19 April 11th-April 17th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | The Grammy- Winning Winemaker More than a musician, Maynard James Keenan champions Arizona wine. BY GEORGANN YARA B y the time Maynard James Keenan moved to Arizona, he had fame and a seemingly ideal life with wealth, awards and throngs of adoring fans worldwide. However, Keenan wanted another kind of existence when he landed in Jerome in 1995. “I came here to get the fuck out of LA. I had no interest in living there,” Keenan says of the motivation. It had nothing to do with becoming a winemaker in the desert. But over the last three decades, the Grammy winner has not only started several wine labels, but also accelerated the growth of the state’s budding industry, drawing new sets of eyes and palates. Keenan’s wines have earned accolades in wine competitions around the globe, commanding the respect of serious aficio- nados. His Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyard wines are poured in restaurants, sold at grocery stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Market and are at the center- piece of tasting rooms in Old Town Scottsdale, Jerome and the new destina- tion spot Merkin Vineyards Hilltop Winery & Trattoria in Old Town Cottonwood — the heart of Verde Valley wine country. But that’s just the surface. A co-op that served as a platform for young wineries, a college wine program that promises to churn out generations of future winemakers and a viticulture influ- ence that is transforming the industry from literally the ground up are the Tool, Perfect Circle and Puscifer frontman’s behind-the- scenes contributions to Arizona wine. “These things all tied together is the synergistic energy that helps the industry in many different ways,” says Callaghan Vineyards founder and winemaker Kent Callaghan, whose family planted their first vineyard in southern Arizona in 1990. “There’s a lot of different threads to his tapestry.” Typically, business owners avoid creating entities that will generate competitors. However, that’s not the senti- ment in the close-knit Arizona wine world and Keenan is a prime example. “He recognizes the value of an emerging wine region and helping out each other,” says Pavle Milic, winemaker for Los Milics Vineyards and co-owner of FnB Restaurant. “(He believes that) your success is my success and the success of the whole state.” And it all dates back to good old fash- ioned barbecues with friends. Wine epiphany and theft on tour Keenan was in his twenties and living in Boston when his appreciation for wine started. A close friend would host cookouts and pair dishes with Italian wines. There, Keenan realized the connection between wine and good food, and the intangible experience elicited by the pairing. This prepared him to enter another level of awareness when he was given a 1992 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon from friend Tori Amos. He calls it a “conscious epiphany.”While on tour, Keenan noticed the differ- ence between what the band was drinking - Bud Light - and what managers and booking agents were sipping - wine. “I wanted to know what they were drinking from the nice glasses. I surely paid for it,” Keenan recalls, admitting he ended up “stealing it from the manager’s office.” When he settled in the Verde Valley — the north-central Arizona region home to the Verde River, Sedona and Jerome — the terrain reminded him of thriving wine regions in Italy, Spain and the Adelaide Hills in Australia. The idea of planting a vineyard and making wine struck him. “Growing up in a farming community in Michigan, you recognize when you see apricot trees blooming and olive trees growing. You make connections with the environment and agriculture going on,” Keenan says. “It made sense.” Keenan founded Caduceus Cellars and released his first wines under that label in 2004. He also co-founded Arizona Stronghold Vineyards with Eric Glomski of Page Springs Cellars. That partnership ended a decade ago and Keenan went on to start Merkin Vineyards and create wines under his Four Eight Wineworks label and a lineup of canned Puscifer wines. Keenan owns multiple vineyards across Arizona which provide fruit for not only Caduceus and Merkin but other wineries as well. And his restaurant ventures allow him to revisit what happens when wine unites with food. When Keenan set out to make a honey wine,he carbonated it. It was refreshing and delicious and the first thing that came to mind was that it would “fit like a glove” with fried chicken. The result is the new Four 8 Chicken restaurant, which opened in Cottonwood in March and showcases his spicy fried chicken and sparkling mead. “It’s connected. The wine and the food are symbiotic entities. You can’t really separate them,” Keenan says. Just a few steps away, Keenan’s Trattoria features produce from his garden and greenhouses in dishes that pair with his wines. Positioned on a hilltop over- looking Cottonwood, the restau- rant-winery-vineyard is a grand structure complete with a gelateria on the ground floor and a rustic tram that takes visitors up the hill to the restaurant — a nod to the area’s copper mining past. Since opening in the fall of 2023, it has become a distinctive focal point and attrac- tion that represents the area’s past and present while visually taking Arizona wine country to another level. “He’s responsible for a large amount of infrastructure and the first to have a cornerstone place in Cottonwood,” says Michael Pierce, director of viticulture and enology at Yavapai College and winemaker for Bodega Pierce and Saeculum Cellars. “People can come to see the scale of things.” Enabling other young winemakers to make their mark in a competitive and expensive endeavor is another key compo- nent for Keenan. Maynard James Keenan is known for his career as a musician. But in Arizona, he takes on the role of winemaker and champion of local wine. (Photo by Jim Louvau) Merkin Vineyards’ Chupacabra Blanca is a white blend made with all Arizona grapes. (Photo courtesy of GenuWine Arizona) This prepared him to enter another level of awareness when he was given a 1992 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon from friend Tori Amos. He calls it a “conscious epiphany.”While on tour, Keenan noticed the differ- ence between what the band was drinking - Bud Light - and what managers and booking agents were sipping “I wanted to know what they were drinking of Page Springs Cellars. That partnership ended a decade ago and Keenan went on to start Merkin Vineyards and create wines under his Four Eight Wineworks label and a lineup of canned Puscifer wines. Keenan owns multiple vineyards across Arizona which provide fruit Merkin Vineyards’ Chupacabra Blanca is a white blend made with all Arizona grapes. (Photo courtesy of GenuWine Arizona) ▼ Food & Drink Food & Drink >> p 20
