We are almost done with Sippin’ September. Has it been twenty seven days already?  For today we are featuring Merkin Vineyards Tasting Room & Osteria in Cottonwood AZ. Merkin is a combination tasting room and bistro, with a farm to table mission.

Merkin is owned and operated by Maynard Keenan.  The unfortunate name does have a specific meaning, however I am giong to let you Google that for yourself. 😀 It does however seem a fitting name for a wine owned by the Tool front man.

First a little history.  Way back in 2007 Keenan partnered with Eric Glomski to start Arizona Stronghold. In 2014 they decided to part ways, with Keenan giving up his stake in the winery and retaining sole ownership of the Willcox vineyard.  He subsequently renamed it to the Buhl Memorial Vineyard in honor of Arizona wine pioneer Al Buhl.

At the time of the split, Keenan had already started his own Caduceus Cellars where he could pursue his vision as a winemaker. The Merkin Vineyards Tasting Room & Osteria opened on Main Street in Old Town Cottonwood in November of 2016.

Merkin is a very interesting place.  It is part tasting room, part restaurant.  The motto on their website is “Our Farm To Your Table. Our Vines To Your Glass.”.

The fruits and vegetables are grown by Randee Larremore and Maynard’s Father, Mike Keenan. What they can’t grow themselves is sourced from other Arizona farms. The breads and pasta are all hand made from scratch.

If that were not enough, there is also a Merkin Pizza Wagon food truck, and a Merkin Gelato truck.  When onsite they are parked on Pinal Street next to the Osteria.

All of the wines produced by Merkin Vineyards come from a combination of Keenan’s Vineyards.   The largest is the 70 acre Buhl Memorial Vineyard in the Willcox AVA.  There are a total of 110 acres of vineyards split between Willcox and the Verde Valley.  Keenan also has a fifty year lease for a vineyard at the Yavapai College of which Keenan has been a big supporter.

Merkin serves both Merkin Vineyards and Caduceus Cellars wines.  For the Merkin Vineyards label, there are basically three programs:

• The Chupacabra program uses mostly French varietals
• The Shinola is their Italian style series.
• The Tarzan and Jane combined form their Spanish/Iberian program.

For our tasting we started with the Caduceus Cellars 2015 Le Cortigiane Oneste sourced from Yavapai county.  This is a 80/20 blend of Barbera and Merlot.  It was interesting.

Next was the Merkin Vineyards 2018 Shinola, a Sangiovese with a splash of Cabernet Sauvignon.  This one is sourced from the Buhl Memorial Vineyard and was my second favorite.

The Chupacabra has probably been my favorite of the Merkin Vineyard wines, and the 2018 is no exception.  The blend changes by year, and the 2018 is a GSM blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre), a typical Rhône style blend.  Some of the best non-varietal wines in Arizona are GMS blends.

Lastly we sampled the Caduceus Cellars 2017 Airavata Garnacha.  This full varietal was aged in a concrete egg, and to be honest, was not my favorite.

One of the things I like about the Caduceus and Merkin labels is there is a lot of information on the back.  They list the fruit used, the processing methods, the fermenting style, and the aging information for all their wines.

I should also note that there is also a Merkin Vineyards location in Old Town Scottsdale.  Despite the name, they are a restaurant only and do not do wine tastings there.  At least they didn’t the last time we visited, and their website does not indicate otherwise.

There you have it, our breakdown of the Merkin Vineyards Tasting Room & Osteria in Cottonwood.  It is a neat venue and the food is really good.  It’s a great place to grab lunch the next time you are in Old Town Cottonwood.

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

Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.

— Derek

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