Category Archives: Willcox

A friend and wine judge (Jay Bileti) and I spent four days of intensive touring through the Southern Arizona wine country about 10 days ago and were pleasantly surprised. The quality of wine overall had significantly improved since my last serious visit to this area eight years ago. This visit produced tasting notes on many premium wines and a large selection of well-made value wines.

We tasted roughly 30 different varietals and numerous non-traditional red and white blends. There is still much searching for identity and character of terroir here, but producers are closer to consistent quality product than ever before. Warm climate Rhone, Southern Italian and Spanish varietals seem to produce the best wines here: Viognier, Petit Manseng, Malvasia Bianca and Picpoul to name a few whites and Syrah, Grenache, Tannat, Aglianico, Tempranillo and Graziano on the red side. Don’t be scared off by the unusual grape varieties. There is high-caliber wine making going on here and the most successful wines are the blends. The identity of the Arizona wine industry will likely become the home of high-quality non-traditional white and red blends. Some of the white wines (who would have guessed) in particular could be served in the premium category anywhere in the world.

Just like any California wine area, if you are a serious wine aficionado, you will want to do your homework before deciding to visit these up-and-coming AVA’s. I would be happy to make some recommendations, if you would like to drop me a note. With the warm climate, I was surprised to find the most successful wines were those made with less intervention and in a more understated, balanced profile. For those that like the big fruity wines, there is still plenty of that wine style to taste.

I will be writing about the winemaker interviews and research that has been going into my evaluation of the wine, wine industry and terroir here and I look forward to introducing you to what I believe will be a top quality wine location in the years to come. I followed the Paso Robles, Walla Walla and Santa Barbara regions on their rise and in many ways, Arizona is on the same path.