Desert Bloom

In Arizona’s rugged wine country, experimental techniques are taking root. Gina DeCaprio Vercesi tours the state to meet the industry’s maverick pioneers.

AS I ENTERED Verde Valley, about 90 miles north of Phoenix, saguaro-studded hillsides gave way to rolling scrubland. The buds had just broken in the high-desert vineyards-a lush start to my early May road trip through Arizona's wine country.

Friends had been skeptical when I mentioned my latest assignment. "They make wine in Arizona?" came the refrain. But grapevines do grow-and thrive-amid the state's canyons and cacti, flourishing in a range of microclimates and at elevations of up to 5,500 feet. Temperatures fluctuate dramatically from day to night, fostering sugar development while preserving natural acidity. At the same time, winemakers navigate challenges like heavy summer rains, spring frost, and vine-crushing hail.

Few casual consumers know Arizona's wine story yet, despite its roots stretching back to 16th-century Spanish missionaries. In the 1880s, German immigrant Henry Schuerman planted Zinfandel along Verde Valley's Oak Creek; he sold his wine to cattle hands and copper miners. Pro-prohibition legislation slowed production from 1915 until the 1970s, when University of Arizona soil scientist Gordon Dutt planted test vineyards in the high desert. The results looked promising, and Arizona's modern-day wine industry began.

I'd come to meet trailblazing vintners in two of the state's American Viticultural Areas (AVAS), or federally recognized wine regions: Verde Valley, a newcomer established in late 2021; and, farther south, Sonoita/Elgin, established in 1983.

VERDE VALLEY