Willcox Wine Country

Make your way to Willcox this coming weekend—an hour’s drive east from Tucson—to the town’s quaint historic Railroad Park. You’ll feel as if you’ve stepped back in time—when days were slower, air was fresher (and 10-degrees cooler), people were friendlier, music was meaningful, art was spectacular, and the wines were, well, these wines ARE amazing!

The Willcox Wine Country Spring Festival  will take place this Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19, 10:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. The event will include food, live music, arts, crafts, and wine tasting with 16 featured Arizona farm wineries.  

About those wines

Arizona winemakers will be on hand to serve more than 70 local Arizona wines for your tasting. The wineries scheduled to showcase their wines include Arizona Stronghold, Carlson Creek Vineyard, Coronado Vineyards, Gallifant Cellars, Golden Rule Vineyards, Keeling Schaefer Vineyards, Kief-Joshua Vineyards, Kokopelli Vineyards, Lawrence Dunham Vineyards, Page Springs Cellars, Pillsbury Wine Co., Sand-Reckoner, Zarpara Vineyard, Flying Leap Vineyards, Dos Cabezas featuring Cimarron, and Rolling View/Saeculum Cellars.

As you enjoy your wine and browse the vendors, entertainment kicks off Saturday with V Lundon and Tell Me Something Good providing vital energy to the new voice of local folk/rock—a new sound that is comfortable and distinctly Arizona. Sharing the first music segment of the festival will be the Tucson-based folk/rock/pop group Roll Acosta.

Saturday afternoon, you’ll hang with tunes by 13 to the Gallows. This group mixes classic country style with contemplative lyrics and a self-described “spaghetti western” vibe. The Peoria, AZ based band is a gem shining from the dust of the Arizona desert.

On Sunday, Buzz and the Soul Senders with Nowhere Man & a Whiskey Girl will entertain the crowd all day. Buzz and the Soul Senders is a versatile group of talented musicians from southern Arizona with a strong background in blues and funky soul.  Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl will play as part of Buzz and the Soul Senders, occasionally adding their own critically acclaimed songs to the mix.

Food will be provided by Cocina Antigua and Dragoon Cafe.

Attendance and parking at the festival is free and open to the public. Wine tasting will be $15 for patrons over 21—which includes eight tasting coupons and a commemorative Willcox Wine Country glass.

More reasons to hang out…

TRUST Art & Design will give away an original artwork by a local artist and a one-night stay at beautiful Sunglow Ranch. Everyone who buys a bottle of wine can enter the drawing; winner must be present to accept the prize. Drawing will take place in the park on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.  

A movie and live auction will take place immediately following the festival on Saturday, beginning in the Keeling Schaefer Vineyards tasting room—directly across the street from the wine festival. Join Willcox winemakers Rod Keeling and Sam Pillsbury for a live auction and film showing, to benefit the non-profit Willcox Historic Theater Preservation. There will be no admission charge. Donations will be accepted. Wine & B&B packages will be auctioned prior to the movie screening.

Sam, the director, will speak informally prior to the screening of his 2001 film Crooked Earth. Set in New Zealand, it portrays the forces of tradition and tribal pride colliding with government authority, when Will Bastion returns home from the army after an absence of 20 years to bury his father, the former chief of the Maori tribe. Note: This movie is not rated, but contains language and subject matter consistent with an R-rated film.

Make it a weekend!

You may want to stick around to check out other things happening about town. For example, Apple Annie’s new Country Store will be opening on May 18 as well. Located just off of I-10 exit 340 where Stout’s Cider Mill used to be, the store will be open year-round—offering their famous pies, apple bread, fudge, jarred goods, gifts, and other Apple Annie’s goodies.

To the south of town, I will be hosting the grand opening of the Pillsbury Wines Vineyard Tasting Room to tasters from 11:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. all weekend. Hope you’ll come out to see me, too.

Visit Arizona Vines & Wines for a list of other places to stay and activities for the whole family.

Quality Inn Willcox and Holiday Inn Express Willcox offer special rates for wine festival attendees.

Cheers to a laid-back and lovely weekend away from the big city!

I’m so looking forward to my weekend visit to the Willcox Wine Country Fall Festival in the Railroad Avenue Park, just an hour’s drive east of Tucson on I-10. As they say in Willcox, “It’s not too far, but feels a world away.” The festival is on tap for this Saturday and Sunday, October 20 and 21, from 10am to 5pm each day.

This two-day fun-filled event focuses on wine tasting and meeting the Arizona winemakers who make it so. For a $15 tasting fee, festival-goers receive 8 wine tastings, a commemorative wine glass, and will enjoy live entertainment. Additional tasting tickets may be purchased at the hospitality kiosk. Choose from more than 60 wines from 13 Arizona wineries at this event; be among the first to taste some of these wines, many of which are new or recent releases.

There will be plenty of live entertainment on hand as you make your way around the park to taste the wines.

On Saturday, October 20, Buzz and the Soul Senders will be providing entertainment. This is a versatile group of talented musicians from southern Arizona with a strong background in blues and funky soul.

On Sunday, October 21, local favorites from Bisbee, Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl with Sam and Daniele Panther, will play an eclectic mix of styles along with their own critically acclaimed songs. Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl have received rave reviews of their most recent CD Children of Fortune. Not only is their music uniquely Arizona, it is an exciting update of the Folk/Americana genre.

