New local Arizona wine celebrates UofA's winemaking history
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The label of La Osa 2019. Photo: Courtesy of Callaghan Vineyards
The latest release from Callaghan Vineyards in southern Arizona is chock-full of UofA and Tucson nostalgia.
The big picture: La Osa 2019 was released earlier this month in collaboration with the university's licensing arm, Old Main Mercado.
- Callaghan Vineyards owners and Tucson natives Kent and Lisa Callaghan told Axios they see the partnership as a way to celebrate their families' long histories in southern Arizona and UofA's role in spearheading wine making in the state.
Flashback: "The whole reason Arizona has a wine industry is because of [UofA]," Kent said.
- In the 1970s, soil scientist Gordon Dutt began working at the university and was tasked with finding high-value crops that could flourish in the southwest's climate.
- He planted wine grapes at different altitudes across the Four Corners region and determined that Sonoita yielded the best product. He planted a vineyard there in the 1980s — the first in the state since before prohibition began in the 1920s.
The intrigue: Kent's family started its vineyard in Elgin outside of Sonoita in 1990 and it's become one of the most celebrated in the state.
Zoom in: La Osa is 100% Grenache with grapes grown by Callaghan Vineyards and aged five years.
- Kent said Grenache grapes are popular in Arizona because they flourish in sun, wind and heat.
1 cool label: Lisa said she worked with the university's graphic designer to create the bottle's label, which features a timeline of her and Kent's family histories and the university's key milestones.
- It has a vintage Wilbur Wildcat logo and two cowboy drawings by Native American artist Hart Merriam Schultz, who painted the originals for Lisa's great-grandfather, J.C. Kinney.
- Kinney owned La Osa Livestock Company in southern Arizona and inspired the new bottle's name.
The bottom line: The bottle runs $35 and is available for purchase online and in Phoenix at GenuWine.