Mogollon Vineyards, Dewey AZ - Live Love Drink Travel

On our last day of Sippin’ September we are featuring an up and coming winery for which we highly recommend a visit to. Mogollon Vineyards is located in the Dewey-Humboldt area right off highway 69. You can see the tasting room and vineyard from the highway so it is very easy to locate. The aesthetic as you drive by or into the vineyard is very inviting. If you pass it, just turn around, you won’t regret it!

We were blessed enough to have the opportunity to meet with the owners Keith and D’Alene Moore. We spoke with them about their adventures getting into the wine industry and why they chose the area they are located in.

Keith and D’Alene had lived in the North Phoenix area for several years and currently still own and operate TCK Air Conditioning & Heating. Keith currently still drives to Phoenix during the week in order to operate his AC business.

Years ago Keith had purchased a cattle farm in the Flagstaff area, but it was not truly rural for them. He eventually purchased farming property near Snowflake where he started farming hay. After a few years he noticed that his water bills were excessively high for the amount he was using. Hay takes a lot of water. So he began his adventure into figuring out what to do next.

In Keith’s endeavor to own and operate his own farm, he eventually heard about the Viticulture and Enology course at Yavapai College in Clarkdale. He decided that this was his course of action and mentioned it to D’Alene who immediately said “I wanna go too!”

Keith began attending the course, primarily doing night classes. During his courses he quickly learned that Viticulture was not his thing. Keith found that he leaned more toward Enology, the actual making of the wine. He eventually met up with a few classmates who lived in the Phoenix area as well. They all began to commute together over the next three years when Keith graduated.

Mogollon began buying and making wine with grapes from the Willcox AVA.. They would buy whatever grapes were available and then drive them from Willcox all of the way up to Snowflake. As you can imagine these were some long days. But they remember them very fondly and speak about how it was still fun, even with the long days and hard work.

Most of Keith’s family is located in the Dewey-Humboldt area and he eventually was able to purchase property in that area to begin the vineyard. They have a lot of family in this area and therefore are quite familiar with it. We actually got to meet Keith’s mom as she stopped by the tasting room while we were visiting.

Keith and D’Alene planted the vineyard more for aesthetic reasons. They still continue to make wine from locally purchased Arizona grapes. The vines in the vineyard are just babies because mother nature has her own plan and the initial vines were destroyed by a massive hailstorm in 2019 before they were mature enough to provide a vintage.

All of the magic for Mogollon Vineyards happens on site, from crushing, storing and aging, and all the way down to bottling. It is a large yet small and very clean space (I mean really really clean) where it all happens.

The aging room is normally kept around 58° literally using a very small wall A/C. I asked Keith how that was even possible given the size of the unit. He told me that coolness is about the building not the A/C unit (remember he owns an AC company). He had the entire inside of the building foamed from top to bottom and then built walls around so that it still has a very nice aesthetic to it. It is all very efficient...and did I mention clean!

I wanna speak about the tasting room before we move to the wines themselves. There is a large parking area for the tasting room which I am sure comes in handy during peak season. They have a nice green lawn with a walking path that takes you to a large patio area with many seating areas. Clean tables and chairs with a nice ceiling fan to keep the air moving.

They have Cornhole on the grass just off the patio. You can see the vineyard and have a full 360° view of the property, which makes for a very nice experience and some great photos. Inside there are a few small rooms, but most of your seating options will be outside. There is a very clean restroom inside the tasting room.

Now for the wines. Mogollon does the all in one wine tasting. You order the flight, white, red or mixed and they bring them all out at one on a flight paddle. Some folks like doing them this way and others do not. Derek and I differ on this. I like it both ways, but I also like having them all at once so you can easily go back and forth.

We of course did the red flight, starting with the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a very classic Cabernet with hints of tobacco and a bit of spice. For me I really tasted cherry which made it a little too fruity for me. Not bad, but it was definitely cherry heavy. Different palates may enjoy that, but for my taste it was not what I would normally enjoy a full glass of.

The 2017 Humboldt was up next and it gave what it promised. This has one two significant awards. It took Silver in the 2019 AZ Republic Wine Competition and the Bronze in the 2020 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Earthy with black pepper and dark fruit with just a hint of clover. I actually had to take several drinks to hit the clover but I finally found it there. Derek and I kept saying “What are we tasting?” Then we looked at the description, took another drink and yup, sure enough, there was the clover.

My favorite of the tasting was the NV Clayton. This is named after Keith’s dad. Keith had some Tempranillo and Syrah leftover which was not enough to bottle, so he tossed them together inside a barrel, not sure what he was going to do with it. His dad tasted it and told him that this was the best wine he ever made. What else was Keith to do but bottle a wine he intentionally unintentionally made.

This wine is extremely smooth, bold with a nice pepper and spice. The description states there is some cherry, I didn’t get that, but I did get the tobacco on the finish. This is a really great wine and I cannot wait to open a bottle of it.

The 2017 Syrah was our final tasting (so we thought), and it is a really great Syrah. Not too bold but nice and heavy. My pallet tends to hit the deeper notes in a wine and I was able to taste spices and anise with a touch of fig. The notes state fig, blueberry, toasted cranberry with spices of currant and anise. I didn’t get any blueberry or cranberry, but your pallet is different from mine so you of course should try this. It is a very smooth Syrah and whatever you pallet finds, you will enjoy this one.

While we were taking a tour of the facilities, Keith mentioned that they had just sampled the Grenache and asked if we would like a barrel tasting of it. Derek and I never turn down a barrel sample.

At first glance you would not know this was a Grenache, it came out a bit darker then a typical Grenache. I swirled and smelled, seeming a little less fruity than your typical Grenache, I take a taste and I am speechless. It isn’t fruity at all, I am not even sure I can describe the flavors of what it was, but I can tell you, it is fantastic. Be ready to buy this one and we will not be surprised if they win another award for it. Also bottle it now Keith or very quickly hereafter!

Mogollon Vineyards is an up and coming winery that you should get in early on. Most of their wines are firmly under $30, which in our opinion makes them a great value. Both of us believe they are under priced. They have great wines, a great venue and are just really fantastic folks. We would love to hear about your experience and so would the Moore’s.

This concludes Sippin’ September 2020! If you followed us through the entire month, thank you for sticking with us. You can check out all of our Sippin’ September features here in case you missed one, want to see our features from last year, or just want to revisit something.

Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.

— Taunya