AZ Wine Growers Hosts Arizona Wine Festival at Spring Tempe Festival of the Arts

 

Arizona Wines

Spring Tempe Festival of the Arts -goers can sip, sample, and savor local Arizona wine at the Arizona Wine Festival, March 25-27. Twelve Arizona wineries will showcase their wines and offer tastings, along with sales by the glass, bottle, or case. The wine festival has an admission of $12 and includes six tastings and a commemorative wine glass.

 The Arizona Wine Festival will be located on 7th Street, just west of Mill Avenue. The festival is the perfect opportunity for festival goers to sample and purchase Arizona wine.

Arizona wines are growing in stature and have been served at the White House. In 2010, Arizona wines were poured at three separate esteemed James Beard House dinners. More than 20 wines from eight Arizona wineries have scored at least an 88 rating from Wine Spectator.

The 2011 Spring Tempe Festival of the Arts features more than 400 fine artists and crafts persons displaying and selling their original work amid a street festival atmosphere in Tempe’s Mill Avenue District. The event is the largest festival of its kind in Arizona, hosting as many as 225,000 festival visitors. It consistently ranks among the top 20 festivals in the nation. The event also includes the Festival Jazz Stage, live entertainment, street performers, sports exhibits, Kids Innovation Station, and fun festival food. Sponsored by the Arizona Wine Growers Association.

First Arizona Wine Festival in Tucson

CataVinos Wine Shoppe & Tasting Room is hosting Arizona-produced wines at the first ever Arizona Wine Festival in Tucson on Sunday, April 3, 2011. Ten Arizona winemakers will be pouring their finest—if you haven’t tasted Arizona wines for awhile, come out and be pleasantly surprised! Cost is $15/person; receive $5 off with purchase of over $50, and $15 off with the purchase of a case. For more information about the event call CataVinos at 323-3063.

Mark your calendars…plan to enjoy some mighty fine wines. I’ll see you out and about at Tucson Festival of Books this weekend; look for the Pour Me Some Grapes t-shirt.

Cheers.

Eddie Rodriguez, long-time CataVinos grapista, pours one last glass

Let’s tip our wine glasses and bid ‘Sayonara’ to one of the CataVinos Wine Shoppe much-loved grapistas (my term for wine barista), Eddie Rodriguez.

Eddie, a Catalina Foothills High School graduate, is off to Japan to put his customer service skills plus his University of Arizona Asian Studies degree to work – he’ll be managing two tea room/bars and teaching English.

For over two years, Eddie has shown genuine respect to each and every wine shoppe customer, and was always most receptive to individual needs. He quickly mastered the aspects of wine serving, tasting methods, and the palates of the patrons. He took plenty of time to explore his own palate as well – it has become sophisticated and keen (and sometimes, downright jammy).

Eddie is a perpetual learner who will go far in life. Always looking to expand his horizons, on his inaugural tour of the Elgin/Sonoita wine region earlier this month, Eddie got the ‘bug,’ if you will. By last week, he was already a favorite visitor to the tasting rooms throughout the region. Most inspired by Kief Joshua Manning, I’m certain, I can almost see that advanced degree in oenology and viticulture, and a winery of his own in the future. (I’ll bet he’s already checking out the University of Melbourne, Kief.)

I wish Eddie much success, and he should consider this my official application for work in his winery’s tasting room.

Cheers to your fantastic future, Eddie! You will be missed.

Check local wine shoppes and wineries for those last minute ‘hard-to-fit’ friends and family members…and your holiday hosts.

CataVinos Wine Shoppe & Tasting Room will be open today, offering over 350 wine selections, all priced under $15 per bottle. Yvonne K. Foucher, shoppe owner, says she’ll be pouring holiday feast wines for tasting all day, starting at noon. Stop by for a tasting, pick up those last minute gifts, and don’t forget the wine gift certificates too.

Most Arizona wineries will also be open today for tastings and wine purchases. There’s nothing like an Arizona wine for the gift that says “I buy local.” These wineries will be open today and Sunday, but most will be closed on Christmas Day.

Next weekend, several are scheduled to be open on New Year’s Day, so visiting the Arizona wine countries (Willcox region, Verde Valley region, and Sonoita/Elgin region) will be the perfect way to entertain those out-of-town relatives and guests.  Call ahead for tasting schedules—contact information for all Arizona wineries can be found on the  Arizona Wine Growers Association website.

My holiday wish is that you choose your grapes wisely, pour those grapes freely, savor the flavor fully — and please be careful out there! May your celebration be fun-filled and full of fellowship and goodwill.

Slainte!