Over the past two decades, the Arizona wine scene went from being as dry as a desert to a full-on flood. Now approaching 130 wineries—compared to just 12 in 1999—the Southwestern state’s tasting scene and its sudden explosion may go down as the fastest viticultural about-face in New World wine history.
“How often do you get to see wine regions and the whole economic engine of an industry happen right before your very eyes?” asks T. Scott Stephens, a sommelier and co-owner of Beckett’s Table, in Phoenix. He’s served fine wine for his whole career, but only became wise to Arizona wine a little over a decade ago after drinking wines from Sand Reckoner Vineyards made by co-owners Rob Hammelman and Sarah Fox.
“If this quality of wine is being made by this lovely couple, who else is doing it?” thought Stephens, who now sells a significant share of Arizona wine. “It created this journey that continues to today.”
Arizona’s accelerated evolution is due to a unique combination of factors. There’s the rockstar attention brought by Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan, who started his Arizona brand Caduceus nearly 20 years ago. Then came the rise of an educational backbone at Yavapai College’s Southwest Wine Center, which is pumping out expertly trained winemakers every year.
Underlying the entire Arizona wine culture, too, is a proud spirit of experimentation. It continues to empower winemakers to explore—and rather quickly determine—which grapes are truly suited to the state’s stark landscapes.
“We have an opportunity to tell a new story,” says Pavle Milic, who opened Scottsdale’s FnB Restaurant nearly 15 years ago and more recently launched Los Milics Vineyards. “What’s liberating is that we don’t have to follow any trends or any rules.”
The state is broken up into three American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), and these appellations also serve as the primary places to taste wine in Arizona. The historic heart of Arizona wine is just south of Tucson in the Sonoita AVA, which sits at nearly 5,000 feet in elevation and is between four mountain ranges.
Over an hour to the northeast is the Willcox AVA, where most of Arizona’s grapes grow on a high plain at about 4,000 feet. Then a two-hour drive north of Phoenix is the Verde Valley, where more than two dozen tasting rooms continue to toast the AVA’s 2021 approval.
What follows are suggestions on which tasting rooms and estate wineries to visit in each of these regions. You can’t go wrong with any of them since they all offer uniquely personal service.
“You still experience the human side of winemaking in Arizona,” says Milic. “You actually get the chance to meet the people involved in the craft, not just people working in the tasting room. Arizona is still young enough that that experience is still possible.”
Sonoita
Sonoita is the historic heart of Arizona wine. Soil expert Gordon Dutt, who came to Arizona from U.C. Davis in the 1970s, encouraged the state’s first commercial vineyards to be planted on the region’s windswept grasslands.
In 1984, Sonoita became one of the earliest approved AVAs in the United States—just three years after Napa Valley, which was the first. With elevations around 5,000 feet, it’s one of the higher appellations in the country, framed by the peaks of the Santa Rita, Huachuca and Whetstone mountains.
Callaghan Vineyards
Kent Callaghan is considered the pioneer of modern Arizona winemaking, having first planted vines with his parents near the town of Elgin in 1990. Callaghan Vineyards has since been served in the White House four separate times.
“Though not classically trained, this gentleman has been making wines through trial and error and now has over 30 vintages under his belt,” says FnB Restaurant’s Pavle Milic. “No one has a better perspective on the lay of the land of Arizona wine.”
Milic loves the white blend called Lisa’s, which usually includes Marsanne, Roussanne and Malvasia Bianca. “It’s an aromatic empress,” says Milic. “Every time I smell this wine, it reminds me of Arizona.”
For a red, try a bottle of Waverley’s, a blend of Grenache and Petit Manseng, a white grape. “He uses Petit Manseng in the same way we would add a little salt and lemon to soup, to give it a little lift,” says Milic. “It amplifies the mouthfeel.”
Rune Wines
This off-the-grid winery is the work of Arizona native James Callahan, who made wine in Washington State, New Zealand and California before returning home in 2012 to launch Rune Wines the following year.
“This is one of our favorite places to visit,” says Emily Rieve and Lindsey Schoenemann, who own GenuWine Arizona, a wine bar and bottle shop in Phoenix. “The atmosphere is breathtaking, especially with the tasting room overlooking the vineyards. What makes it especially memorable is the owner/winemaker James and his wife, Anna—they are the heart and soul of Rune. The wines are exceptional and if you're lucky, James will take one out of his library to pour.”
