Cove Mesa Vineyard

Not every 69-year-old is up for taking on a new business venture, but according to Emil Molin, that was what saved him during the COVID-19 lockdowns. “I felt like I was deteriorating mentally and physically just sitting on the sofa, doing nothing,” he says. “I kind of felt like I needed to do something to change my life.”

The urge to make a change found an ideal pairing in Molin’s long-standing love of wine. “I’ve been extremely serious about wine for 45 years,” he says. “Not just drinking it, but studying it.” That made Cove Mesa Vineyard, the business that eventually resulted, a perfect fit.

Molin and his wife, Cindy (pictured), spent many years traveling and discovering wines in places such as Italy, Spain and France, but Molin says his true wine education took place in the Verde Valley. In 2016, he enrolled in the viticulture and enology program at Yavapai Community College. The program taught him about winemaking, but more importantly, it revealed his passion for the craft. “I’d really never been excited about making wine previously,” he says. “In the program, probably as a result of the quality of teaching, I got turned on to making wine and really enjoyed it.”

After Molin earned his associate degree, he and Cindy started their own vineyard on Cove Mesa in Cornville. They planted 5,200 vines but initially had no plans of turning the venture into a winery. Then came the summer of 2020, when the itch to “do something” emerged. Just as Cindy was about to retire, Molin posed the idea of starting their own winery. Cindy was on board, and the couple opened the business a few months later. 

“It’s kind of a crazy thing for people to do at our age,” Molin says. “We have our life savings invested between the vineyards and the winery. We’re all in. We’re working full time, and we’re no longer retired.” 

Cove Mesa harvested the first fruit from the Cove Mesa Vineyard in 2022; the newer Solair Vineyard, planted with 6,200 vines in 2021, should yield its first fruit this year. The winery also makes wine from grapes purchased from vineyards in the Willcox area and elsewhere in the Verde Valley, a practice Molin plans to continue.

Molin says Arizona is the perfect place to grow grapes and make wine. “If we weren’t in Arizona, we would not have started a winery,” he says. “We would not have been slightly interested in doing this in California. The entire wine culture is different.”

For example, he says, vineyards in Arizona are more adventurous than those in Napa Valley and Sonoma. “Here, we have Italian, Spanish and French varieties all growing side by side; all of them do really well here,” he says. “It creates an exciting atmosphere in wineries and tasting rooms, where people can come in and taste wines they’re not familiar with.
It helps to drive wine tourism by making it more interesting for people.”

The Arizona climate also plays a role. Many hours of sunshine and hot days give the state a short growing season, but Molin says the large diurnal shift — the difference between the lowest morning temperatures and the highest afternoon temperatures — allows Arizona vineyards to produce very high-quality grapes.

Mike Dellis has been familiar with the Molins since they began planning their vineyard and is now a member of their wine club. He says he enjoys the “elegant style” of Cove Mesa wines: “The wines are, without exception, of high quality and are true to the classic homes of their featured varietals.” Dellis also says the winery staff makes everyone feel welcome, regardless of their level of wine experience. 

Cove Mesa Vineyard currently makes 15 different varieties of wine, some of which are also used to make blends. The winery offers on-site tasting sessions, which include several wine flight choices and a food menu. Customers can also join the wine club to receive spring and fall releases, along with a discount on wine, food and merchandise.