Page Springs Wineries and Vineyards

by Michael Famiglietti

It doesn’t have the big money of Napa Valley or the pedigree of the south of France. But along an Arizona road near Sedona the wine industry’s underdog is making its way to the top of the heap.

In the Verde Valley, Sedona, Cottonwood and Cornville wine-growers have packed their bare-knuckled personalities into their varietals. They hail from all over, including Ohio, Germany and a rock concert’s center stage.

On Cornville’s Page Springs Road, tasting rooms offer a different feel for those sick of gift shops and reproduced Western art. Thick glasses await thirsty wine lovers on polished bars.

Cornville’s four wineries have enough presence to interest tired travelers, wary of taking the same ol’ road to Sedona, and to foster a wine community capable of grabbing the world’s attention.

Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of alternative rock groups like Tool and A Perfect Circle, of mid-1990s and early 2000 fame, brings that attention without trying. Keenan, known for holding notes for over a minute and “cross-dressing with style,” arrived in Arizona with a rock god’s following and started Merkin Vineyards.

Teaming with Eric Glomski, owner of Page Springs Cellars, Keenan sells his own brand Caduceus, named after the staff carried by the Greek messenger god Hermes. On the label of his best-selling red and white Primer Paso blend, which depicts the ancient symbol’s snakes as vines, Keenan says: “Primer Paso celebrates the beginning of a new creative journey for me through some uncharted grape-growing territory in the Verde Valley of Arizona.”

“He wants his wine to be recognized beyond his status as a musician,” says Glomski, who sells Keenan's wines.

At Merkin, Keenan works alongside the cellars’ staff, on the field, cleaning drains and in the lab, gladly giving up his rock star status. “He’s very serious and committed,” Glomski adds.

The two met when Glomski worked at Echo Canyon Vineyard and Winery, the first winery to pop up along Page Springs Road. Working with its owner, Jon Marcus, Glomski learned the local       

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wine business and talked to wine enthusiasts, like Keenan, when they walked in. He had never heard of Tool.

“Maynard just dropped in one day,” he says. “We had a lot in common. We share a personal love of food and wine.” The two decided to embark on their own vineyard venture.

Today, Glomski’s own winery is flourishing, and Keenan is no longer just an enthusiast. Signing his bottles with “novice winemaker,” the singer now has a cellar with more than 5,000 bottles of wine and a few hidden vineyards growing future treasures.

At Page Springs Cellars, Keenan’s creations blend well with the casual, but sophisticated atmosphere.

Banked by scattered gravel and thick trees, the winery sits close to the road. The entrance, with its wood floors and paintings, could fool anyone into thinking someone lived there. But the voices of joyful tasters, swirling glasses and admiring the vintage, say otherwise.

Glomski says he wants to make wines that “express the Arizona landscape.” He picked his first harvest in 2005 and has some intense red wines. His syrah should come out in a couple of years.

Looking out through the wide glass doors, the vineyard stretches out before the eyes of unsuspecting visitors along with well-informed, gawking music fans. But those looking for the singer won’t get far.

“We get crazed fans that say they know him,” Glomski says, “prowling around the winery looking to get a glimpse.”

On one occasion, a small group of fans vandalized some of the property. Such extreme behavior is rare, says Glomski, stating that, “most of [the fans] are younger people with a love for Keenan’s artistry.” Still, even in the remote reaches of Page Springs, Keenan maintains his privacy.

Debbie Wahl, who owns Oak Creek Vineyards and Winery, says people come into her tasting room looking for Keenan’s wine as well. She says the attention helps because many of them come back once they’ve bought a bottle of Caduceus. “I love that they sell his wine,” she says. “It brings people down the road.”

She likens the high-end prices of Keenan’s wine (which sells for up to $88 a bottle) to other celebrity endorsements. “He’s like Tiger Woods and Nike,” she adds. “He’s an excellent musician, he can go for it.”

Wahl, the quick-talking German who grows many grapes including zinfandels and merlots, says she hopes more wine growers will      

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move to their area along Page Springs, where the climate breeds great red wines. “It’s the atmosphere,” she says, referring to the fresh air and nearby creek.

