The Wilcox General Store [May 2022]

Holy wine tastings, Batman… can you believe this week marks Wine with Wixy’s 100^th wine blog!? Where does the time go!? You know what they say… "wine flies when you're having fun" [meaning hours feel like minutes when you are fully engaged in an enjoyable activity, making time seem like it is passing much faster.. Haha!!] And let me tell you, it sure has been a fun ride!! [so far] It’s the perfect time to write about the General Store, known as The Wilcox Commercial Building. Originally opened in 1880, it served as the towns general store. It is now something else entirely and totally unique!!

The Wilcox commercial Building is a large building with a single room [pictured below] that hosts multiple tasting rooms. At the time of our visit, the wineries were Golden Rule Vineyards, Copper Horse Vineyard, Strive Vineyard, and Soaring Wines… you could almost say four tasting for the price of one!! This type of tasting room is noted to be Arizona’s first multi-tasting room in the state, making it wildly popular to wine tour groups. [as seen in the last photo!! Oh my!! LOL] I’ll tell you about that in a minute, but let’s start at the beginning. I really had no idea what we were walking into, it didn’t look like any kind of wine tasting room I have ever been to before.

You can kind of see from the above photo that it looks as if there are different sitting areas scattered around the room. There was also a bar, complete with a sommelier and a sign at each winery tasting area. This is where you went to do your wine tasting. You could walk around and/or get comfortable wherever you pleased. It was really quite nice. Golden Rule wines are some of my favorites that I've tasted at several of the Wilcox Wine Art and Wine Festivals. It is owned and operated by Jim and Ruth Graham, who also run a pistachio farm. They planted their first vines in 2009 and made their official first pour in 2014. Jim grew up in Iowa and had farmed his whole life.

In fact, he was on his way to a farming conference when he met his wife Ruth on the plane!! [how sweet is this story!?] Well, she moved to Iowa and they soon decided to quit farming when an opportunity to move to Wilcox presented itself. You see, Jim’s uncle owned about 26 acres of prime vineyard ground in the area that was just waiting to be planted!! Jim and Ruth took ownership, and this is how Golden Rule got its start. They planted 11 different varieties of grapes of both French and Italian origin. The wineries name comes from a gold mine that is located on a hill at the back of the property. [wish I would’ve known that when we were there!! Hahaha]

We were actually sitting at the Golden Rule Winery when the photo below was taken. By “we” I mean myself, Shawn, and my girl Aimee Aldous!! She was on her way home from somewhere or the other and was passing right through Wilcox!! She and Murphy stopped in to have some wine with us and we all got to witness the drama unfold!! You can see by the look on the girls faces that this was not the desired outcome to their escapades!! I mentioned the tour groups in the beginning, and I believe this may have been a bachelorette party. We could not believe our eyes and the guy at the bar was like.. “We just got that table.. the owner is going to kill me!!” I guess the girls thought it could hold most of them for a photo but... epic fail!!

So, let’s talk about StriVe Vineyard and how they “embrace life’s challenges and savor life’s victories” Hence the name.. StriV[for victories]e!! Ryan [a pharmacist] and Desiree [a phycologist] grew up together in Wisconsin before moving to Wilcox, AZ to pursue their winery dream. They started out in one of bedrooms in their home, overcoming many obstacles; including a 6-gallon carboy [a glass narrow-necked container used for fermentation, settling, and aging wine] explosion!! This only fueled them to try harder, to remodel the house into a complete in-home winery. It didn’t take them long to find some land to proceed full speed ahead to build their own vineyard and winery!!

Unfortunately, I cannot find a ton of information about Copper Horse Vineyard, but it was founded by Regina Desfachelles in 2013. She got her start by planting only 6 acres to test the waters, to see how the vines would make out. Needless to say, she moved the entire production in 2016 and adopted the French phrase "La perfection du vin" [meaning the perfection of wine] Cooper Horse is named after “Rosy” a 6-year-old filly whose color is like the copper-rich hills that surround the vineyard. I just love sweet little stories like this!!

For some reason I didn’t get to taste at Soaring Wines, I think there was no one there at the station at the time we were there. Sad because I always see them at the wine festivals because you know.. "soaring and hot air ballooning" just so similar!! Haha!!! Anyway, if you happen to be in Wilcox and you're interested in multiple tasting room experiences within close proximity [cause like who wouldn’t be!? LOL] the Willcox Commercial Building is a great option. Next week Wine with Wixy will be visiting Bird and Barrel.. this is the winery that prompted this entire trip to begin with!!

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