I’ve been to most of the Az wineries and generally agree with the above comments: improving, trying hard, too expensive, wish them well.
One stop that nobody has mentioned is the wine school at Yavapai Community College. It is located at a satellite campus in Clarkdale, right next to Cottonwood and not far from Sedona and Jerome. They have over 30 full time students in a two year program. There are vines right on the campus. They are making half a dozen wines and some are pretty good and more reasonable than at other Az wineries. They had a very nice viognier and two versions of chard for about $25. Very fair I thought.
The place is only open a few days a week in the summer, maybe more during the school year. Students run the whole show along with a couple faculty advisors. The first academic year is book work plus work in the vineyard, then they make wine in the second year. So the variance will come from the weather and the quality of the student winemakers.
Manfred also makes a NM wine from Paola’s grapes grown in Deming. Decent enough for a wine coming from not-great grapes. And overpriced, but not horrendously so.
Tom
Definitely agree with your assessment of both.
I’ve only had a couple of Caduceus wines that I’ve liked (and I’ve tried 15-20). There is an oak aged chenin that is quite good once it gets a few years on it. The 2010 Paciencia was all nebbiolo and was pretty well balanced. Definitely a warmer climate nebb but worth drinking.
I’ve found much more interesting wines in the southern part of AZ than up north. Sand-Reckoner is making some of my favorite AZ wines, particularly their whites. Burning Tree Cellars has some hits as well.
Almost everything in Italy is better.
However giving samples away in a world class wine region is very different than starting a wine region in the high desert of Arizona. Establishments would go broke feeding the tourist crowds thirst for free booze. You can’t even begin to compare the two, nor should you.
Great call Bill. It does seem like better juice is coming from southern AZ. Still haven’t visited any of them yet…but kief-joshua and Callaghan are also pretty solid.
I’ll second Callaghan. Let me add Zarpara, particularly the sangiovese, but the viognier and the sauv blanc are good also. Not expensive either. Wine is getting better in AZ. CA and OR have nothing to worry about at this point.
Willcox, on the 10 east of Tucson by the New Mexico and Mexico boarder seems to be the best growing region to date. I think this is the Cochise region.
Caduceus was featured recently in a UK TV series called “The Wine Show” (hosted by Matthew Goode from Downton Abbey and Matthew Rhys from The Americans). Here’s the link to the details on that episode:
Based on that segment, I recently picked up a bottle of the 2013 Nagual de la Paciencia on a bit of a lark, and opened it blind with a few friends who love their Nebbiolo.
Here’s my TN:
85 points
10/27/2016 The Caduceus was poured blind and as expected, no one had a clue what it was. This bottle is 80% Nebbiolo and 20% Barbera, but you’d be hard pressed to guess the varietals because it tastes nothing like either grape. The nose is rich, ripe raspberry, and the palate follows suit. Someone wondered if winemaker Keenan was using the Nebbiolo clone from Stolpman in California; he said it has the same profile. Whatever it is, it’s overblown, lacking structure, and hot, even though the alcohol level is only 13.5%. We each had our initial blind taste, and then left the rest in the decanter. Not a horrible wine, but it doesn’t inspire you to pour a second glass.
For wines by the glass, both the red and white Dos Cabazes are decent. Not wildly complex but enjoyable for the price.
By the bottle, I’d probably stick with Pillsbury (red or white) or Callaghan for reds. 2 of the more reliable AZ producers in my opinion.
Caduceus is made by Maynard Keenan (dude from Tool), and the wines are pretty solid…but way overpriced. The bottle price on this list isn’t actually that bad compared to retail so might be worth it.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts if you try one! Az wines are getting better…but the price makes it tough to support em compared to everything else out there.
2011 Dos Cabezas El Norte was one of the better AZ wines I’ve tasted. Rhone blend. Vintages matter in AZ. LOL. As Rich mentioned, the DC white blend isn’t bad.
I’ve had a number of AZ wines and am a fan. The most noteworthy in my mind are Sonoita Winery (their Sangiovese is a ringer for Montalcino) and Dick Erath’s venture, Cimmarron (the Rojo del Sol blend of Spanish varietals is probably the best AZ wine I’ve had). For Italian and Spanish varieties, I think AZ has the potential to take its place next to the West Coast states, but I question if they will ever become polished enough as a region to market much outside the state.
Dos Cabezas has yet to really impress me on several tries, and Arizona Stronghold is solid, but priced just a bit too ambitiously for the quality.
I would actually highly recommend a trip to Tucson and down to Sonoita for any wine lover. Tucson has quite a few excellent restaurants with good wine lists, and driving down to Sonoita feels just like driving through Tuscany.
This is the FnB list, no? If so, just talk to Pavle Milic, co-owner and resident wine expert/AZ wine enthusiast. Tell him what you like and he will take good care of you.
{Disclaimer - I make the “orange-fennel bitters” in Bitter Italian on the Potent Potables list}
yes! we wound up with a sparkling savoie and a prum kabinett. I just couldn’t justify the price of the AZ wines to my dining companions. the food was good but a bit rough. better than I expected though and service was flawless and friendly.
I met Glomski a few years ago a little while after the movie came out. He was doing a ride along with the local Caduceaus/Arizona Stronghold vendor. We spent about a half hour together tasting the wines just doing a normal vendor visit. I thought he was a great guy. Not surprisingly, he was like any other small vineyard owner who is on the road selling his products. Very professional, cordial, engaging, unassuming and super knowledgeable. I haven’t kept up with music for about twenty years so I had no idea who MJK was and had only heard of Tool. Meanwhile, I was getting some calls from Tool fans about the wine and I didn’t know what these people were talking about until the sales rep scheduled the visit. The wines were decent but as everyone has noted, too expensive. I bought some, they took a long time to sell, I reduced the prices, they sold out and I haven’t had them since. It’s tough to sell pricey Arizona wines in Maryland. Watched to movie on Netflix shortly after his visit. I thought it was pretty good but I’m not a good judge because wanted to like it since I had met Glomski and had a nice impression of him.
Not Justin, but the movie is ‘Blood Into Wine’. Totally worth watching (I mean…it’s a wine movie. Nuff said).
I guess things ended pretty badly between Glomsky and Kennan, and I feel like you can kinda feel the tension a bit in the movie (but I might just be reading into things too much being that I know how it ultimately shook out between them)
2015 Page Springs Cellars Malvasia Bianca Dos Padres Vineyards- USA, Arizona, Yavapai County (11/8/2017)
Wow, this explodes out of the glass with huge aromatics of jasmine, honeysuckle and yellow fruit. The mouthfeel is like a Reisling with the oily feel and a hint of petrol. Talcum powder minerals makes for a seriously complex wine. Glad it showed so well for the crew. This is definitely the best Arizona white I’ve tasted and probably the best AZ wine period.
Back in the day when I used to go to Scottsdale on business or to visit my cousins, Callaghan was the only Az wine that I enjoyed and drank with any frequency…Don’t know if they still make one or not but their Zin was quite nice
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