Wine

Alcantara Vineyards – Cottonwood, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Mad Max, Northern Arizona, Verde Valley, Verde Valley Wine Trail, Vineyard, Wine, Winery

Located at 3445 S Grapevine Way, Cottonwood, AZ 86326
Open Daily 11a-5p
http://www.alcantaravineyard.com

Alcantara (2)

Today’s adventure takes us to wine country in the northern part of Arizona. Specifically, the town of Cottonwood. It’s about an hour south of Flagstaff and ninety minutes north of Phoenix. Downtown Cottonwood has several winery tasting rooms located down a single strip of road. But on my way out there I drove through a stretch of land with mountains, cacti and little else. I pulled over to pee and check my phone when I quickly realized that I had little-to-no reception in this area. Neither Facebook nor Instagram were loading and I was having trouble delivering the travel pictures that I was trying to send to my ex-girlfriends via text so as to make them jealous of all my awesome adventures and make them realize that I was infinitely more fun than the losers they were dating now. Look at me driving out to wine country, Darlene! Does your shitty boyfriend ever take you on awesome adventures like these?!?

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McFate Brewing Co. – Scottsdale, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Beer, Brewpub, Greater Phoenix Area, Microbrewery, Scottsdale, Wine

Located at 7337 E Shea Blvd, Ste 105, Scottsdale, AZ 85260
Open Mon-Thurs 3p-1p; Fri & Sat 11a-11p; Sun 11a-10p
http://www.fatebrewing.com

Note that as of June 2016 Fate Brewing Co. has officially changed it’s name to McFate Brewing Co. after a legal battle with another brewery, also named Fate from Colorado or some shit. The original name is still used in this review as this was posted long before the name change.

Fate (2)

I know I give the greater Phoenix area a lot of shit. I’ve complained about the heat, the abundance of chain restaurants and stores, the cold, uninviting feeling of the city that makes you feel like a burden for even existing and the deep, dark despair  you feel after hours stuck in rush hour traffic. Like your own car is an oven and it’s slowly getting smaller and the constant stop-and-go on the highway starts to almost make you feel seasick while the brake lights of the car in front of you start blink on and off and start to mesmerize you, as if they’re blinking a secret message directly to you and you start to wonder if the Hyundai Sonata is trying to tell you that your life is meaningless and the job you’ll commute to every single day for the rest of your life is slowly eating away at your soul-

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Golden Rule Vineyards – Cochise, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Cochise, Southern Arizona, Vineyard, Willcox Wine Trail, Wine

Located at 3525 N Golden Rule Rd, Cochise, AZ 85606
Open Thurs-Sun 11a-5p
https://www.goldenrulevineyards.com

Golden Rule (1)

I’ve mentioned before that Arizona has three main Wine Trails where grapes are grown: Verde Valley, Sonoita and Willcox. Today is our first visit to the latter but we’re not exactly heading to the town of Willcox. Instead we’re in a small town called Cochise which is an hour East of Tucson and Sonoita and is less than half-an-hour West of Historic Downtown Willcox.

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Charron Vineyards – Vail, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Sonoita/Elgin Wine Trail, Southern Arizona, Vail, Vineyard, Wine, Winery

Located at 1858 S Sonoita Highway, Vail, AZ 85641
Open Fri-Sun 10a-6p
http://www.charronvineyards.com

Charron (1)

Summer is coming. People who live in this state usually don’t have ambiguous feelings over that statement. They’re either incredibly relieved to be able to walk around in t-shirts and shorts and have longer stretches of sunlight in their days or they’re super pissed that it isn’t getting pitch black at 6PM anymore and that they can’t go outside in a suit without passing out from dehydration.

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Caduceus Cellars & Merkin Vineyards – Jerome, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Beer, Jerome, Northern Arizona, Verde Valley, Verde Valley Wine Trail, Vineyard, Wine, Winery

Located at 158 Main Street, Jerome, AZ 86331
Open Sun-Thurs 11a-6p, Fri-Sat 11a-8p, 365 days a year
https://caduceus.org

Caduceus (1)

Northern Arizona is home to a region called Verde Valley, which itself is home to what’s known as a “Wine Trail.” I haven’t brought this up in any of my previous posts about vineyards so far because they were all preoccupied with some bullshit short story or whatever but a Wine Trail is a region that’s conducive to growing grapes for wine production due to its elevation. Arizona has three main Wine Trails and each one has its own handful of vineyards/wineries/tasting rooms.

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Arizona Hops and Vines – Sonoita, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic A Rainy Day in Sonoita & Elgin, Sonoita, Sonoita/Elgin Wine Trail, Southern Arizona, Vineyard, Wine, Winery

Located at 3450 Highway 82, Sonoita, AZ 85637
Open Thurs 10a-4p; Fri-Sun 10a-6p
http://azhopsandvines.com/

This is the 4th and final entry of my story, “A Rainy Day in Sonoita & Elgin.” Make sure to catch up on Part 1 here, Part 2 here and then Part 3 here. 