Stephens is also a fan. “It’s among the rewarding sunset views of Sonoita’s undulating vineyards and whispering tall grasses,” he says. “James Callahan’s use of wild yeast fermentation is reflective of taking only what nature gives and letting it blossom in the bottle.”
Dos Cabezas WineWorks
Both Stephens and Milic give much credit to Todd and Kelly Bostock of Dos Cabezas for pushing the state’s wine forward. “They have been the driving force of what Arizona wine could be,” says Stephens.
Milic recommends two sparkling wines—one in a can, the other made in a solera-style—as well as the El Campo Red. “El Campo is a field blend of everything that they planted in the Pronghorn Vineyard, all picked together at the same time,” says Milic, who’s poured the wine at FnB for many years. “It’s special because it reflects this little chunk of land.”
Plus, there are good eats. “Todd and Kelly imported a wood-burning oven from Italy, so they make badass pizza,” says Milic, adding that they often showcase appetizers made with indigenous ingredients, like tepary bean hummus. “They’re mindful of provenance.”
Los Milics
Milic was working the floor of his FnB Restaurant in Old Town Scottsdale when guests asked him to describe his winemaking dream. Then they offered to help fund such a project. So, at the end of 2018, Milic moved to the Sonoita area and began building Los Milics Vineyards.
Serving 14 wines from 17 different grapes grown on 70 acres of estate vineyards, the tasting room is set amidst what Milic calls a “cavalcade of monoliths” that rise from the desert floor. Nine one-bedroom casitas just opened as an overnight option, and there’s a small restaurant on the way as well.
“This jewel of southern Arizona encompasses amazing architectural design bound with a passionate respect to nature,” says Stephens. “The vast viewing window looking outside of the tasting room reveals the Mustang Mountains. At every corner, with a glass of Arizona in hand, visitors may feel a calming sense to simply exhale.”
Queen of Cups
More winemakers are heading closer to the Mexican border to expand the Sonoita terroir. Among them are Lily Christopher and Emmett Rahn-Oakes, the young couple behind Queen of Cups. Their low-intervention wines are made with grapes including Picpoul Blanc, Barbera, Viognier, Malbec and more.
“Emmett and Lily are part of the new wave of generational wine makers staking their claim in southern Arizona,” says Stephens. “An easy 20-minute drive from Sonoita lands you in the quaint hamlet of Patagonia, where their convivial respite showcases wines of restraint, balance and minimal intervention.”
Verde Valley
Even though less than 200 acres of grapes are grown in the appellation, the Verde Valley is jam-packed with tasting rooms in the small towns of Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Jerome and Cornville. That’s due to its proximity to Phoenix, which is about a 90-minute drive away.
“This area is booming because it’s a quicker and cooler wine getaway for the millions of people in that exploding city,” comment Jeanne and Pete Snell, who own Tucson’s Arizona Wine Collective in Tucson, which has become known as a chamber of commerce for the state’s wines.
“We have watched it change and, especially, grow over the last seven years. In addition to having had more than 40 wineries featured in our place over the years, we are privy to what the consumers are saying about and being drawn to these days.”
Caduceus Winery & Merkin Vineyards
You can’t talk Arizona wine without giving credit to Maynard James Keenan, who achieved fame and fortune as the frontman to the rock bands Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer before founding his winery 20 years ago.
First based in Jerome—which is still home to a tasting room—his Caduceus Winery and Merkin Vineyards grew into multiple brands and tasting rooms as well as five small Verde Valley vineyards and one big one in the Willcox AVA.
“He’s done so much taking his bravado and stardom and using it as an absolute facilitator for Arizona wine,” says T. Scott Stephens. “He’s just as giving and sharing as the next guy.”
Most significantly, Keenan recently opened a brand new, hilltop facility on the former site of the Masonic Lodges in downtown Cottonwood. “It’s an amazing accomplishment and now a must-see destination for food and wine lovers to experience his nod to his Italian heritage,” says Stephens. “The panoramic view via the hilltop tram with a gelato in hand is unforgettable.”
Southwest Wine Center Tasting Room
With a 13-acre vineyard and a teaching winery with an emphasis on sustainability, Yavapai College’s Southwest Wine Center, in Clarkdale, offers a two-year degree in enology and viticulture. “They’re churning out winemakers,” says Stephens.
It’s an interesting place to explore the cutting edge of Arizona wine. “You can taste the efforts of the students,” says Milic. “It gives people the opportunity to see the academic side of it.”
