Tucson 2025

We finally got down to Nogales which is a small town straddling the US/Mexican border and visited some nearby wineries with which we had no previous experiences.

Our tour guides were Doug and Gay Scholma who spend most of their winters in Tucson now and do a lot of volunteer work near the Mexican border which is where most of the wineries are located. This is an area of vast grasslands and rolling hills at between 4,000 and 5,000 feet elevation. This seems to be the ideal terroir for Mediterranean grape varieties from Spain, Italy and France. All of the wineries that we visited on this trip are in the Sonoita-Elgin region though most also buy grapes from the Wilcox region about an hour to the east in Cochise County. Our fist stop was Rune Winery where we tasted some remarkably good wines. It will be interesting to see if in the context of a blind wine tasting whether they are as impressive. We started with an emphatically aromatic floral Malvasia which, like Georgian Rkatsiteli is aged in amphora to broaden the aroma and add a sense of the earth. The Roussanne is classic Rhone style white wine with bright exotic fruit and clean minerality. The reds were just as impressive starting with an exquisitly vibrant fresh Grenache, a bold, jammy, tannic Graciano and a hearty Syrah co-fermented with Viognier, Mavasia and Rousanne on wild yeast emphasizing spice and it’s regional identity. We continued down the road a bit to Rune’s two “sister wineries” Deep Sky which offered a real nice red blend Gravity and a GSM called Comet. Autumn Sage winery served a brilliantly fresh Albarino and a massively rich dark Sagrantino. We continued south to Nogales which even on the US side is 100% Mexican both in its people and the rather organic style of architecture and urban planning. We stopped at a small restaurant on a back alley called Cucina La Ley. Being that we were the only “gringos” in the place, we were pretty sure that the Mexican cuisine was authentic. The birria and seafood tacos burst with flavor and the beef tongue soup just made my soul sing. The food couldn’t be better. If there was any fault, it was that they did not have beer or wine but we did enjoy real Mexican Coca Cola and fruit beverages.

Another winery that Alice and I visited just outside of Tucson in Vail is Charron Vineyards. They only grow Merlot on site which sells out quickly. We did enjoy a wonderfully aromatic Whetstone White which reminded me of Michigan Niagara with its purer than pure fruit and a big dry slightly bitter finish. We also enjoyed a deep blackberry scented Tempranillo as well as a reserve wine made by the winery that supplied much of Charron’s grapes called Sand Reckoner Red with its fine balance and depth.

So we headed up to Grand Rapids to show a few of the wines to our Rude tasters group to get some feedback. We started with a pair from New Mexico and then proceeded to the Arizona wines concluding with a Spanish-Arizona comparison to get a little context. We rated the whites and reds separately.

WARM UP WINES

Arena Blanca Winery Pomegranate Wine, New Mexico (12% abv) $17 was liked by most of the tasters and most were surprised to find out is was not made from grapes. In all ways, it did resemble a nice rosé though a bit jammy with pretty emphatic marmalade-like nuances.

Arena Blanca Winery 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon, New Mexico (12% abv) $17 started out in the nose and front of the palate pretty much like a kit wine (which I suspect it is) but really packed an interesting complex toasty finish reminding me that this is nut country so maybe the cooperage or “beans” are made from toasted nut trees.

WHITE WINE FLIGHT

Autumn Sage Vineyards 2023 Albariño Estate Bottled Sonoita-Elgin AZ (13.8% abv) $28 was fine and elegant with an apple-like perfume and a mineral tea-like austere dry finish. My score is 15.5/20, group score 13.3/20 fourth place.

Rune Wines 2022 Rousanne Wilcox AZ (13.8% abv) $36 (winery is located in Sonoita AZ) offered very light banana-like fruit in the nose but fleshed out considerably on the palate with big mineral texture and a long rich finish. My score is 16/20, group score is 14.9/20 second place.

Charron Vineyard and Winery Whetstone White Wilcox AZ (11.4% abv) $32 (winery is located in Vail AZ) possesses pristine Niagara-like floral terpenes inviting one in and finishes with a nice bitter/sweet tart acid leaving the palate refreshed and clean. My score is 18/20, group score is 14.8/20 third place.

Rune Wines 2022 Malvasia Amphora Wilcox AZ (12.5% abv) $36 (winery is located in Sonoita AZ) is another beautifully aromatic mélange of apricot, fruit blossoms and tropical fruit with a solid mid-palate and an herbal, citrus-like unctuousness to finish. My score is 15.5/20, group score is 15.1/20 first place.

RED WINE FLIGHT

Autumn Sage Vineyards 2021 Sagrantino Estate Bottled Sonoita-Elgin AZ (13.8% abv) $49 shows a fine airy elegant European-like perfume with a big cherry infused texture and a long tannic finish. My score is 14/20, group score is 14.1/20 third place.

Stache Winery 2020 “The Quick Hand” Tannat 50% Wilcox AZ 50% Sonoita AZ (14.1% abv) $35 (winery is located in Elgin AZ) is one of my favorites with its fat, round, lush entrance and long charming super smooth tannic finish. My score is 17.5/20, group score is 16.2/20 second place.

Caduceus Cellars 2019 “Le Cortigiane Oneste” Barbera Yavapai City AZ (13.5% abv) $50 (winery is located in Jerome AZ) was noticeably older than the other wines which some found to be raisin-like or tired. I just didn’t find much here. Whatever redeeming quality it had is long gone. My score is 11/20, group score is 13.3/20 fourth place.

Rune Wines 2021 Wild Syrah Wilcox AZ (13.8% abv) $54 (winery is located in Sonoita AZ) comes across very differently among other wines. At the winery, it seemed massively rich. Here, its main asset is the pure, fresh, lively red fruit laced with spice and toffee. This is a Mediterranean-style classic. My score is 15.5/20, group score is 17.6/20 first place.

IN CONCLUSION

Rune Wines 2021 Graciano Wilcox AZ (13.9% abv) $32 (winery is located in Sonoita AZ) really exhibits the southern Arizona terroir. After years of visiting the area, I think that I’m starting to recognize these wines identity and this Graciano really expresses that in spades. The bright, light style seems in perfect harmony.

Bodega Luis Gurpegui Muga 2021 “111” Graciano Rioja SPAIN (13.5% abv) $16 was clearly not from Arizona. I was curious to see if most tasters would detect the odd man out. They did and although not as soft and juicy as most of tonight’s wines, most preferred it to the wines from Arizona. Everyone agreed that the Arizona wines were very good and maybe a bit more European in style than wines from California.

A FEW MORE TRAVELER’S NOTES

Tucson is a great town for food so we try to hit as many restaurants that we’ve not experienced in the past every time we visit. Two old favorites that we just couldn’t miss are Locale which offers the best Italian cuisine in the city and La Frida whose Mexican cuisine is more like you’d encounter in Mexico City or Ensenada than along the border. New for us on this trip were The Cork which is a real throw-back to 1970’s steakhouses and delivers prime beef cooked perfectly. Jojo’s is a must for outdoor dining featuring Mexican and Spanish cuisine in a shady courtyard surrounded by many artisan shops. Amelia’s Mexican Kitchen was a lot like Cucina La Ley in terms of the food but it offered table service, English is spoken and the place had more of an American SW vibe. The food was classic Mexican however. and they offer a full bar. On our last night in Tucson we walked over to Miss Saigon which was just down the street from our Vrbo. It is a simple but very modern neighborhood eatery serving curry, pho and the best spring rolls served with peanut sauce.

Enjoy in Good Health,

A Brian Cain, the Michigan Vintner