Who can tell me about Arizona wine?

Alright, I admit it: I totally love Maynard James Keenan's bands (Tool, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer) and that is the main reason I'm interested in Arizona wine.

However, the more I read about Arizona wine, the more intrigued I am. This region is still in its infancy stages, so the winemakers there are sort of like pioneers. It sounds a lot like the story behind some of the newer Canadian wine regions (Vancouver island, Similkameen Valley, etc.)

Problem is, not a single Arizona wine seems to be available on the Alberta market. Most of the wineries seem to be quite small, so I'm guessing they have small yields and the wines are mostly only available locally. This is a shame, but something I'm rather used to living up here in the Great North.

If anyone has tasted any Arizona wine, I'd love to hear your feedback - especially if you've tried Maynard's wines, from his Caduceus winery.

I'm also looking forward to watching the documentary about Arizona wine/Maynard, Blood into Wine.

(And yes, I realize that I'm totally behaving like a fangirl, but I just can't help myself!)

[Jenise]

Melissa, forumite Bill Buitenhuys visited Maynard's winery awhile back and posted some hilarious notes. Let me see if I can find them for you.

[Jenise]

Ah yes, here you go. But the news isn't good....


WTN: What a Tool
by Bill Buitenhuys » Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:05 am

So we went to Jerome, AZ this weekend to see "the most vertical town in America". (I'd post pictures but we lost our camera last weekend). Cool place. Old mining town built on the side of a mountain with lots of quirky shops. People have equated the art community it to be "like Sedona was before it went commercial" but if that is the case, Sedona must have sucked before as the art here wasn't very good at all.

We did see large sign that said "WINE" so off we scampered through the rain over to Caduceus Cellars Tasting Room. I had heard about this winery as their somewhat famous winemaker/owner was in Chandler recently hawking his $100 bottles of AZ wine. No expense spared in this room that could easily have been transported from Napa instead of rustic Jerome. Lots of sweatshirts with embroidered logos, stemless wine glasses, baseball hats, it's all here. So how is the wine you ask? Shitty, I say.

2008 Caduceus Cellars Dos Ladrones (AZ) 50/50 blend of chardonnay and malvasia bianca. Ok, this wine isn't bad. There is a floral viognier-like aroma, it's bright with tart green apple, and there is nice acidity and bitterness on the finish. The only downer is that it's a bit hot.

2007 Caduceus Cellars Primer Paso (CA/AZ) Mostly syrah with some sangiovese and merlot and a hint of malvasia bianca. The barman says that this is a blend along the traditional wines of Cote Rotie. The website says Grange and RigRun are the inspirations here. I just taste ripe ripe syrah jam that is screaming hot with rampant VA.

2007 Caduceus Cellars Anubis (CA) Blend of cab sauv, syrah, and cab franc that is just flawed. Tingly like some secondary fermentation, VA, band-aid, burnt tire rubber, and the structure of a brick outhouse.

2006 Merkin Vineyard Chupacabra (CA) Kitchen sink blend of cab sauv, syrah, merlot, zin that is pretty cab driven with cassis and a bit of leather, round structure, very ripe. Somewhat tolerable but maybe only relatively to the last two disasters.

So we took the long 140mile drive back to civilization with bad wine taste in our mouth and headed over to one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants...

2006 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley) This is more like it. Red and black cherry that is rich in flavor but not overly ripe or overly extracted. Some dusty earth, really nice balance, really nice dinner wine to match with seared duck breast. It was served cellar cold and took a solid hour to warm up and open.

I've liked a couple from Callaghan. CellarTracker can be searched for lots of tasting notes; just search for Arizona.

