wine. spirits. food. art.

life’s pleasurable essentials

OUR WINES OUR FOOD

At Vara, we invite you to join the passion. Our setting is an eclectic mix of winery, distillery, Taberna, retail shop, and events venue. The atmosphere is unique and diverse with an industrial chic feeling inside and a spacious patio outside to watch the awe-inspiring sunsets.

Our retail room is open 11am to 9pm Tuesday through Saturday. Make your reservation for tastings or wine presentations on the patio or join us for dinner from our tapas menu in the evenings.

Our tasting room provides wine, beer, and spirits tastings, and a host of delicious cocktails, along with hot and cold tapas service, live music, and an occasional breakout of Flamenco dancing.Vara dining is available Tuesday-Friday 4pm-10pm and Saturdays 11am-10pm. Reservations are highly recommended.

Stop by and celebrate and unwind with “$2 Off All Drinks Happy Hour” and $2 off our Tapas Platter every Tuesday-Thursday 4pm-6pm. By popular demand EVERY night is Paella Night- a house favorite made to order for you and your friends!

Of course, if you prefer to enjoy Vara at home, our wine, spirits and food are available for take-out during our normal service hours. Please call ahead for food orders to go or stop by our retail room to pick up your favorite bottle!

Our weekly events are very popular, so we recommend that you make reservations, and remember that under current social distancing rules we cannot accommodate groups larger than 6 at a table.

We’re also available by appointment for wine tastings and special events. Call 505.898.6280 or email us at info@varawines.com.

Vara lets you choose your own experience with a full complement of possibilities. Come visit us. We are certain youwill be back for more.  Join the passion and live it!

Our Wines

We produce wines from Spanish grape varietals grown in Spain and various American vineyards including right here in New Mexico. 

Under the direction of our winemaking team, Bob and Louisa Lindquist, we acquire fruit from the highest quality growers of Spanish grape varieties in the U.S. The harvested fruit is brought to our New Mexico facility where the wines are made and aged in individual lots until Bob and Louisa assemble the final cuvees.

Vara co-founders Doug Diefenthaler and Xavier Zamarripa regularly travel to Spain and are committed to growing or locating the best fruit for our Spanish wines and cava. We are very fortunate to have agreements for grape production and wine making with the best grape growers and producers in Spain. 

With a salute to their Spanish heritage, Vara’s wines are simply put — remarkable.  

Our Food

Come and enjoy some of the best hot and cold tapas in the Southwest. From refreshing gazpacho to fan-favorite papa bravas and our Ceviche Mixto to Chicken Pintxo, we know you’ll want to try every dish and return for more!