RanchoMaria Vineyards, Benson AZ - Live Love Drink Travel

RanchoMaria Vineyards in Benson Arizona was founded in 2003 by Mark and Maria Mabry, both Natives of Southern Arizona. They offer Tempranillo, Grenache and Zinfandel. They are located in the Southern Foothills of the Rincon Mountains.

We contacted RanchoMaria on two separate occasions to attempt either a tasting or pick up of bottles. Their website still indicates they are open for tasting by appointment.

The first time we called, they stated that they would be unavailable for tastings and were inflexible in allowing us to visit for the blog article. We respected their wishes and had changed our plans for that weekend anyway so we figured it worked out fine.

The next contact was about 10 days later when we were able to get our Sonita trip nailed down. We left two messages with no return call. At this time we just wanted to take some photos for the blog and we were going to purchase a few bottles and sample them on our own.

My first issue with this winery/vineyard is that they might lack in the customer service arena. They certainly didn’t appear to want any exposure from our blog. We still respect their wishes. Due to the appointment only requirement please be sure to call ahead. They are pretty far off the beaten path so it would be a long drive, only to be turned away.

We were unaware until our visit to the area, but Charron Vineyards offers RanchoMaria’s wines in their tasting room. All they would have had to do was let us know that and our experience with them would have been much different.

We were able to sample RanchoMaria’s 2018 Syrah. I wrote in my notes that it had a rancid taste. I remember this one very clearly, I was taken aback by the taste because I was certain that this wine had to have turned. Nope, that is just the taste. I would never buy a bottle of this, it was just awful.

We then sampled the Tempranillo from RanchoMaria. When he poured it you could smell the Tempranillo, it was nice and made me smile. Honestly I noted that this was the best one on the menu. But still not good enough to buy a bottle.

So my take on RanchoMaria wines is that the experience left a bad taste in my mouth, and also that the wine might leave a bad taste. Again, my disclaimer is, my taste buds might be different than yours, so please go sample yourself, but call ahead so you don’t waste a trip.

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

Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.

— Taunya