Verde Valley Arizona Wineries
For Winter Closure this year, Husband and I flew down to Arizona. We thought 50º and sunny skies would be perfect for hiking and communing with the red rocks of Sedona. The weather, however, refused to cooperate, and when it wasn’t snowing, it was raining—leaving many trails more akin to mud holes.
I am not a javelina, so I did what any wine lover would do on a cold, drizzly day: I looked up the nearest winery. Now, “desert” and “vineyard” aren’t two terms I would normally associate with one another, but if Gruët can turn out 90+ point sparklers, who am I to judge wine untasted?
I based our stops on a few old Wine Enthusiast ratings I stumbled across online. Here’s where we stopped in the Verde Valley Wine Country Region:
• The Caduceus Cellars tasting room is located at the top of a winding road in Jerome and features exposed brick, a vintage brass ceiling, and a statue of Ganesha. A caduceus is the staff with wings and two serpents you often see associated with medicine—so, I was half expecting fortified wines (ref: Penfold’s), but that was not the case.
The first pour, a Vermentino, tasted like Vermentino! It was bright, fruity, and bone dry. I was excited, but woefully naive; we probably should have stopped there. The rest of the pours went from bad to worse. Several that we tasted—like the Syrah where the skin contact was extended to three weeks—just made us go: TF?
I did buy a bottle of the Chupacabra Bubbles (which wasn’t listed on the flight sheet, but I peeked in the refrigerator). It tasted like the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, and, with my mum coming to town in a few weeks, I wanted her to experience it for herself.
Photos from Caduceus Cellars in Jerome, AZ.
• Pillsbury Wine Company & Vineyard was our favorite tasting room of the day. They stuck to the Rhône region varietals with their Roan Red being my favorite of their GSM blends: fruity, earthy, with just the right amount of tannins. Their single varietals, though, didn’t have a full story.
One particularly interesting note about this winery are their two bottles of Shiraz. Before you ask, I have no idea why they switch over to Aussie 3/4s of the way through the tasting menu; neither tasted like anything from The Barossa. Maybe because their owner is from New Zealand? Does NZ make Shiraz? Anyway, their Guns & Kisses bottle is co-fermented with Viognier (classic) but also 1.5% Symphony; a grape I’d never heard of before.
• Page Springs Cellars: I’d call this the spaghetti style of winemaking: throw it against the wall and see what sticks …And even if it doesn’t, let’s bottle it and sell that too. Our pourer told us they make 75+ different labels. One of the wines they poured us was a blend of six random varietals (and no, it wasn’t a field blend). Another red blend had 3% of a white wine added AT THE END. You know what? Why not throw in the kitchen sink while you’re at it? This experience was easily the worst of all three, and left me with an increasingly hopeless view of Arizona wine.
Take aways:
• Overpriced I get it, winemaking is an expensive business, but if you’re not making world-class wine, you can’t charge world-class prices. Lay consumers are also more likely to take a chance on an unknown label from an unknown wine region if it’s a good deal.
• Use the Scientific Method Plenty of people will tell you that winemaking is an art, but it’s also a science. Stop throwing spaghetti at the wall and do some research. Is quality wine grown in your type of climate anywhere else in the world? Maybe try similar varietals and styles of wine making. Experiment but keep track of your variables so you know what works and what doesn’t. Like Symphony: why try to grow a relatively unknown grape that has proven to not do well in hot, dry climates?
• Pre-made flights are confining. Each winery we tasted at had pre-made tasting flights, usually red or white. (Do people really put themselves in these types of boxes? Stop!) If you have 14 different bottles open, let people choose for themselves. Or better yet, have an experienced pourer ask what types of wine people like and then help them decide from there.
• Appoint your tasting room properly. I’m talking maps, soil samples, and spit buckets. Tasting notes should contain actual information like harvest date, time in oak, barrels produced, etc. Dress for the job you want.
Conclusion: I’ll try Arizona wines again …in about 20 years.
