At least 20 Arizona winemakers are showcasing their most recent vintages at the 12th annual Off the Vine Arizona Wine Festival Saturday at Tucson’s Kallista Park.
The festival is one of Arizona Winegrowers’ signature annual events, bringing winemakers from around the state together for a day of wine-tasting and live entertainment.
The sprawling Page Springs Cellars and the micro vineyard Da Vines Vineyard, both located along the banks of Oak Creek in Cornville, are making the three-hour trek south to pour alongside wineries from Willcox and Elgin.
The festival highlights winemakers who follow tradition alongside those that are pushing the envelope.
The family-owned Birds & Barrels Vineyards in Willcox prides itself on hand-picking its harvest and an old school approach to winemaking, while Copper Horse Vineyard in the far-flung community of Portal approaches winemaking through the prism of sustainability.
Willcox wine country newcomer Go Soaring Wines, which planted 4,000 vines in 2019 at its vineyard on the Willcox Bench and had its first harvest in 2022, will be introducing itself for the most part; it’s a safe bet that not many attending Saturday will have heard of them.
Ditto for Thomas and Teresa Messier’s fledgling, barely-getting-started Omphalos Winery in Willcox. Since they established in 2022, they’ve released 10 wines.
Other wineries expected to be pouring on Saturday:
Tucson’s Old Pueblo Cellars; Sonoita/Elgin’s Sunset Ride, Rune, Deep Sky Vineyard, Los Milics Vineyards, Callaghan Vineyards and Twisted Union Wine Co.; Strive Vineyards and Cactus Cru from Willcox; Seventeen Sixty-Four Vineyards from Pearce; and Chateau Tumbleweed, Cove Mesa Vineyard and Laramita Cellars from the Verde Valley.
Off the Vine runs from noon to 5 p.m. at the east side Kallista Park, 4450 S. Houghton Road at Medella Vina Ranch. Tickets are $45 through offthevineaz.com.