The competition would help everyone because a thriving community creates an area for tourists to hunt for diverse blends, she says. But noting that young vineyards require the kind of attention that leaves little time to mingle, she adds. “I wish [Keenan] would come and say hi, but he’s very busy.”

Then again, a 2005 land dispute between the vineyard owners might keep the handshakes and hugs from ever happening.

Glomski had wanted to exchange some of his property with land owned by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, to expand his parking area. Wahl, and other local landowners, spoke out against the transfer. A November 2005 issue of The Verde Independent, a local newspaper, quoted Wahl as saying “it feels like bullies are coming into the neighborhood.”

The same article said Wahl and others didn’t think the transfer would protect open space. Ultimately, Glomski got the land and the other parties retreated into their corners.

Rod Snapp, whose Javelina Leap winery opened in December next door to Wahl, says these types of feuds come and go in the wine industry. “I don’t care if we’re mad at each other, we must get along because we always need something,” he says, laughing.

He says one day he couldn’t find his wine crusher, so he went winery to winery until he found a spare one. He doesn’t hit any problems because he knows everyone well. Wahl and her husband Michael, a 35-year friend of Snapp’s from Ohio, bought their land from him and Jon Marcus used to employ him.

“We just put [fighting] aside because we gotta survive,” Snapp says. “I think during harvest everybody just gets on edge a little bit.”

He recalls first meeting Glomski when he had a very long ponytail, and says he loves what he has brought to the area. The hearty man, who talks so fast he lets words crash into each other, says when he heard about Keenan coming to Page Springs, he just smiled. “When Maynard sells his wine for $80 a bottle it’s fantastic, it gives us some credibility,” he adds.

Snapp, like Glomski, plans on opening a restaurant on his property to complement the wine community that remains on the cusp of blooming. He mentions his start as a chef for the Bright Angel        

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Lodge at the Grand Canyon, and he can’t stop talking about his future. “Oh I’m excited,” he says, adding that he has already spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million on the vineyard.

Another Verde Valley newcomer, Barbara Predmore, plans on adding “Tuscan village,” celebrating food and arts, with a bed and breakfast, bistro and a natural amphitheatre for Shakespearean plays on her property. She opened Cottonwood’s Alcantara, the largest concentrated vineyard in the valley, in December.

Working with Glomski, she cultivates her soil, rich in limestone, because she plans on creating French Rhone varietals down the road. “My vines are going to be the best,” she says.

The former owner of a travel agency, Predmore has that same infectious optimism as Snapp. She buzzes about the Verde Valley’s potential and seems ready to overflow with respect for Keenan. “He immediately brings attention and that’s wonderful,” she says. “He has a very big interest in wine, too.”

She hopes his interest will help the area, but feels her own land has enough to offer visitors. It borders ancient Indian caves and the Verde River, where bald eagles swoop in from time to time, hunting for food. Predmore says she knew she had to plant vines when she walked through the 87-acre property. “You can feel the energy,” she adds.

Along with that nerve-calming scenery, Arizona’s wine industry needs business leaders to grow, says Rod Keeling, the president of the Arizona Wine Growers Association, and former president of the downtown Tempe merchant community.

Keeling owns Keeling-Schaefer Vineyards in Cochise County, 12 miles south of the Chiricahua National Monument. He met Glomski through the association, and the two have banded together to work for grower’s rights in the state.

Keeling’s own vineyard grows red wines, including the Two Reds grenache, which started selling in December. He says he looks at Verde Valley winemakers as partners in creating an Arizonan wine culture.

“[Glomski] is ambitious to have a vineyard that is big enough to have a real business,” Keeling says.

Glomski’s plans both on site and online, where Caduceus and Page Springs Cellars brands sell daily, exemplify the approach needed to tie down the tourists as they tear through the state, he adds.

“Arizona is not going to be a wine leader in terms of volume,” Keeling says, “but we can be a leader in quality.”