Arizona Stronghold Tasting Room

We first found Arizona Stronghold Tasting Room when we were on a road trip. We went in for a wine tasting and left members of their club.
The tasting room is a little on the small side but their recent completion of the patio has more than doubled their space.
The team working there is nice and knowledgable. We had a white tasting, red tasting and then ended up doing a mixed tasting. It was nice to be able to sit down at a table and play some table games, look at the art covering the walls, or some eclectic table books.
We signed up to be annual members. We get 6 bottles of wine every quarter. It’s been nice to have a reason to get away every 3 months. With our membership we get 52 free tastings. Being that we are only there every three months, we each do about 3 full tastings and taste about 18 different wines. Their food menu has developed over the last few months. The cheese board is decent. The skewers are good. I prefer the steak. The spice mixture is flavorful but the cuts of meat aren’t the best.
We won’t renew our membership, only because we want to be able to have a more diverse wine collection. Many times the quarterly delivery comes with the same wines as the previous delivery. They do let you switch out wines with other bottles of equal or lesser price, but that defeats the purpose of the club in my opinion.

We had plate of meat, cheese, olive, nut & dried cranberry. It was outstanding and could hardly finish.
We loved the place including the outside patio. Great Customer service

Visited with my friends with a Groupon and we enjoyed the wines provided on the flights. The couch area was cozy and the areas were inviting and the staff couldn’t have been nicer. It was nice playing some board games while we enjoyed our cheese plate with wines we liked off the flight. Will be coming back the next time we’re in town.

Love love loved this place!!! Alex waited on us and was awesome! We had a olive bowl, an incredible cheese plate and I tried flight A and the boys did the Z and the combo flight. There was not 1 wine we didnt like. Alex was so knowledgeable about not only the wines, but the cheeses we had and even the area, since he’s from there. It was beautiful outside and we just cannot wait to go back.

Amazing service, very knowledgable server, great wine. Great experience and we will be back!

This place is awesome. The skewers were so delicious and the wine is really good. Service is the best! 5 stars for sure.

My wife and I were there on ¹²⁄₂₆. Staff was nice and my wife said it was nicer when warmer and there was music. It was cold, so not their fault. Will go there again next time in town.

This was such a fun place to hang out before the «wine train». The wine was very good but what impressed me was how waited-​on we were, given that it was busy that night. The art and ambiance have me thinking that little rural Cottonwood has gotten very cool!

Tonight, a tall, striking, local brunette with glasses greeted me. Awesome customer service (wish I would have caught her name! Grrr!).
She deserves a raise and I have no idea what she makes.
Ordered a combo flight because I wanted to try some whites and reds.
Mother comes in. Then wife comes in. Just before closing.
She treated us all with great conversation and service.
I’m kind of a beer guy but she made me appreciate wine.
It was good wine… but GREAT service… I highly recommend this tasting room if you are in town!

Having seen the movie «Blood into Wine» some years ago, I was very keen to visit Maynard Keenan’s winery tasting room. Once we got there, we learned that he’s no longer involved with AZ Stronghold and instead has a new winery called Caduceus (with a tasting room in Jerome).
Anyways, despite this news, we had a really nice time at the AZ Stronghold tasting room. There are several flights to choose from, at a cost of $ 9 each for a total of 5 pours (and you get to keep the glass). We tried the red «Z» flight which had a Nebbiolo, a Cab and some blends. Each was very well made and delicious. The staff member who helped us was genuinely interested in his work and very friendly.
Highly recommend if you’re in the area!

Until my visit to this establishment, I considered Cottonwood as just another town to pass through during a road trip to Jerome or Mingus Mountain. But when my friend and I had some time to kill while another friend who rode with us had to conduct some business in town, we decided to check out this tasting room … and we’re so glad we did. This is an excellent place to get acquainted with wines from Arizona vineyards, through staff whose enthusiasm and knowledge of the flavors, subtleties, and terroir of the wines are, in a word, fascinating. Get comfortable on the seats and sofas while savoring your selections, or relax with some games at the table. This tasting room, together with the different shops and stores in the Old Town area, gives us reason to consider Cottonwood as a destination rather than just another area to pass through during future trips to the Verde Valley area.

We had a fun time here this afternoon. The tasting room staff is knowledgeable and friendly. Jay made us feel welcome from the moment we entered. We tasted each of the wines they offer, and we were very impressed with the quality of wines they’re creating with 100% Arizona grapes.

Located on Main Street in Cottonwood, very nice tasting room with a bar and some lounging areas to enjoy a bottle of wine. I’m a huge fan of this brand so I was looking forward to trying some of their other wines. They do charge a minimal amount for the tasting but you get to keep your glass as a souvenir and they are not stingy on the pours. You can even retry the wine if you like. Only one of the wines I sampled is sold in stores, all the others were limited production. I really liked that! I ended purchasing a really nice bottle. If you like wine and find yourself in Cottonwood I would recommend giving them a try.

First, ASV produces some of the BEST wine I’ve ever had and that is not limited to just Arizona Wines.
Second, I am an ASV wine club member.
That being said, the ASV tasting room is awesome! I love the laid back attitude and the employees here. Everyone we have met here over the years is fun, knowledgeable and interesting. They also are very helpful.
My only complaint is the size of the tasting room, it’s rather small especially when there are over 15 – 20 people in there.
I’ve been here multiple times and it’s always a good time with friendly people.
I will be life-​long member of ASV.

