A Wonderful Discovery of the Wine Kind…

by Jeff Skinner
(Tucson, Arizona)

A Wonderful Discovery of the Wine Kind…

By Jeff Skinner – RVBlogNOW.com

This has been the most relaxing and wonderful day in, well.. It seems forever!

Where the heck are we?

My Grandfather and I decided to take a break from filling orders and stocking shelves and randomly set out from Tucson heading “east”. After driving along several back-roads for a bit we noticed this little sign on the side of the road with the simple words “Winery” printed on it. Now, for those of you that don’t know me there is one little word that will get my heart all in a flutter and that is “cheeseburger”… Oh wait sorry it’s “Winery”!

So after applying liberal amounts of foot to brake pedal we managed to pull off and take stock of the situation. To my amazement there perched on a distant hillside could be seen neat rows of grape vines! Further I realized that being a Saturday afternoon that we stood a good chance of finding the owners about. We set about heading up the hill and as you can see from the picture it is a fair bit over a (smooth) dirt road and up a small hill.

One note, I would not recommend that you take your (25′ plus) RV up the hill as you may find it a bit tight.

Short drive up the dirt road...
I can assure you that it will be worth the drive and that the end is near at hand. Once you round the final turn you will come to the beginning of the vineyards and the neat rows that stand against the surrounding hillside. Everything is neat and tidy with row after row of mature vines beckoning you to come closer.

The entrance is easy to find and I am told they are open Friday – Sunday 10am-6pm so we had arrived on the perfect day.

After parking we were greeted by Milton Craig the owner who was very friendly and we spent several enjoyable minutes discussing the vineyard and the surrounding area. Since we had decided to drive out to a winery that conveniently has a tasting room, he suggested that we might step inside and meet his wife.

Welcoming entrance...

We followed Milton into the comfortable tasting room that overlooks the vineyard and the surrounding valley with a beautiful view that is not to be missed. They offer a patio with chairs to take in the view and maybe bring a pick-nick and stay awhile! Inside we were warmly greeted by Susan Craig Co-owner who introduced us to the history of their vineyard and the circumstances that led them to this beautiful valley and to own a vineyard… but that is their story to tell and you will just have to visit and find out for yourself!.

Susan explained the two wines they are offering at this time, their signature is a White Merlot that really reminded me of a White Zin with a hint of Apricots and maybe peach? Also their Red is a Syrah that is simply put; “delicious”.

A fun place...

Now, I am not a wine expert by any means but an avid and willing consumer and I know what I like and both of these wines are wonderful. After sampling both and deciding that I needed to take several home with me I realized one other important note… Bring cash! It is a very long drive to the next ATM machine and to keep cost low they are not yet able to accept credit cards.

Tasting Room...

Just to be clear, that the way we approached the vineyard was very backwards and I actually was not aware of just how close to I-10 and Tucson we were. It is a simple matter of traveling east down I-10 to exit 281 and take hwy 83 south for a few miles till you see the winery sign on the left. If you are in a large RV and have a toad there is a nice sized lot just at the sign and plenty of room to disconnect and take the toad up to the winery.

Their information is;
Charron Vineyards
18585 S Sonoita Hwy
Vail, AZ 85641
520-762-8585
www.CharronVineyards.com
Simply Yummy!!...

I do hope that this little review will encourage you to head over to the vineyard next time you are through Tucson… But one little favor to ask…

Please don’t tell anybody about this place, because as my Grandfather says “everybody will come and we will never find parking…”. Maybe he is right so just keep it between us. OK?

Now to decide which bottle to open first…