VineBuzz

In the aridness of Santa Cruz county, Arizona (an hour south of Tucson), at an elevation of 4728 feet above sea level, and a latitude of 31°37'45 the interaction of long hours of luminance (perhaps several thousand) punctuated by shorter though cool evenings in its' long growing season, Callaghan Vineyards has many of the climactic attributes found in Castilla - La Mancha that drives their fruit to a level of finesse, nuance, complexity, and power that their varietals rarely attain elsewhere in the absence of these factors.   Note the rain falling in the mountains in the background, which Kent Callaghan tells me will soak into the acquifers that their wells depend upon.

Many of those Californian, Oregonian, New Mexican and French growers who are aware of this terroir and who have tried the wines that are cultivated in this tiny growing region of Arizona, must appreciate the Marsanne, Roussanne, Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Mourvedre that Callaghan Vineyards produces. The growers in parts of Rioja, Navarra, Catalonia, and Ribera del Duero also enjoy some of these advantages in their estates.

Some growers say that it is at these self-limiting boundaries of cultivation that the best fruit is grown.  This was amply demonstrated when as an applicant for potential admission to the organization as an "Amigo", I tasted some of Callaghan's wines during the Tempranillo Advocates Producers and Amigos Society Fifth Annual Grand Wine Tasting on June 9, 2012 in Fort Mason, San Francisco, where it became clear that embracing these beauties is its' own reward.