Pisco) brandy at $3.14159 using the promo code "Pi" for a period ending March 14.