Wow! What a great weekend we had! Last weekend (March 27th through 29th) was the spring edition of the Tempe Festival of the Arts. The Arizona Wine Growers Association sponsors a wine garden at the event every year. Boy, this year was impressive.
There were nine wineries present! Unfortunately due to a death in the family we had a tenth winery pull out at the last minute. Present were . . . Su Vino Winery in Scottsdale, Kokopelli Winery (which operates two locations, one in Chandler and one in Surprise), Keeling Schaefer Vineyards from Pearce, Kief Joshua, Dos Cabezas and Wilhelm Vineyards - all from Sonoita, Pillsbury Wine Company from Willcox AND finally, Jerome Winery and Page Springs Cellars from up north! We had all types of wines for all types of palates.
Luckily the wind died down for us on Friday, I was a little concerned when on Thursday night we had 40 to 50 mph winds. Could of made for an ugly festival! But instead the sun shone down and we had perfect weather, 70s and 80s.
Josh and I worked (along with some very helpful volunteers) the front, selling glasses and tickets for the wine tasting. It's a great deal. For $10 you get a very nice wine glass to take home with you and six tasting tickets. Each ticket allows about an ounce pour offering a great way to try many new wines. Some folks didn't get enough tastes with those tickets so we were selling an additional six tickets for $5! Sam Pillsbury noted that the hot dogs were selling for $7 in the Food Court at the event, so a $5 glass of wine was a steal!
They place the wine garden adjacent to the entertainment stage so it's enjoyable to sit with your wine, friends and listen to the great jazz coming from the stage.
We had some great volunteers help us out - Colleen Chase and Tina Gibson from Arizona Grape Escapes (they do great wine tours!), Gavin & Irlyn Gallifant who are in the process of creating their own wine (Gallifant Cellars) and Carlos and Anne De Leon - who also are upcoming in the industry having purchased 40 acres down in Willcox to plant vines over the next few years.
The turnout was HUGE!!! We actually ran out of glasses on Sunday (luckily not until about 4PM) and offered folks some plastic glasses for their tasting (at a discount, of course). The great news is that we had almost 2000 people tasting AZ wines! We even had a few converts what had been previously convinced that Arizona wasn't producing quality wine. Now, that was exciting!
The festival is held in the fall and in the spring. Be sure to check out our events page to stay abreast of all the great wine events being held throughout Arizona! You won't want to miss the next event!
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