My only Arizona wine, from an offline several years ago

NV Tombstone Red
From Arizona, this was just flat-out weird. A bit off-dry, with a strange combination of flavors (salami, Concord grape jelly, and cherries)
Is this made by the Tombstone pizza people? Not by winemakers, it seems. I thought we should put a warning tag on the bottle, so waitstaff wouldn't innocently try the leftovers. D

Chris Coad's take on the same bottle:
Why not try a The Village of Elgin Winery (Arizona) 'Tombstone Red' NV? A blend of unspecified French-American hybrid grapes. Smells like cotton candy drizzled with raspberry sauce. Tastes the same as it smells, lightly sweet and with a laminated, glossy mouthfeel. Actively unpleasant. Joe says "You know, in this company this isn't so good, but I could see enjoying this sitting on my porch." I believe he is alone in this sentiment, but he's trying hard: "It's... different." Different from drinkable wine, at any rate. Reminds me of Bully Hill wines--enjoy the label, skip what's inside the bottle. At the end of the night every bottle is empty except this one, which is three-quarters full. Dale suggests putting a warning sign on it to ward off the waitstaff, but I think it's exactly what they deserve.

note, Chris isn't mean, the service was terrible (and he got wrong dish)

Callaghan in Southern AZ produces good wines. In Central AZ the standouts are Page Springs Cellars (mostly Rhone varietals) and Oak Creek Vineyards (nice austere, minerally Chardonnay and a Syrah that I enjoy as much as ESJ).

One problem with some of the newer winemakers here is that they aren't able to control the alcohol levels very well and end up bottling high-octane wines that I find nearly undrinkable. 16% Cabernet Sauvignon anyone? 17% Grenache?

Hmmm, this is a bit disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. For starters, I guess Keenan's wines are "celebrity wines", so he can get away with charging more money for them. Also, he is a new winemaker, and is undoubtedly still figuring how things work in that department. Coupled with the fact that Arizona's wine industry is still going through a lot of growing pains, I don't think these wine notes are unreasonable.

That said, I still have faith in the wines. Certainly all the press associated with Keenan will help them out (or at least bring in some money). I'd be curious to hear some updated tasting notes on Caduceus wines, as well as some note on other AZ wines - I'll be digging through CellarTracker momentarily.

Arizona wines are almost exclusively dry.

-Paul W.

Hi Melissa -

I've been to a number of the wineries in the Elgin/Sonoita area. Callaghan is absolutely the class of the bunch there. Kent Callaghan has been in the area for quite a while now and has spent a lot of time and effort in figuring out which varieties grow well there and how to treat them. His wines all run on the high side in terms of alcohol - I'm not sure I remember more than one or two that were below 14%. He still manages to make very balanced wines that don't come off as hot or overripe. I was just there a month or so ago and I think his current lineup is his best yet.

I don't know if there's any possibility of him shipping wines out to you in Canada. It's worth contacting him to find out, though. The website is http://www.callaghanvineyards.com/

Give Kent a call or send an e-mail - he's a great guy to deal with. You'll not find anyone with more of a passion for wine than him.

Mike, thanks so much for the link. I would imagine that making wine in such a hot climate would tend to drive the alcohol levels up. Achieving balance must be quite the feat.

Hello Melissa,

I tasted a whole bunch of wines a three Sonoita wineries this past summer. My overall impression is that there are some very good wines and a lot of potential in Arizona:
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=27134&p=231925&hilit=sonoita+sangiovese#p231925

My recommendation if you can find it is Sonoita Winery's Sangiovese.

Melissa

Two more to check out:

http://www.pagespringscellars.com/

http://oakcreekvineyards.net/

Re: Who can tell me about Arizona wine?

If the wine doesn't have it's papers, they ship them back.

Re: Who can tell me about Arizona wine?

If the wine doesn't have it's papers, they ship them back.

I wonder if the sherrif rebottles the criminal illegal wine in pink plastic jugs?

Re: Who can tell me about Arizona wine?

If the wine doesn't have it's papers, they ship them back.

I wonder if the sherrif rebottles the criminal illegal wine in pink plastic jugs?

The pink is under the black and white stripe labeling.