The Arizona wine industry is receiving a lot of attention in recent years as the
number of vineyard acres are expanding, wine production is increasing, and the
quality of Arizona wines are being recognized. There are now over 60 bonded
wineries in Arizona up from nine in 2000. However, wine grape acres have not
kept up with the demand sending Arizona wineries to purchase grapes from outside
of the state. According to recent articles, the California wine grape supply is
facing long-term shortages due to myriad of issues facing that industry,
including water.
Peggy Fiandaca, President of the
Arizona Wine Growers Association, http://www.arizonawine.org/ said “The opportunities of the Arizona wine
industry are great, and there is no reason that the wine industry cannot be the
next Billion Dollar wine region like Washington and Oregon.” A recent study The Arizona Wine Tourism Industry, June 2011
funded by the Arizona Office of Tourism found that the wine visitor had an
estimated $22.7 Million in direct expenditures resulting in a total economic
impact of $37.6 Million, supporting 405 total jobs.
“We are pretty excited about this
year’s growing season because it appears we have finally skirted the frost
season. It’s been a few years since we have had a decent sized harvest; and, if
the long term forecasts out there come in even close to predictions – this
should be the year,” according to Eric Glomski, co-owner and director of
winegrowing of Page Springs Cellars. Eric says that they have planted an
additional 16 acres at the Page Springs estate and are managing the
ColibriVineyards in the Chiricahua Mountains in Southeastern Arizona. They are
focusing on Rhone red and white varietals but have some Pinot Noir in a cool
site and planted Vermentino, Teraldage, and Counoise.
In Arizona’s oldest wine region,
the anticipation for a good growing season is also high. Kent Callaghan,
winemaker of Callaghan Vineyards in Sonoita, had their first vintage in
1991. Today Callaghan’s estate winery is
looking forward to a really good year in the vineyard. According to Kent, “We
have planted new varieties that will produce small crops so we can get a feel
for them here (Fiano, Vermentino, Petit Manseng, Malbec, Carmenere, and
TourigaNacional). We also planted about two acres of whites (Petit Manseng,
Malvasi Bianca, and Roussanne).” Kent
anticipates harvesting a sizable crop of Graciano from their 3.25 acres planted.
“It looks like a good, fun year so far,” he stated.
Southeastern Arizona is the third
major wine grape growing region and one of the fastest in the amount of acres
being planted. “After two spring
frost years in a row, we had very minimal damage from the only frost event in
mid-April,” according Curt Dunham, owner/winemaker of Lawrence Dunham
Vineyards. “So far, we have a very encouraging amount
of buds in the entire vineyard. Our Viognier, which is typically considered a
light producer, is absolutely loaded with buds. If we get a good fruit set and
normal weather, it should be a very good year in terms of
volume.”
“The Arizona wine industry is
excited about the start of the 2012 growing season. The increase in vineyard
acreage and the fantastic wines being produced will support our efforts to put
Arizona on the map as a quality winemaking and grape growing region,” said Peggy
Fiandaca, president of the Arizona Wine Growers Association.
Keeling-Schaefer Vineyards produces about 3,000 cases annually from their 21 acres in Cochise county. Winemaker Rod Keeling has been making wine for 13 years and his experience shows. I had the opportunity to chat with Rod and his daughter Cecelia while tasting 3 wines, with 2 of them being available only from the winery. The 2009 Three Sisters Syrah is soft, ripe with good fruit. It's complexity and medium body give it a nice mouth feel. Plenty is available as they made 539 cases, quite a bit for an Arizona winery. The 2007 Home Place Reserve Syrah gets aged for 3 years in new French oak and delivers a soft start that leads to a full bodied wine. With only 96 cases produced this wine is only available at their tasting room and online, as is the 2008 Schaefer Boys Mourvedre. This 68 case production wine is spicy with dark fruit and is terror driven, showcasing their Rock Creek vineyard. 
Kief Manning is the winemaker at Kief-Joshua Vineyards in Elgin is very well versed at wine making & the wine business having earned both an undergraduate & graduate degree at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Grapes are provided by their 2 vineyards with 60 acres planted to vines in Elgin and Kansas Settlement. Pouring 2 white wines and 2 reds at the festival all were good, solid wines. I was especially fond 2 of them. The 2010 Cephus is easy drinking blend of Chardonnay and Rousanne. Light and crisp this is a good food wine or drank by itself. His 2009 Magdalena is 70% Petite Sirah and 30% Barbera that has some earthy overtones and solid dark fruit qualities. Kief-Joshua is striving to be environmentally friendly by implementing several techniques in the vineyards and at the winery. I'm curious to see what Kief can do with Pinot Noir as he has some currently in the barrell.