Desert Rock Winery [October 2020]

Let me introduce you to my good friend Barbara Hampton. Barb was a Pre-Op/PACU nurse when I met her while on an assignment at Core Institute Specialty Hospital. [affectionately known to those of us who have worked there as CISH] I would always tell Barb that she “takes me places… I’ve never been.” [country song by Mark Wills] She would find the most beautiful brunch and lunch places for us to meet up, some of which have become my favorite spots!!

I’m thankful for all of the memories since she has moved too far away for a casual meeting of the minds. Still missing your company, Barb!! [Who is pictured in the last photo] I like to think I took her to a few different places as well, mostly wine places!! Haha!! Well, as a true wine and wine tasting lover I am always on the lookout for new places and/or places new to me. It’s all about tasting something different, or trying a wine/food pairing, or a unique location with a little extra pizazz.

I love getting those occasional texts from a friend telling me about a wine place they saw somewhere and they wondered if I’ve been; or better yet, they ask if we can go check it out together!! It’s always interesting to see what I learn from each place, especially when I'm doing a little research while writing about them for my blog!! Let me introduce Paul J. Hoffman. Paul started his winemaking journey back in 2000 when we went to work with the Robert Mondavi Corporation for a time.

He moved up the ladder quickly gaining experience in hospitality, sales & marketing, distribution, winemaking/production, and business. He also added wine education programs and learned from Robert himself that, “Good wines taste like a grape, great wines taste like a place.” In 2002, Paul along with three likeminded partners joined up together to follow a passion and started making their own wine. They created Medusa & Spellbound Wines that started to yield profits in only two.

Next in 2006, Paul decided to go out on his own. He started working with a few winegrowers in the area to harvest from their vineyards and he opened Desert Rock Winery and Distillery. There are several facets here besides producing and selling wine from Napa and Sonoma areas. He created a wine program called Atmosphere Wines, because where you drink your wine should be just as magical as the wine itself.

In 2010 he launched the Rock n Roll infused brand, aka Headbanger American Gold Whiskey. Then the 401K wine brand and labels soon followed in 2011. Whew… makes me tired just talking about all the work he is doing!! LOL!! Fast forward to 2015 and Paul moved his entire winemaking operations to Scottsdale, Arizona. This is the place where we went for our wine tasting. Paul named it The Desert Rock [Urban] Winery, Tasting Room, and Wine Education Center.  

You don't have to have much COMMON SENSE [seen above and pun intended, haha!!] to see that we had a great time at the Desert Rock Winey, or that we enjoyed the wines there. If memory serves me correctly, we even took the boys [Shawn and Barb's hubby, Steve] along with us for this outing!!

Have you ever been to a busy wine tasting room where they only poured you one tasting at a time and you sat there and waited and waited for your next taste!? What if I told you there was such a place where you could pour yourself the next taste whenever you wanted!? Tune in next week where Wine with Wixy will be doing just that!!  

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