The Willcox Wine Country Spring Festival is a two-day fun-filled event at historic Railroad Park in downtown Willcox, just an hour’s drive east of Tucson on I-10. Your $10 tasting fee includes 6 wine tastings, a commemorative glass, and live entertainment. Additional tasting tickets may be purchased at the hospitality kiosk.

The music and entertainment promises to be incredible. On Saturday, May 14, Tom Freestone will play jazz, standards & folk-rock, On Sunday, May 15, local favorites from Bisbee, Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl, will provide an eclectic mix of styles along with a few their own critically acclaimed songs. On Saturday the 14th at 4:00 pm, TRUST (the gallery at Keeling Schaefer Vineyards, Willcox) will give away an original artwork from a local artist. Everyone who buys a bottle of wine will be entered in the drawing. The winner must be present to accept the prize.

Also on Saturday, in conjunction with the event and directly across the street, TRUST will hold a silent auction from 12-2:00pm; stop by and bid on your favorite piece(s) and then come back for more tasting, food, and live music.

Wineries represented will include Lawrence Dunham Vineyards, Sand-Reckoner Vineyards, Pillsbury Wine Company, Jerome Winery, Kief-Joshua Vineyards, Arizona Stronghold Vineyards, Carlson Creek Vineyard, Coronado Vineyards, Keeling Schaefer Vineyards, Page Spring Cellars, and Kokopelli Vineyards.

Dragoon Cafe, which specializes in made-from-scratch fresh foods, desserts, drinks and catering, has put together a fantastic cheese-fruit-chocolate plate especially for this event. In addition, they’ll be serving freshly made sirloin, veggie, garlic-lime pork, or chicken burritos and more.

Escape the Tucson heat; head on over to Willcox. Cheers!

CataVinos Wine Shoppe, 3063 N. Alvernon Way, location of first Taste of Arizona Wines, Sunday, April 3.

What’s your favorite Arizona wine?  What’s that you say? “Ewwww, you’ve got to be kidding, Arizona wines???” Time to be surprised, be VERY surprised—winemakers and grape growers have honed their trade and the state’s vineyards have matured; Arizona wines now rank among my favorites. I am constantly pleased and amazed by the quality of wines being produced throughout the state.

 This Sunday, April 3, 2:00pm-5:00pm, over 40 wines from 10 of those Arizona wineries will be showcased at the first ever Taste of Arizona Wines event at CataVinos Wine Shoppe & Tasting Room.

As I write this blog, an enormous outdoor tent is being constructed in the back parking lot of the wine shop at 3063 N. Alvernon Way and the pouring tables soon will be moved into place. Tasting sheets are being printed, food prepared, and last minute details are being tended. “It takes a village to put on an event of this magnitude,” claims shop owner Yvonne K. Foucher. But it will be worth the effort to silence those Negative Nans and Doubting Dans as to the quality and value of Arizona produced wines.

Bitter Creek Wines among those showcased at Taste of Arizona Wines in Tucson

Participating wineries will include Lightning Ridge Cellars (Elgin), Rancho Russo (Elgin), Canelo Hills (Elgin), Charron Vineyards (Elgin), Kief Joshua Vineyards (Elgin), Carlson Creek Vineyards (Willcox), Bitter Creek Winery, Jerome Winery, Dribble Creek Wines (Jerome), Arizona Stronghold (Cottonwood), Page Springs Cellars (Cornville), and Casavinos Winery (Phoenix).  Wines will include single varietals, amazing blends, whites, reds, sparkly, dessert, and after-dinner selections—something for everyone—many will be poured by the winemakers themselves.

The cost is only $15 per person (over 21 please), with discounts of $5 of $50 or more wine purchase and $15 off the purchase of a case.

The entertainment will only sweeten the event, as singer Anna Warr teams with Mike Kuhn on the sax to deliver incredible jazz and blues.

Speaking of sweet

Earlier in that same day, April 3, from 1:00pm-3:00pm, Taste of Chocolate will be held at the Doubletree Hotel on Alvernon, across from Reid Park. There will be 45 chocolatiers with their creations available for tasting and purchase, and Lightning Ridge Cellars from Elgin, AZ will be pouring several of their wines. The event benefits the Rincon Rotary Scholarship Program and PolioPlus. Entry fee is $10 per person.

Cheers to one great wine-ing weekend!

A short Sunday jaunt to the Sonoita/Elgin wine region in Southeast Arizona discovered three palate-pleasers. Our first stop was the Kief Joshua Winery, which is hard to miss on winery row in Elgin. The impressive castle-like structure welcomes tasters to a wonderful wine-tasting experience. Here, we enjoyed a glass of the recently released 2009 Kief Joshua Zinfandel with our made-to-order omelets; it was the perfect choice. Produced with grapes from John McLoughlin’s Vineyards in Willcox, AZ, this Zin has a slightly earthy nose of cherries, green olives, and cassis. The taste is herbal with black plums and raspberries. This could be the perfect holiday feast wine with grilled lamb.

Next stop was just down the road at Canelo Hills Vineyard that revealed its 2008 Canelo Hills Sunrise, the “perfect house wine.” This blend of Nebbiola and Syrah (in roughly equal proportions) is made with grapes from AZ Stronghold Vineyards and Sweet Sunrise Vineyards. It tastes of pomegranate and cranberry. The finish is crisp, clear, and acidic, thanks to its 12.9% alcohol content. This is a great lighter red wine to be enjoyed in the coming warmer months, but it’s a great everyday wine year-round.

Tucked back off Elgin Road a ways, Rancho Rossa Vineyards is unpretentious. The tasting room/winery is surrounded by nearly 24 acres of orderly grape vines, ready for the growing season ahead. Owner Sarah Hamilton cheerily greets us and pours a few selections. My favorite was the 2006 Rancho Rossa CSM, a blend of 60% Syrah, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Merlot grapes, all grown on the Rancho Rossa estate.

Hamilton explains that this wine has been aged in American and French Oak for 18 months, and may have been a “mistake” fashioned by winemaker husband Chris Hamilton, who was talking during its creation. But it’s no mistake that this is a totally enjoyable wine. It is fruit-forward as expected, and complex as blends should be; the finish is slightly dry and refreshing. Rancho Rossa donates ten cents to the American Cancer Society for every bottle of wine sold.

These wines and many of those reviewed in a previous Pour Me Some Grapes blog will be among the 40-some Arizona wines being poured at the Sunday, April 3, 2011 Arizona Wine Tasting Festival at CataVinos Wine Shoppe & Tasting Room in Tucson (call (520)323-3063 for details). The 2:00pm-5:00pm event will feature nine Arizona wineries from around the state. If you haven’t visited the three wine regions in Arizona (Verde Valley to the North, Sonoita/Elgin to the Southeast, and Willcox to the East), or if it’s been a while since the last time, here’s your chance to sample just a few amazing wines waiting to be discovered by your palate.

Cheers!