Looking back 5 years: Joan's story

Grand Opening day, 2007

Sept. 22, 2012 will be five years to the day that I first stood behind the tasting counter eagerly awaiting our first customers. I can still see the first vintage of our Estate Syrah at the end of the lineup. My first grape babies, from the grape vines I nurtured for three years, were in those bottles. I knew people would appreciate the great wine Tim made from those grapes. But when I looked at the bottles of that wine I saw so much more.

Emma helping, first planting day, 2003

It all started many years before. We purchased the land in 2001, began the infrastructure work in 2003 and started growing the grapes in 2004. The challenges for me were many, from learning how to grow grapes to setting up an agribusiness to trying to squeeze one more productive hour out of a day. There were many days of exhaustion, sore muscles and what sometimes seemed like too many problems to solve.

The rewards have far outweighed the challenges. This has been a family endeavor. My children, Kathryn and Ian, and my daughter-in-law, Rhian, have all given generously of their time and talents.  Sharing in this with them has been priceless. When I walk the vineyard or look around the tasting room, I am filled with a boundless pride. We all built this together.

Some of our friends and frequent bottlers:
Nikole, Matt, Mike and Steph (and Ella,
who was adopted at Canelo Hills)

Many other people have been part of our success. The other AZ grape growers and our friends have all helped out. One of the best things that came from the tasting room has been meeting so many wonderful people, many of whom over the past five years have become good friends, volunteering their time to help.

When you come in the weekend of Sept. 22-23 to join in our celebration, I will behind the same tasting counter. When I am filling your glass I will be pouring all the love and experiences of the last five years along with our wine.

Looking Back 5 Years: Kathryn's story

Gearing up for our 5^th Anniversary Celebration in September, we’re asking each member of the Mueller family to remember back to 5 years ago and share their story.

Kathryn

Kathryn, 2012

Exactly five years ago, I was in New Mexico for the summer, singing with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. It was a wonderful summer of music and I got to share a house in the juniper-dotted hills with my dear friend and colleague Nathan (we call him Original Nathan – you’ll see why when you read on), but I was eagerly anticipating my return to Tucson to get ready for the Grand Opening of Canelo Hills.

Since I arrived in Tucson in 2004 for grad school at the U of A, I’d become more and more involved in Canelo Hills over the years: rounding up music student friends for volunteer planting days each spring (we were rewarded with lunch, beer and tractor rides), helping my mother in the vineyard, building our website, and doing publicity for our pre-opening Wine and Farm Festival and the Grand Opening. By August we had our first vintage in bottles, and we were ready for September 22.

Opera Tailgating in 2007

Tailgating at the Santa Fe Opera, I shared a bottle of Canelo Hills wine with my Chorale buddies. They were amazed, first of all that it was good (of course my parents’ wines are delicious and well-crafted!), and second that my parents were really going to do this winery thing, to live their dream. In the months leading up to opening it was fun to talk with friends, colleagues, and new acquaintances about this big adventure my family was about to have.

Opening Day: Sept. 22, 2007

And then the adventure arrived. For Grand Opening day I rounded up Original Nathan to help pour, and we shared my parents' wines from behind the thick mesquite slab of our brand-new tasting table. The varnish was about 95% dry. We were busy! Many friends came down to Sonoita to be a part of the excitement, and new customers wandered in to try our wines, which were a hit. At the end of the day the whole family was exhausted, but happy. It was the first of many exhausting but rewarding days at Canelo Hills.

I now live in Raleigh, NC with my husband Nathan (New Nathan, or now, just Nathan) and I still do marketing work for Canelo Hills remotely. I’m super excited to fly to Arizona for our 5^th Anniversary Celebration in September. Please come visit us that weekend, and share your story of Canelo Hills!

Kathryn and New Nathan at Canelo Hills

Winemaker's Dinner May 15

On May 15,  come join Joan and Tim at Baratin in Scottsdale as Charleen Badman and Pavle Milic create a three course vegetarian dinner paired with Canelo Hills Wines.  At 5:30 we will be pouring a sneak preview of one of our Memorial Day Summer Wines - Sonoita Dawn, a Sonoita grown Grenache blush with a touch of Malvasia juice as a fruit kicker.

For reservations and more info click this link:   

An online "I spy" game

Can you spot some new things in our winery park in front of the building?

  

We've been adding to our winery park since Ian and Rhian did the initial landscape design and manual labor almost two years ago. Last summer Ken Karrels of Diamond JK Nursery in Sonoita did some beautiful landscaping with plants that fit our grassland landscape, and the plants are coming back to life after their winter's rest.

This spring we had a steel ranch sign custom made for us by Mark Gillo in Chino Valley, AZ (click here for his website). Tim installed it over our entrance gate, and it looks great, don't you think?

In January  Tim built a bottle tree to echo the empty bottles Ian and Rhian had installed in the ground, and we "planted" it in the park. It catches the light beautifully at sunset.

 

If you haven't been to Canelo Hills in a while, come visit and see our new installations for yourself. Got any ideas for more additions? Send us an email!

Wine+Food=Baratin(AKA FnB)

I know it's old fashioned to post blogs these days with facebook swarming all over the communication networks, but I'm an old fashioned guy. And anyway I'll probably post this on facebook also.

Pavle Milic and Charleen Badman are tweaking the AZ winemaker's dinners a bit and moving them to their new enterprise Baratin. The evening will begin at 5:30 with wine sampling only and then segue into a three course pairing at 6:30. All the dinners look great, but ours on May 15 will feature the usual completely vegetarian pairing. Call for reservations. Here's the LINK to the flyer.

Kathryn and Nathan

We are tickled to share with our Canelo Hills family that on Saturday, March 3 Kathryn wed Nathan Leaf in Tucson. It all started with a winery reception as friends and family from as far away as Mexico City and London converged on the winery Friday night to celebrate and experience Arizona wine first hand. The winery was transformed through the talents of Lisa and Scott Schoneman. Wayne and Cheryl Tomasi and Allison Roncone poured wines and answered questions about the history and challenges of making wine in Sonoita. On Saturday, the wedding ceremony in Tucson was followed by a reception at the Savoy Opera House at Pinnacle Peak adding the perfect old west ambiance. Kathryn and Nathan had even arranged to have an authentic cowboy sheriff entertain the crowd. Although Kathryn has moved out of Tucson she is still very much a part of Canelo Hills and accomplishes most of her web and marketing work on-line. Once in a while we are lucky enough to have her return. Now Nathan has joined the family.

Winter Red Wine Release - 2012

I’ve been looking forward to the release of these wines for a long time. 2009 was a near perfect year in terms of the weather and growing season, near perfect that is in Southeastern Arizona grape growing terms. The fruit was not injured by any summer “weather events”, it was warm and dry at the end of the season and we could time the harvest around the ripeness of the fruit instead of a threatening hurricane from Mexico. We will be releasing the 2009 Estate Tempranillo, 2009 Sonoita Cabernet Sauvignon, 2009 Estate Finalé (an intense port style dessert wine), and 2009 Estate Scavenger’s Blend (a Syrah based blend). Also for the first time the 2008 Sangiovese Select will be available. It is comprised of the Brunello Clone of the Sangiovese grape and was barrel aged for 36 months. These are big wines with very limited production. We will have all of them available for tasting the weekend of February 10 – 12. It will be the only time all these fabulous wines will be on the tasting table at the same time. Come pay us a visit; you’ll be glad you did.