Wow there are only a few days left in Sippin’ September.  Today’s feature is Down Time Wines in Chandler Arizona.  Down Time Wines is a small-batch winery in the heart of Chandler. From the moment you walk in the door you see that this is not your average tasting room.

Owners Basil and Colleen Kaspar started making wine over 15 years ago.  It started out as a kitchen project, making unique wines in small batches.

Eager to bring their take on wine to the open market, they opened their first storefront in 2016.  Today Down Time Wines hand crafts over 30 wines from their small facility.  Their store is nestled inside a strip mall, but easily seen from the street thanks to the large signage.

Even though they are between a massage parlor and a restaurant, the location is not that unusual.  Both Winery 101 and Desert Rock Winery (which we will cover in a few days) are located in industrial parks.

The name Down Time comes from the name of the Kaspar’s boat.  After going a long time without a name (which is considered bad luck), he finally decided on Down Time since he used his boat during his “down time”.  Their label is a picture taken from the dock at Canyon Lake where they kept the boat. There is also a huge mural in their store of the same view.

Purely a winery, Down Time purchases juice from all over the world.  Basil selects juice from popular wine areas such as Australia, Italy, Chile, Washington and California depending on what wines he is making.  Their entire production is handled in the back room, from fermentation to bottling and labeling and is all done by hand.

All of their wines are 12% alcohol, have low sulfites, and no ethyl glycol.  Basil likes to take risks, and he experiments with infusing wine with fruits, nuts, toasted caramel, and even coffee!

The store is bright and airy. The space is versatile, and can handle anything from wine tasting to parties.  They are even willing to bring the wine tasting to your home, business, or community center.

Basil and Colleen both greeted us warmly the moment we walked in.  The store is set up for wine tasting, or can be used for events. They will even custom labels for your event, wedding, company, or whatever.

So now one to the good part, the wine!  All of the wines are very reasonably priced, and seem to range between $12 and $16.  Between the two of us, Taunya and I sampled all of the available dry reds.

Of the 13 wines we sampled, the Winemaker’s Trio was the only one I didn’t care for. It was a bit too fruity on the nose, and too fruit forward for my tastes.  The remaining dozen I liked, and were good in different ways.

A few stood out to me.  The Spanish blend of Grenache and Syrah was really good.  It tasted like a syrah, but the grenache tones it down into a very smooth wine.

The Chilean Malbec has an initial blueberry aroma.  You can taste the fruit at the start, but it’s quickly followed by those spicy notes of a good Malbec. 

The Pinot Noir was more of a medium bodied wine.  I would say it’s a bit more bold than a typical Pinot. It coats your entire mouth while drinking it.  It’s a great buy for the price point.

We both liked the Sangiovese as well.  We ended up buying bottles of the four we liked the most.  At that price it’s hard to pass up.

Honestly, if we lived closer we’d probably frequent Down Time Wines quite a bit.  Basil is very passionate about his wine, and the Kaspars seem like great, friendly people in general.  This is exactly the kind of local business we love to support. 

Be sure to check out tomorrow's feature, Su Vino Winery. You can read yesterday's article on Wilhelm Family Vineyards, or see all of our Sippin’ September articles here.

Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.

— Derek

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