Coronado Winery [April 2022]

As I mentioned last week, we are heading down to Willcox, Arizona to visit a few vineyards of wineries I have really enjoyed at various Wine and Art Festivals. Since Willcox is about three hours South of our place, we decided to take the Motorhome and make a weekend of it!! Totally Shawn’s idea but isn’t it grand!? The city of Willcox is a historic little town known for their Farms, Ranches, Orchards and Vinyards!! Willcox is in the Coronado National Forest, which brings us to our first stop… Coronado Winery.

The first vines were planted at Coronado Vineyard in 2005 by a cute little couple, Mark and Jacque Cook. I know I usually don't get into this first thing, but the Cooks named their winery after the National Forest where it is located. Coronado is also a type of tree, a Southwester White Pine. There was one remaining tree left standing on the property, which use to be an old gold course, and guess which type of tree it was!? Nailed it.. a Coronado!! The vineyard sits at about 4,000 feet. Coronado’s vines flourished at this altitude and they started producing some of Arizona’s finest wines.

They crafted a wide range of wines from sweet table wines to a few unique blends. They also had some of the more the common varietals like Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Riesling. While the winery was “fun and exciting” for the Cooks [as a side business] but it was taking a toll on their primary business. You see, they owned 12,000 acres [if you can imagine] of pistachios and pecans for farming. They had mixed feelings about what to do, but finally in 2020 they decided to sell the 250-acre estate to lighten their load. Doajo and Roxanne Hicks bought Coronado Vineyard in March of the same year.

This purchase made them Arizona’s first Black/Native American family-owned vineyard. Originally Doajo and Roxanne where from Ohio, where Doajo was an attorney and Roxanne started perusing a career in the medical field. They moved to Arizona where Doajo graduated from ASU and served on the Salt River Pima police force. They brought their rescue Jack Russel Terroir named Chili along with them. He is the vineyard mascot, and I was lucky enough to meet him in person at a wine festival. Chili is in the first photo… along with Doajo in the background.

You can see in the photo above just how beautiful the Coronado Vineyard grounds are. We sat out on the patio [seen in the photo below] so we could enjoy the weather and the views, while I was drinking my wine flight!! I know I mentioned tasting some of their wines at various Art and Wine Festivals, but they also have a tasting room in Jerome, and I have also been to that location several times, as well!!  

Chili, the winery dog I mentioned and that you met in the first photo is featured on some of the wine labels. How adorable, right!? He has quickly become known as the Conquistador of the company. Conquistadors were Spanish and Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with, and colonized many parts of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania during the Age of Discovery. Sadly, Chili was not in residence when we visited the vineyard, so I’m glad I was able to meet him at one of the festivals.

Unfortunately, in July of 2025 Coronado Vineyard fell victim to a fire that ravaged the grounds and destroyed the main building. Along with other damage sustained, it was considered a total loss and the Hicks decided to close up shop permanently.

Next week Wine with Wixy will visiting another Wilcox Vineyard that I have mentioned before. With a tasting room in Jerome and Scottsdale, it was definitely one I wanted to visit while we were in the area!!

Cheers to you my wine loving friends, and TTFN!!