Today we are going to talk about a little Tasting Room located in Cottonwood Arizona named Arizona Stronghold Vineyards (http://www.azstronghold.com/TastingRoom). This past Saturday (April 11, 2015) my Daughter of Angel Vineyards fame and I went to Cottonwood Arizona for a day trip and stopped at Arizona Stronghold Vineyards. The winery is a small place and the staff were very friendly. When we walked in we were greeted promptly by smiling staff and invited to actually sit anywhere we wanted. We chose to sit on a large comfortable well worn Leather couch and we were told that the flight of wine would be brought. Wow that's different for a Tasting Room. Well sit I did and sure enough a friendly staff member brought me some wonderful wine to taste while I relaxed. As I already said, Stronghold Wines is a small Tasting Room but the size along with the staff was more than enough to keep all the customers happy and yet still large enough to walk around. As a side note I should mention that there are no Vineyards on main street Cottonwood. I was informed that the Vineyards are in the hills and that they are not open to the public. Where ever they are I didn't seem a Vineyard all day. The staff was not uptight and did not seem rushed, they actually seemed to enjoy working here. They took the time to actually hang out for a few minutes and engage me in conversation. My Daughter who is not 21 and always travels with me on day trips was treated just as nicely. She was informed that there was Soda, juice and water as well as Chocolate which can be paired with the wine. She was made to feel right just as important as I did. One item related to bringing people who are under 21 that I would like to mention is that the staff also watched their language, no one cursed. Yes, I know it is a wine tasting room and it is geared for adults but there are still customers who bring their WELL MANURED children in as well and besides there is no reason for employees of any business to use curse words. There are three different wine clubs that Stronghold offers with the beginning level (The Almanac) offering 12 free wine tastings per year and the highest level, (The Vault) offering 48 free wine tastings a year. After the tasting I was asked if there were any wines we wanted to "revisit" which I thought was a nice touch. I had already made up my mind as to what I wanted and politely declined the offer. The tasting charge is $9 and yes you get to keep the glass :)
I ended up purchasing two bottles of their 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon "pick2", I also bought my Daughter a T-Shirt and Chocolate (yum) for my Daughter. The wine overall was really good and the wine I chose was on the peppery, full bodied side and and was fruit forward. Both aspects blended nicely, there is a review coming by the way. The wine came in at $34 a piece and although a little pricey I felt it was worth it. One bottle will end up in the Wine Cellar and the other will be put aside for the reopening of my Loft (my Man Cave) which is under renovation.
If you plan to make the trip to Cottonwood, and I recommend that you do, it is a 4.5 hour drive from Las Vegas and a lot of the trip is actually really nice and Green. The city has 4 wineries and some antique shops as well as many restaurants and The Verde Valley Olive Oil Traders which sells all different kinds of infused Olive Oil. I bought the Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Basil.
Before we left for home we ended up having Dinner at Pizzeria Bocce which is just on the edge of town and ate outside on the Patio. You must have the Banana & Nutella Pizza for Dessert. This crazy sounding dish comes on a soft, thin pizza crust and has Bananas, Nutella and Ricotta Cheese. Trust me, try it. The food and service was awesome and my Daughter and I left full.
Cottonwood is not far at all from the Grand Canyon and about a half hour from Sedona and just outside Sedona are two Vineyards which are open to the public and have Tasting Rooms. My favorite was Page Springs Cellars which had some good wine and a beautiful Balcony that overlooks the Vineyards as well as a River that had some really cool Birds that would fly by. They also have some great food which adds to the atmosphere.
The Desert Wine Guy
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