Southwest Wines

[Winefinder]

As a few of you know, Mrs. and I moved from SoNapaNoma to Ariizona few years ago with an idea to retire in the sun and maybe plant grapes. When I spoke of the planting part with a prominent Napa wine maker he was discouraging (in that I'm too old). So here it is 15 years later and I'm still kickin', still lovin' wine and conversing with a local college in their budding enology & viticulture program.

What's encouraging about southwest wines? About 17 years ago I visited New Mexico's Gruet. Today it is one of the best sparkling wine producers in the U.S. Additionally one of the local wine shops ask if I would meet with one of their customers to identify grapes she had growing. It is cabernet sauvignon. I put the customer and an enology student together and I do believe, together, they made an award winning wine.

Now that I am here I'm discovering vineyards I didn't know existed, one growing excellent pinot noir. [u]Yes! In Arizona.[/u] Because we be in the mountains we're in a warm region one, cool region two. If I hadn't tasted these wines I would not have believed it possible.

The land of AZ will be factor in premium wines someday.
Winoweenie, you need to come to the area one of these days. There is even a drinkable carmenere nearby.