Copper Horse Vineyard, Willcox AZ - Live Love Drink Travel

Copper Horse Vineyard in Cochise County now has a tasting room in downtown Willcox Arizona. This made it possible for us to have a nice sample of their wines and meet the owner Eric Desfachelles.

Copper Horse grows their grapes at the foothills of the Chiricahuas Mountains at an altitude of 4500ft. The vineyard consists of French Rhone types such as Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, a Viognier, some Muscat a Petits Grains and a Spanish Tempranillo.

On the day that we were visiting, it was very warm by early and the air just happened to be out in the tasting room. But they did have fans going and they were working on the repair of the AC. Unfortunately, this meant that the wines were getting to be a bit on the warmer side.

If you remember last year during our Sippin’ September campaign, this was my biggest complaint. That the wines are not served at a proper temperature. It is difficult to get the true taste of a wine because when it gets too warm the flavors change. We try them anyway, but I find it very difficult to focus on taste when I, at times, feel like I am having a cup of warm tea.

Copper Horse shares the tasting room with Golden Rule, so for this stop you will get two tastings in one location. We visited it after Golden Rule in our tasting adventures on this day.

Eric has a preset tasting menu and on this day we started with the Reisling. Quick reminder, I do NOT like white wines. Everyone says that I need to try theirs because it will change my mind. Wrong again Eric, I did try the Riesling. I really cannot describe whites to anyone because of my lack of experience and general enjoyment. I took a sip, made my ‘EW’ face and poured it into Derek’s glass. He seems to tolerate it better than I.

We moved onto the Rosé, still not my favorite. I drank a small amount and then poured it into Derek’s glass. The Rosé was made from a Sangiovese grape, was light and a bit on the floral side for me. It is a good thing I have Derek around to drink my leftovers.

Next was the limited edition 2018 Mourvèdre, which is a Biodynamic Wine. For those who are not aware, a biodynamic wine is not only organic but uses the practice of balancing wine between vine, man, earth and stars. Essentially, biodynamics is a holistic view of agriculture. I am not sure how this truly affects the wine but we did find these had a bit of a different taste to them.

The Mourvèdre was light and almost what I would categorize as bland, not flavorless, but I expected it to have a little more complexity to it. It was still good, just not what I expected. Mourvèdre is a good Arizona summer wine because it can be enjoyed on the cooler side since it is typically a lighter wine. This time of year I am definitely hunting down good Mourvèdre.

Onto the 2017 Sangiovese which, also a good Arizona summer wine. Light and refreshing, I definitely did not share with Derek. This tastes like your typical Sangiovese, not too floral or fruity. Mild in taste.

Finally we hit the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, for which after the light wines, I was definitely ready for something a little more bold. For the price point, I think this Cab was a little underwhelming and has a bit of a coco-ish flavor to it. It was different and hard to explain, but for sure not your typical Cab.

Our visit with Copper Hills was short, because the building was getting hotter and hotter. We had to go someplace cooler. So we chatted with Eric for a minute, bought a bottle of white for Mama Ruby (we abandoned her on her birthday for our Willcox trip) and headed to our next experience.

Not everyone has the same palate. This is why so often I do not break the wines down and lean more toward the experience. But, I think you should go to Copper Horse Vineyard in Willcox and try the wines and form your own opinion. Enjoy!

Be sure to check out tomorrow's feature, Golden Rule Vineyards. You can read yesterday's article on Birds and Barrels Vineyards, or see all of our Sippin’ September articles here.

Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.

— Taunya