Wine from Arizona? That’s a question many people may ask themselves as AZ is known for its vast wide deserts. However there are a few areas that offer prime grape growing conditions such as the Verde Valley, Wilcox, and Sonoita.
Old Town Cottonwood has several wine tasting rooms to choose from, but if you have to choose only one, this would be the place. They have the best wines AZ has to offer that aren’t «out of this world» priced. Their staff is very knowledgeable and down to earth, with a passion for wine. The tasting room Is also decorated nicely and has a comfy feeling.
This place is one of the best kept secrets in AZ. Do yourself a favor and see what Old Town Cottonwood and AZ Stronghold has to offer.

Went for a tasting with a group of girls here. The staff was friendly and very knowledgeable. They have games in the tasting room so we played some Jenga and Go Fish while I was enjoying our wine.
I thought the wine was good, but not great. That being said, I definitely wouldn’t hesitate to go back. The flight was less than $ 10 and if you do really like their wines they ship and their prices are definitely very reasonable.

Was in Cottonwood the past weekend and had some time to kill, went with a group of friends over to Arizona Stronghold Tasting Room, what a great little find this was!
It was Sat afternoon, but it also happened to be March 1^st, their 4^th bday so the way they celebrated it was by having a Mardi Gras Birthday Party! You knew the minute you walked something fun was about to take place!
After finding out that on this day all glasses of wines were ½ off, I settled on ASV Dala Chardonnay, locally made, had fresh apple, honeydew melon, citrus and Key lime flavors, medium bodied but great tasting! Was not disappointed with this little glass of happyness for sure!
We all enjoyied out glasses of wines while listening to music and the chatter of people and by playing some games! This is a great fun tasting room, and if when in town, stop buy and give some locally made wines a try!

We tried this place after we just had been over Pillsbury wine tasting room so we could easily compare the two.
Had the 5 glas red wine flight that was fair in price and came with a small logo souvenir glass. The wines where «ok» and one of the reds was really good but there was also some wines not as good and one wine that we didn like at all. This was not a AZ Stronghold wine but a wine they described as coming from a winemaker they have a close connection to, or if it was someone at AZ Stronghold with there own label.
Anyway the wines where ok but nothing special at all. Especially not with the bottle prices these wines have ranging from around 30 – 50 $.
For 30 – 40 $ you can get a nice italian barolo as an example.
And while the arizona wines will surely get better and better i dont think they are quite there yet.
The staff where very nice and serviceminded and they where as knowledgable as there counterparts on Pillsbury.
Its fun visiting both wine tasting rooms if you can handle a lot but if i had to choose 1 i would go to Pillsbury. Sorry AZ Stronghold.

If you’ve ever been in a store which actually has a tragically small selection of Arizona wines, then you’ve at least seen a bottle of Arizona Stronghold. It is by far the biggest player in the state’s fledgling wine industry, with some of the best and most affordable bottles. For those who have never had the pleasure of tasting wine from our state, it’s surprisingly good. Arizona’s vineyards can rival most of California and the Pacific Northwest.
Arizona Stronghold’s tasting room could simply sell itself on having some great wines. Instead, it offers a fun experience by giving you a good selection of its bottles (including exclusive labels which cannot be purchased outside of the tasting room), a decent sized room with a bar and couch to enjoy a tasting, and an attentive and knowledgeable staff. A cheese plate to die for didn’t hurt. Our server, Jason, was an enjoyable sommelier. Not only did he make every pour sound more desirable, but he really provided us with a lot of background to enhance our experience. I could have happily bought him a glass and hung out with the guy for hours.
More than 30 reviews and Arizona Stronghold Tasting Room averages five stars. Get the hint, head up to Cottonwood, and be ready to have a good time.

I am really upset with myself for not coming in here sooner. This tasting room should be the pride of Cottonwood for having such a cool atmosphere to enjoy some FANTASTIC Arizona Wine.
We came in here because we needed to buy a gift for some friends so the thought of some local wine would be a nice gift. Of course I needed to do quality control first to make sure we were making the right decision, so I did a tasting of 5 wines (2 white and 3 reds).
I’m hardly a sommelier and I seldom drink white wine so this review pertains only to the reds. That disclaimer aside I do know my reds, I know my palate and I have a pretty good idea of what’s good and I have to say that I was not at all prepared for how incredibly awesome their reds where.
I started with an amazing Sangiovese that was as equally light on my palate as was the beautiful, translucent ruby red tint of the wine itself. Aromatic with a prefect degree of crispness, I was truly blown away by just how amazing this wine was, really a whole virbrant slice of life in a glass.
I moved on to their Cabernet, confident that I had peaked at the Sangiovese and that the rest of the wine would be nothing but utter disappointment. How wrong I was! While I think that the Sangiovese WAS better than the Cabernet, it took me a while to arrive at that conclusion. Their Cabernet is also amazingly light and delicious and I think it would go great with a roast or lamb (for those who like lamb) without being as heavy as some Cabernets can be.
My last red was the table wine, which was a blend of grapes from Arizona and California. I was convinced that this was destined to suck. Wrong again. While the table wine was not anywhere near the same caliber as the Sangiovese or the Cabernet it was still VERY good and reasonably priced at $ 18 a bottle. It had a good flavor and again was surprisingly light.
The room is VERY nicely done, with couches or tables and chairs to sit at. There are board games and jinga to play so it’s really a great place to come and relax with a glass of wine. They also have some great appetizers from the local restaurants in case you want to nosh while you’re enjoying your wine.
Needless to say, a couple hundred dollars and a case of wine later, I left a very happy camper. Arizona Stronghold should be on everyone’s «Must» list when in The Verde Valley and I myself plan on being a regular here!