Escapees January-February 2023

skp stops

The Sonoita/Elgin wine-growing Region Exploring Arizona Wine Country 290 Elgin-Canelo Road, Elgin, AZ 85611, 520-455-5893, sonoitavineyards.com

Cattle Ranches to Vineyards Driving through the region, you see several old wind mills, a reminder of the area’s rich ranching history. These grasslands supported the Arizona cattle boom from 1873 to 1893. At the peak, the ranches in this area shipped as many as 3,000 head of cattle per day. However, the great drought of the 1890s had a huge impact on the industry, and ranching declined in the area. It may have declined, but it is not gone; case in point, the Babacormari Ranch is owned by the Brophy family and operates the largest contiguous private land parcel in Arizona, covering 28,000 acres and support ing up to 16,000 head of cattle. In the 1970s, Gordon Dutt, Ph.D., stunned his peers when he proposed that Arizona could be a wine-pro ducing state. Dr. Dutt, working as a soil scientist for the Univerity of Arizona, discovered a similarity between the soil in the Elgin-Sonoita area and that of Burgundy, France. This, combined with the region’s average of 20 inches of rain and summer temperatures in the mid 80s, made Dutt feel con fi dent that grapes would thrive here. He proved his point when he planted his fi rst vines in Sonoita in 1978, thus creating Arizona’s fi rst vineyard. His groundbreaking work resulted in the creation of the Sonoita AVA (American Viticultural Area) one of the fi rst wine-growing regions in the United States to be granted AVA status.

When one thinks of domestic vineyards and wines, California comes to mind. This is no surprise as California is king, with over 4,800 wineries producing over 649 million gallons of wine in 2021. The closest state to California is Washington, with 450 win eries, the state of Arizona fi nds itself 27th on the list. However, the lack in quantity of wineries in Arizona does not distract from the quality of the wine produced. The Sonoita/Elgin wine-growing region has been recognized, by USA Today , as one of the top 10 wine trails in the country. From the Sonoran Desert to Hills and Grassland Elgin is only 60 miles from Tucson, Arizona, but it feels a world away. As you leave Tucson, you are on a steady climb, leaving behind the Sonoran Desert and the iconic Saguaro cactus. Before you know it, you fi nd yourself at 5,000 feet in the middle of the Sonoita grasslands, surrounded by Whetstone, Huachuca and Santa Rita mountains.

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ESCAPEES Magazine January/February 2023