It was just after 4pm when I reached the Hops and Vines vineyard in Sonoita. The gray skies were getting darker and I knew that whatever passed for daylight on this day wasn’t gonna last much longer. The entrance to the place was marked by DIY-type signs that were vastly different from the polished looks of the other tasting rooms I had visited that day.

Hops & Vines (1)

I had heard Hops and Vines described as a cool, laid-back vineyard that organized fun, social events about once per month. They attract a pretty big crowd and they’re the young, hip vineyard on the block which is a nice complement to the older, more established places in town. It sounded exactly like the kind of place that Rosario would frequent. But none of the hip kids were out on this rainy day. The grounds were desolate and the tasting room was empty except for a handful of people.

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Oak Creek Brewing Co. – Sedona, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic Beer, Northern Arizona, Sedona, Wine

Located at 2050 Yavapi Dr, Sedona, AZ 86336
Open Mon-Thurs 4p-Close; Friday-Sun 12p-Close
http://oakcreekbrew.com

Oak Creek (1)

I know that a lot of people equate Arizona with sadness, racism, regressive politics and sadness. And I can’t deny that any of those things are valid. Even someone as devoted to this state as I am can sometimes wonder what the hell he’s still doing here. Walk into most bars in Phoenix wearing a suit, tie and matching pocket square and just say the word, “Obama,” out loud and you’ll quickly start going online to figure out how much it costs to move to southern California. Like, you know it’s crazy expensive to live there but maybe you can live in the areas where the Mexicans without papers live? That can’t be too expensive, right?

Wrong! You’re too poor to live anywhere else, you loser. So you’re stuck here crying over your Fine Arts degree and wondering what you did to deserve such a torturous existence!

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The Village of Elgin Winery – Elgin, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic A Rainy Day in Sonoita & Elgin, Elgin, Sonoita/Elgin Wine Trail, Southern Arizona, Vineyard, Wine, Winery

Located at 471 Elgin Rd, Elgin, AZ 85611
Open 7 days per week, 10a-4p.
http://elginwines.com

Part 3 of a 4-part story called “A Rainy Day in Sonoita & Elgin.” Make sure to read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

It was about 3pm when I reached The Village of Elgin Winery. I had hopped from Dos Cabezas Wineworks to Callaghan Vineyards meeting all manner of crazy characters in an attempt to track down my ex-girlfriend Rosario Vargas. Village of Elgin couldn’t have been more than five minutes east of Callaghan. The rain remained at a light, constant drizzle but the air kept getting chiller as the afternoon went on. I pulled up to a charming, rustic building. Village of Elgin has been around for 34 years, making it Arizona’s second-oldest winery.

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Callaghan Vineyards – Elgin, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic A Rainy Day in Sonoita & Elgin, Elgin, Sonoita/Elgin Wine Trail, Southern Arizona, Vineyard, Wine

Located at 336 Elgin Rd, Elgin, AZ 85611
Open Thurs-Sun 11a-4p
http://callaghanvineyards.com

Part 2 of a 4-part story called, “A Rainy Day In Sonoita & Elgin.” Make sure you read Part 1 here.

I left Dos Cabezas Wineworks and headed south on Highway 83 with Callaghan Vineyards as my destination. The highway curved left and then right while the rain came crashing down onto my windshield. The smacking of water on my car was so loud it felt like I was being warned to stop and turn back. This type of weather in Southern Arizona is an anomaly at best and a bad omen at worst. Callaghan was less than fifteen minutes away from where I started my drive but the heavy rain made it feel twice as long. I eventually reached Elgin Rd and turned left, where a small sign served as the only indication that I had left Sonoita and entered a separate town.

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Dos Cabezas Wineworks – Sonoita, AZ

The Classy Alcoholic A Rainy Day in Sonoita & Elgin, Sonoita, Sonoita/Elgin Wine Trail, Southern Arizona, Vineyard, Wine

Located at 3248 Highway 82, Sonoita, AZ 85637
Open Thurs-Sun 10:30a-4:30p
http://www.doscabezaswineworks.com

Part 1 of a thrilling, 4-part story called, “A Rainy Day in Sonoita & Elgin.”

The small town of Sonoita can be found an hour south of Tucson if you’re heading east on I-10 and about two hours away from the state line if you’re heading west. This is Arizona’s oldest wine country along with the neighboring town of Elgin. There are almost a dozen wine tasting rooms in the area and most of them are within ten minutes of each other.

Before we  continue I’ll mention that I use the word vineyard quite often on this site without ever mentioning the word “winery.” A vineyard is the field where grapes are grown (a “yard of vines,” so to speak) to be harvested for wine production. A winery is the place where the production actually happens; where the grapes are crushed, fermented, bottled, etc. For this project I’ll be visiting places that have tasting rooms where you can sit and drink wine as well as buy bottles. These places may only be wineries that actually produce the wine while their vineyards may not be on site. Dos Cabezas, for example, produces wine harvested from several vineyards, a couple of which are in separate towns. And ultimately I’ll be using the word “vineyard” to describe all of these places because I just like the way the word sounds as opposed to the word “winery.”  I just wanted to make sure you knew I knew the difference.

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