Dos Cabezas WineWorks, Sonoita AZ - Live Love Drink Travel

Dos Cabezas WineWorks has been growing grapes and producing wine since 1995. The late Al Buhl pioneered the winery and the 80 acres located in Kansas Settlement in Arizona. In 2006 the winery moved to Sonita where it resides today. The fruit for Dos Cabezas WineWorks is from Pronghorn Vineyard in Sonoita and Cimarron Vineyard in Kansas Settlement.

Dos Cabezas WineWorks is a family owned business and if you have a chance I recommend checking out their website. They have many photos and tell the story of who does what. My favorite title is “Wineworker in Training” for the kiddos.

On this trip we had set an appointment to do a wine tasting in the Sonita wine tasting room for 1:45 pm. However, as is the time, with appointments it can be hard to stay on track and things can change quickly. We were waaay early, about 2 hours. We apologized when we got there, and the young lady running the tasting room, said no problem, they have room right now.

She offered a choice of seats, outside on the back patio, in the front area of the tasting room, or in the very back of the tasting building, near the back patio. We opted for the back room, for the peace and to continue practicing social distancing.

I know that everyone is going to find this shocking, but we went straight for the red tasting! The red flight started with their 2015 Red Blend from the Cimarron Vineyard. No idea what the blend is but it is a very reasonably priced table wine, was smooth and tasty.

We moved to the 2015 El Norte a Cimarron Vineyard blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Counoise, Graciano and Petite Sirah. Derek and I refer to a wine like this, with so many varieties as an “everything but the kitchen sink” wine. It tasted a little nutty on the finish, you could smell the Syrah and the color was phenomenal. We bought 2 bottles, this just a great wine for any occasion.

Next was the 2016 Toscano, a Cimarron Vineyard blend of Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Aglianco & Petit Verdot. Although this has a small amount of Petit Verdot, it really finishes this blend up and rounds the other grapes out nicely. Derek seemed to think it smelled like a Sangiovese but tastes like a Cabernet Franc. I just say “YUM”!

The 2013 El Campo is a Pronghorn Vineyard blend of Tempranillo, Graciano, Petit Verdot, Petit Sirah and Aglianico. You would think with so many varieties of my liking that I would love this one. I don’t have enough history on this to know why, but for me this bottle was a little on the bland side. Just not my ‘glass of wine’ per se.

Almost there! For our 5th tasting we had the 2016 Águileón, a Cimarron Vineyard blend of Tempranillo, Graciano, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon. This was really great with a nice spicy aroma and you could definitely taste the spice in this wine. I sniffed this before each sip, it smells that great! Tastes as good!

Finally we finished off our tasting with the 2017 La Montaña from the Cimarron Vineyard, a 50/50 blend of Syrah and Petit Verdot. This is my jam right there. Fantastic wine and you could actually smell both of the grapes. A nice bold wine and makes you want steak!

As I mentioned, appointments were hard to manage. We had lunch set for 1 pm so we had to rush the last 2 tastings, We didn’t get to truly enjoy them as much as I would have preferred. The young lady was so kind when we had to apologize again for our poor timing of arrival, and then departure. She quickly checked us out, but still was pleasant to chat with.

Dos Cabezas WineWorks is located right on the main street of Sonoita. It is easy to find, a joy to visit and a great start or finish to your day. Maybe a stop if you have to go into town for lunch. Either this is a great experience and you need to stop by.

Be sure to check out tomorrow's feature, Callaghan Vineyards. You can read yesterday's article on Kief-Joshua Vineyards, or see all of our Sippin’ September articles here.

Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.

— Taunya