13 to the Gallows will be closing the event on Sunday, October 21. The group mixes classic country style with contemplative lyrics and a self-described “spaghetti western” vibe. This Peoria, AZ-based band is a gem shining from the Arizona desert dust.

“Melancholy Radiance” was created with the assistance of a Sand-Reckoner Vineyards Sangiovese (Brunello clone) leaf. Look for this moody mixed-media work by Xymyl at the TRUST booth, which will feature other artwork in the “Terroir” series made with grape leaves from Keeling Schaefer Vineyards, Coronado Vineyards, Carlson Creek Vineyards, Pillsbury Wine Co., Zarpara Vineyard, and Lawrence Dunham Vineyards.

On Saturday, the 20, TRUST Art & Design will give away an original artwork by a local artist. Everyone who buys a bottle of wine can enter the drawing. They will also conduct a silent auction at the TRUST Art & Design booth in the park, featuring local artwork, so stop by and bid on your favorite piece(s).

Other vendors will be scattered throughout the park, where you’ll discover locally grown pecans, olive oils, food mixes, jams and jellies, jewelry, gifts, and more.

Movie Night Bonus

Starlight Hotel is a 1987 film by Arizona winemaker and movie director Sam Pillsbury, who will be screening this family-friendly film. This after-hours special event will be held just 35 short steps across the street from the park, on Saturday, October 20, at 6pm, at the Rex Allen Theatre. There will be no admission fee, but generous donations at this viewing will help reopen this historic theater to the public.

According to a review that ran in the New York Times, the movie is set in the Great Depression. Kate (Greer Robson) is a 13-year-old girl living on New Zealand’s South Island, whose mother dies and father takes work far away. Kate is sent to live with an aunt, until she runs away to find her father. She hops onto a boxcar and befriends a fellow fugitive, Patrick (Peter Phelps), an emotionally battle-scarred WWI veteran. The two use each other for cover as they make their way across New Zealand, sleeping under the stars (hence the film’s title), and championing the rights of destitute farmers and homeless squatters whose fortunes have been wiped out by economic hardship.

I’ll see you in Willcox this weekend, woo woo woo (that’s my railroad train sound).

Cheers!

The annual Willcox Fall Wine Festival is set for this Saturday and Sunday. Willcox is a short & scenic 1-hr drive east of Tucson.  The event will take place in the historic Railroad Park in downtown Willcox. Wine tasting, food, and music round out the affair.

The Willcox area is one of Arizona’s most productive agricultural zones, and is home to a number of Arizona vineyards. Many of the vineyards are not actually located in the immediate Willcox area—they are situated about 15-miles south of Willcox, in an area known as Kansas Settlement.  “KS” is located along a small, rural highway that connects Willcox to the Mexican border town of Agua Prieta and the Mexican state of Sonora.

Grapevines thrive in this region, mostly because the soil is incredibly fertile, and they enjoy an incredibly pure and plentiful supply of mountain water from the aquifer. The grapes here grow at about 4,300-feet, and the Mediterranean and Spanish varietals do best.

If you’ve never tried Arizona wines, you’ll be pleasantly surprised from the first sip. Arizona’s vineyards and a growing throng of very talented winemakers produce an incredibly rich, complex wine portfolio, with special attention to Rhone-valley blends of Mourvedre, Tempranillo, Petit Syrah, and Grenache. These wines are spiced with a deep, red/black grape called Petit Verdot, and Mark Beres, a new winemaker from Willcox, tells us they are looking to introduce a new varietal to the region called Tannat.

Head on over to Willcox this weekend—the festival is small, cozy, and quaint, and the tasting experience at this festival is quite up-front and personal. Your $10 tasting fee includes 6 wine tastings, a commemorative glass, and live entertainment. Additional tasting tickets may be purchased at the hospitality kiosk.

Elgin Hosts Grape Stomp 5K Next Week

It’s great fun to run (and walk) in and around the vineyards with like-minded wine lovers, and this is your chance to join in on the fun next Saturday, October 22.

The Elgin/Sonoita Region leg of the Arizona Wine Growers Association Grape Stomp 5K will be starting at the Sonoita Hills Community Church at 52 Elgin Rd. From there, the course takes runners through Rancho Rossa’s vineyard and then back onto scenic Elgin Rd. with views of the Huachuca Mountain range, the Biscuit, and rolling grasslands. The finish line is at Callaghan Vineyards where runners can enjoy refreshments, beverages and the awards ceremony.

The race will start at 8:00am. Runners may pick up their race materials as early one day prior to the 5k at Dos Cabezas WineWorks between 12pm-4pm. If you haven’t registered yet, arrive as early at 7am at Callaghan Vineyards to complete the process. Complimentary shuttle service will then take runners/walkers to the starting line. Each participant will receive a running tote bag which will contain a t-shirt, wine glass, and discount coupons among other information on local businesses. Wine glasses can be used at all of the local wineries for a discount on tastings.

Proceeds from The Great Arizona Grape Stomp 5K Fun Runs benefit the Arizona Wine Growers Association which serves grape growers and winemakers in Arizona, allying its members for representation, promotion, and education. The association strives to advance with integrity the sustainable growth and production of authentic Arizona-grown wines.

Cheers to your weekend; pour yourself some grapes—make that Arizona wines!