Chateau Tumbleweed
Founded in 2011 by two couples who were already working in the Arizona wine industry, Chateau Tumbleweed sources from at least a dozen vineyards across the state each vintage to produce a range of blends and single-vineyard, single-variety wines.
“They are down-to-earth, great people,” says Rieve from GenuWine Arizona, whose inventory and menu reflects that state’s entire wine culture. “What makes Arizona wines so special are the people behind the wines. The owners and winemakers are so involved every step of the way and are usually running the tasting rooms as well. It just feels like family and we love supporting Arizona wines.”
She likes Tumbleweed’s Mourvèdre. “The labels are fun and the tasting room feels like you're home,” says Rieve. “It's so welcoming.”
Milic appreciates how the Tumbleweed team makes wine easy to like for all types of people. “They drop the whole cloak of pedantic vernacular when it comes to tasting,” he said. “They’re approachable. They make it fun. They are people who don’t take themselves that seriously and guests respond to that. They also happen to make delicious wine.”
Page Springs Cellars
Ever since planting his first creekside vineyard in 2004 north of Cornville, Eric Glomski made stewardship of the surrounding environment a key component of the mission for Page Springs Cellars, which partners with Friends of the Verde River, among other nonprofits. A visit can simply focus on tasting wine and enjoying food from the on-site bistro, or guests could take a tour of the cellar, the estate, or the nearby House Mountain Vineyard.
“Eric has carved an indelible path along Oak Creek,” said Stephens. “His wines are nurtured and crafted by hand, expressing a sense of place. You can experience multiple wine tastings inside, or take the adventure outside with a picnic, or nestle up to the deck with the perpetual flow of rippling water below.”
Willcox
In 2016, the Willcox AVA became the state’s second appellation, a well-deserved recognition since the region grows about 75% of Arizona’s wine grapes, including much of what’s being poured in Sonoita and Verde Valley. As the Snells of Arizona Wine Collective explained, “Folks are drinking Willcox wine no matter where they taste Arizona wine.”
The flat, desolate landscape sprawls across a farming area known as the Kansas Settlement. The tasting rooms range from casual estate experiences that are spread out across the landscape to more urbane offerings often found in the small town of Willcox.
Golden Rule Vineyards
The Snells recommend Golden Rule Vineyards, which just opened a new tasting room in “a cool historical building in the town of Willcox,” they point out. The winery, which grows 11 varieties on 26 acres at its estate vineyard, is now in what was originally the Chevrolet building, a landmark built in 1946.
Those wishing to see the vines can schedule an appointment to taste at the estate, which is on the northern end of the Dragoon Mountains. “They also grow some of the best pistachios you’ll ever have,” the Snells say.
Rhumb Line Vineyard
As someone who’s walked vineyards all around the world, T. Scott Stephens is always impressed by the meticulous care he witnessed at Rhumb Line, which owners Todd Myers and Michelle Minta named after a nautical term.
“It’s like you could eat off the floor,” says Stephens, of the property, which also grows olives and lavender. Though Rhumb Line sells all of its fruit, the property offers lodging in Quonset huts and farm-fresh cuisine at the recently opened Olive’s Vineyard Cafe, making it an ideal home base for exploring the nearby tasting rooms of Pillsbury Wine Company & Vineyard and Bodega Pierce.
Four Tails Vineyards & 1764 Vineyards
A little further south, but still in the Willcox AVA, is a growing area around the town of Pearce. “The drive out there provides an excellent view of this region on the edge of the Chiricahua National Monument,” says Jeanne Snell, who recommends hiking there.
“We are getting some outstanding wines from this area from Four Tails Vineyards and 1764 Vineyards,” she says. “Neither have official tasting rooms but host customers by appointment.”
More Southwest Wine Coverage:
- Rock Star Maynard James Keenan's latest splashy project aims to amplify Arizona wine.
- The Southwest is one of the United States’s unsung wine regions. Get to know the landscape in “Exploring the Diverse, Terroir-Driven Wines of the American Southwest.”
- Texas has one of the fastest-growing wine scenes around. Our editors rounded up the best wineries in Texas to visit.
- Six new AVAs are on the horizon for Texas, suggesting the possibility of more definition and visibility that, for many Texas winemakers, feels overdue.
- The Camp Verde Pecan and Wine Festival, which takes place an hour outside of Phoenix, is a food festival that deserves attention from wine lovers.
The Ultimate Suitcase for Wine Country
Our Vino-Voyage TSA-Approved 12-Bottle Wine Suitcase makes the perfect companion for every winery on your bucket list.
Published: June 13, 2024
