Vino Zona, Sedona AZ - Live Love Drink Travel

Vino Zona is a wine tasting and gallery space in Sedona which offers several wines from smaller vineyards. Since they were offering wines from some of the wineries we have been unable to visit due to COVID-19 we were excited to visit.

Vino Zona offers two locations, one in Sedona and one in Jerome. We stopped in at the Sedona location and were very impressed by the venue, the staff and the wines.

Vino Zona in Sedona is located in the Tlaquepaque Arts & Shopping Village amongst varying types of art galleries. The village is full of beauty on your way to Vino Zona’s tasting room. They are located upstairs and I am unsure if there was an elevator. I do know that the steps and walking paths are made of brick and somewhat uneven in places. I was very cautious due to a weak ankle from a very bad fall a few years ago. Yes, I said a few years go, it was a BAD fall! LOL

Once you get up the stairs, Vino Zona is in a quaint little room, with a small amount of art and mostly wine. For me, this was a good thing since I was after the wine experience. Note, I really had to use the restroom due to the large amount of water I had been drinking and you have to go back down the stairs and to another section. So stop by the bathroom before you head up to Vino Zona.

The young lady offering us our tasting was extremely friendly and we enjoyed our time with her. We even lost track of time chatting with her about the wines, the Jerome location and our blog.

One of the things I love about Vino Zona is that they keep their wines in a cooler, meaning your wines will be at the CORRECT temperature. Not too hot or too cold.

I was pleased to see that we were going to sample three wines from three different vineyards. All three of these we had wanted to visit, but again, due to COVID-19 we were unable to. Thankfully we were going to get to try at least one wine from each of those.

Freitas Vineyards is a small vineyard in Cottonwood, Arizona previously owned by Ray and Ray Freitas, yes I that is correct, Ray and Ray. We recently discovered that Alcantara has purchased them. Ray and Ray originally purchased the land to grow fruit trees. They quickly began to realize that too much alkaline in the soil made it not suitable for the fruit trees. The Freitas' found that it was perfect for growing grapes, specifically wine grapes. They began planting in 2000 with 300 vines. The best varieties would turn out to be Petite Sirah, Merlot, Cabernet Savugnon, Malvasia Bianca and Sangiovese.

We were excited to get to try the 2014 Mesa, a Super Tuscan blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from the Frieitas Vineyard. I mean, all I can say is this is really good. I would open this bottle to just drink it. No pairing necessary. The Sangiovese, gave it a lighter tone so it was not too bold. This is what they mean when they say medium bodied.

Laramita Cellars is in the Wilcox area nested in the foothills of the Dos Cabezas mountains. They incorporate both the Old World and modern wine making processes for a unique spin. A tasting room is currently under construction for them, however we were lucky enough to get to try them here.

We sampled the 2018 Syrah, a nice smokey deep fruit wine. Not too rich or fruity flavored. This wine wants you to have some good ole’ BBQ. If you chilled this a bit before you drank it, you could have it while you are barbecuing. Ribs and a salad would make this the perfect wine and dine night!

One of the samples was a Deep Sky Vineyard Eclipse. Y’all know this is one of our favorite wines and we talked about it last year during Sippin’ September.

The last one we were able to try was the 2016 Heart from Heart Wood Cellars. Heart Wood Cellars is in the Four Eight WineWorks, but they don’t do tastings there. We were curious and able to dig a little deeper to get more information. The labels are incredibly beautiful, sexy and full of Heart (see what I did there).

This blend of Petite Syrah, Syrah and Tannat aged 18 months in neutral French Oak is the perfect blend of silky bold. This won the Silver medal in the 2019 San Francisco Wine Competition and I can see why. We actually bought a bottle of this one, it was just too good. I considered 2 bottles because it feels like I am going to drink this one pretty quickly. Then I will be sad that I did not buy the 2, but that is just an excuse for me to go to the vineyard!

In short, Vino Zona is a great place to sample some Arizona wines, and you can do more than one vineyard at a time. If you like one of them from a vineyard, then perhaps you can go to that vineyard to try more. Stop by and enjoy a great relaxing stop in Sedona or Jerome to just chill and relax.

Today ends the first half of Sippin’ September! Be sure to check out tomorrow's feature on Autumn Sage Vineyard. You can read yesterday's article on The Original Jerome Winery, or see all of our Sippin’ September articles here.

Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.

— Taunya