2023 Aridus Harvest Report
Aridus Wine Company crushed 141.5 tons of grapes during this year’s harvest. 55 tons were crushed and designated for Aridus. We crushed a total of 138 tons from our estate vineyard.
84 tons of fruit from our estate vineyard were sold to one custom crush client and 2.5 tons came from a vineyard located in Sonoita for another custom crush.
Based in Willcox, Arizona, in the southeastern part of the state, Aridus has evolved this year to making its wines exclusively from grapes sourced from the estate vineyard. At 28,000 square feet, it is one of the largest winery facilities in the state, and houses state of the art wine making equipment. Surrounded by the Graham and Dos Cabezas Mountains and golden rolling hills, the winery is an inviting mix of a historic location with a cutting edge modern design. The building was once an apple warehouse; it was stylishly renovated with recycled local ranch lumber and unique interior finishes such as exposed Edison light fixtures and rustic metal tools.
Harvest began on August 9th with our estate Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier.
This harvest marks the first year of all estate grown fruit and the 7th year since the 40-acre estate vineyard has started producing fruit. Located in Pearce, Arizona, just a 45-minute drive from the winery, the vineyard sits at an elevation just over 5,000 feet at the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountain Range. On the North bank, the vineyard is planted with Viognier, Malvasia Bianca, and Sauvignon Blanc. On the South bank, the vineyard is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Syrah, Merlot, Tempranillo, Graciano, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah and Cabernet Franc. The vineyard typically experiences 13 inches of rain, 1 inch of snow and temperatures which average around 30 degrees in the cooler months to highs up to the low 100s in the summer.
The smallest lot of grapes was just shy of .2 ton of Montepulciano and came from the Flying Kite Vineyard just outside of Elgin, Arizona. The largest lot was a whopping 17.5 tons of Malbec from the winery’s estate vineyard.
The winery crushed 16 different varieties, 12 of which were from the Aridus vineyard. These grapes are 100% Arizonan with 98% coming from Cochise County and 2% from Sonoita AVA.
76% of the grapes will become red wines and 24% will become white wines.
This harvest started much later then we are used to—it was all the way into mid August before the first varietal was ready. “We initially had very little rain. July was so dry that the ripening process was much farther behind than I was expecting that late in the summer,” explains Assistant Winemaker Ell Brooks. Usually heat quickens the ripening process but you want a good balance of rain and heat to pace harvest out. Then September hit with heavy rains and while that did push everything to the ripening finish line, we had to schedule carefully around all the storms. It got to the point at the end of harvest where we had to pick grapes almost every single day of one week—not our normal practice. Throughout harvest we had 10 days where temperatures peaked over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and received barely over 4 inches of rain.
In a picturesque location such as ours, there are always local wildlife visitors that stop by the winery for a drink. Multiple times this harvest the local javelina family came by at night to show off their little ones. We also had a skunk pass through (thankfully only seen), as well as a family of great-horned owls. Our harvest season wraps up just as the Sandhill Cranes are migrating in for the winter.
“Even though we have been growing and processing grapes for close to a decade, you never know what each harvest will bring,” comments Brooks. “From year to year we could have drastically different conditions, from pouring monsoons to endless heat waves. We are always up to the challenge! It’s all worth it for the exciting reveal of the finished wine. We love to see our customers try wines from each harvest to see first hand how the weather changes each wine year to year.”