CALLAGHAN VINEYARDS

I always suggest to people when planning a wine tasting excursion, do your homework first and select the best winery to go to first, even if you drive past 2 or 3 to get to it.  You can always backtrack.  You want to taste the very best on a clean palate.  And that’s what we did by going to Callaghan.  One of the oldest wineries in AZ and the second oldest vineyard.  Interestingly, Callaghan buys all the grapes from the oldest vineyard down the road from it.  I had spoken with the owner/wine maker, Kent Callaghan the day before but he told me he couldn’t be there but his daughter, Waverly, would be handling the tasting.  Waverly was a gracious host and very knowledgeable about Callaghan wines.  So let’s list a few:

1. WAVERLY’S  2023– Yes, Kent likes to name wines after his daughters.  Primarily Grenache with slight taste of citrus.  A nice round red and a Gold Medal winner.  Unfortunately, there were a few other reds that I enjoyed a little more (and in one case, a lot more).  Sorry Waverly, both daughter and wine.
2. CAITLINS 2019- 55% Petite Verdot and 45% Cabernet Sauvignon.  A very big bold wine.  Both my nose and palate enjoyed this wine.  There’s a little spice to this wine but not over whelming.  A double gold winner.  I’d recommend taking this wine home and laying it down for another 2-3 years.
3. RHUMB LINE AGLIANICO 2022.  Another big bold wine and a gold medal winner.  It has a slight spicy citrus element to it.  Would match up nicely with a variety of meats, Spanish cheese and, yes, even fowl.  Like Caitlins, I’d lay this one down for a few years.
4. NORTH AND SOUTH – This was the group’s favorite (but my #3).  But what’s not to love about this red blend of 50% Syrah and 50% Grenache.  A beautiful round wine to be savored.  Don’t worry about matching it with food, it’ll be most likely gone before dinner.
5. MOURVEDRE 2023 – My favorite.  WOW!  What an exceptional wine.  This was a double gold winner and the recognition is well deserved.  The grapes were crushed with the stems which add a wonderful flavor of herbs to the wine.  There were a lot of strange looks when I told the group that this was a chewy wine.  What I mean is that the essence of the wine stays on your palate to savor and taste for a few lovely extra seconds.  This is a rare quality only special wines have.  I opened this one at home and my wife and I just relaxed and enjoyed every drop.  Why worry about dinner when you can drink this wine instead.
6. BARRETT’S SPARKLING ROSE – Another award winner.  I’m not a big fan of sparkling wines with a few exceptions.  This turned out to be one of them.  A lot of roses like to overwhelm you with fruit but not this one.  Just the right touch of fruit in this dry sparkling wine.  An excellent sparkling wine to serve guests prior to the meal.  My wife enjoys sparkling wines and this one zoomed to the top of her favorites.

Well, did our group enjoy the Callaghan wines.  Let’s just say that I helped carry out 3 cases of wine to the limo.  I’d say that was a very big YES!

LOS MILICS VINEYARD

Being a young winery, I wasn’t expecting to taste award winning wines like Callaghan’s, but the tasting room has received a lot of positive press.  Unfortunately, the tasting room was a large restaurant and bar.  Even on a cold and rainy afternoon, the place was crowded.  This seemed to be the place to be seen in Elgin.  Considering co-owner Pavle Milic’s background as a restaurateur, this was to be expected but it didn’t lend itself to proper wine tasting.  You didn’t have 2 or 3 knowledgeable individuals serving and explaining each wine in detail, you had waiters serving meals and offering a 10 second overview of the wine.  I’m sure they all had to memorize the same information.  And they weren’t about to take questions.  The tasting flight arrived late, half way through lunch, making the white and rose wines impossible to judge.  But the printed descriptions of the wines were interesting and bizarre at the same time.  We were told to look for tastes of Asian pear and Yubari, a rare Japanese melon (I’ve never tasted either one of these, so how could I look for them).  Another one mentions cherry hibiscus and kalamata olives.  Why would anyone want to taste olives in their wine.  But let’s review 2 wines that had some merit.

1. OLIVER’S 2021 – A Syrah blend.  Oliver’s is a medium body wine with just the right amount of fruit.  Not spicy like a lot of Syrahs can be, but with a nice smoothness to it.  This was the wine we were to taste the olives.  Thankfully, no olives in my glass.
2. MO’S 2022 – Named after the co-owner Mo Garfinkle, this is a Tannat blend.  I like big bold red wines and I enjoyed this wine.  A wine to match up with a hearty meat dish- steaks, hamburgers and ribs.

So how did our group feel about Los Milic’s wine.  Well, we left with 0 bottles in our hands.  What more needs to be said.

RUNE WINES 

Rune Wines is a very interesting winery.  They are very proud of their solar powered winery but the first thing you notice and ask is “where’s the vineyard?”  Good question.  They only grow 3 acres of grapes so most of their wine comes from purchasing grapes from other vineyards.  So no Estate wines here.  Very lovely location over-looking a small canyon with a number of covered fire pits allowing customers to relax around a fire and enjoy the wine and the view.  Today wouldn’t be one of those days as the rain was only 15 minutes away when we arrived.  Once the rain began, the small tasting room became very crowded but this crowd got to know each other and enjoyed each other and the wine.  The 2 young ladies in charge of the tasting knew their wines and were very helpful.  So let’s chat about the wines.

1. GRENACHE 2022 – When this wine was poured I was shocked.  I love Grenache but this Grenache was very light color, maybe only 2 shades darker than a Rose.  I almost sent it back without tasting it.  I’m glad I didn’t.  The initial flavor was just OK with a little strawberry spice typical of a Grenache.  I put it down and waited a few minutes for sip #2.  What a difference.  Within those minutes it opened up to a very nice mellow Grenache.  Well done, Rune.
2. MALBEC 2022 – I like Malbecs and this was a classic Malbec.  A nice wine to pair with meats.  Another Rune wine that opened up nicely after a few minutes with a hint of spice.
3. MOURVEDRE 2022 – A very nice big bold wine.  This was a very smooth drinking wine and of all the Rune reds definitely my favorite.  Rune  seemed very proud of this wine and should be.  This is a really nice wine but I had the Callaghan 2023 Mourvedre earlier and didn’t have the heart to tell the young ladies their wine simply didn’t reach the level of the Callaghan wine.
4. Viognier 2023 & 2024 – This was not part of my tasting.  A member of our group bought bottles of both vintages and asked me to taste them.  I’m not a big fan of Viognier unless it’s blended because this varietal tends to be too fruit forward and sweet to me.  So, I hesitated to taste this wine.  The 2023 live up to my worst expectations.  Way too much fruit to a point of dumping it out.  But the 2024 was a totally different wine.  Mellow, round and with a slight hint of sweetness.  This was an enjoyable wine and one I could see myself sitting by the pool with a chilled glass.

So how did this wine tasting go.  Well, it was the end of the day so everyone was eager to get back to Tucson to relax and drink a little bit more wine.  But of the positive side, bottles of Rune wine were purchased including that wonderful 2024 Viognier.  I even had this white wine on the drive back to Tucson.  Nice to have a limo driver.  Rune Wines is a funky little winery (funky? God I just dated myself) but a winery I’d recommend and go back to myself.

WELL THAT’S IT FOR THIS BLOG.  SIT BACK, ENJOY THE WINE AND RELAX.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME FOR A MORE IN DEPTH CONVERSATION WITH THE SOME MORE INTERESTING ASSPECTS OF ARIZONA WINE!