Zarpara Vineyard and Winery, Willcox AZ

Zarpara Vineyard and Winery in Willcox Arizona is a boutique winery owned by Rhona MacMillam and Mark Jorve. Zarpara planted their first vines in 2010 and now have over 5000 vines in the ground. Rhona and Mark are very hands on with the vines meaning they offer high quality grapes and premium, hand-crafted wines.

On this day, we were happy to be able to meet Rhona and discuss both her and Mark’s passion for wine. She explained how they came about the name, Zarpara. Zarpara essentially means to set sail in Spanish. All of the labels represent that in some way, and if I remember correctly they have commissioned one of their sons to create them. The labels are so pretty and calming.

Zarpara Vineyard and Winery Vineyard — Zarpara Vineyard and Winery

The tasting room doubles as their home kitchen as well, noted by the toaster, coffee maker and other usual kitchen items. We actually did not notice this right away, because you walk in and it feels like any other tasting room. Rhona was the one to point it out. Innovative when you own a vineyard and need to do tastings. Everything is right there!

Currently Zarpara is offering five red wines, four white wines and one dessert wine. We, of course, went for the red tasting. The Sangiovese, as always, is good, light and a great summer wine. You could drink this by the pool chilled (not over ice).

The 2015 Origen is a Syrah, Monatsrell, Tempranillo blend. Not surprisingly this is a fantastic blend of varieties that can survive on their own. The combination of flavors blend nicely into a smooth, spicy, deep and yet light experience.

Next up was the 2016 Etapa, a Tempranillo, Graciano and Monastrell blend. We actually bought two bottles of this. This blend is not too fruity but offers just a taste of it finishing with that cassis and leather finish. Fantastic is really all you need to know.

As a Syrah lover I was excited about the 2015 Syrah they offer and I was not disappointed. I like this one in particular because all of the Syrah’s in Willcox had a little more of the chocolate flavors than I would prefer. This was lighter on the chocolate and more toward the pepper and spice, which is what I prefer in a Syrah. YUM!

Finally we tried the 2014 Odisea, a Tempranillo, Syrah, Monastrell blend. More of a smoky blend, I enjoy a wine with that smoky finish and this wine met my expectations. Not too smoky, but a hint of smoke. This one did have a little more of the cherry than I prefer so although not my favorite, it was still delicious.

Naturally, Derek and I did not try the whites or the dessert wines, but we went ahead and bought a Viognier for Mama Ruby. It was her birthday and we skipped out on that to work on Sippin’ September so we felt we owed her several bottles of wine. We started with this one and it was the first one she drank when we got home, she said it was a really good wine. That is the biggest compliment you get from her, so that is a good sign!

If you are in Willcox, go and meet Rhona and Mark, you will not be disappointed in your experience. Even if Google does try to take you onto someone else's property in order to leave! Yes, that happened!

Be sure to check out tomorrow's feature, Waggin’ Vineyard. You can read yesterday's article on Silver Strike Winery, or see all of our Sippin’ September articles here.

Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.

— Taunya