Arizona Stronghold Vineyards Wins Awards, Heads On Tour

Arizona Stronghold Vineyards, a winery located in Cottonwood, is changing the wine industry one prestigious award at a time. The San Francisco International Wine Competition awarded Arizona Stronghold’s 2010 Dala Cabernet Sauvignon a Double Gold medal.

Arizona Stronghold’s Double Gold was one of only 27 Double Gold medals awarded out of the 4,556 wines that were entered into the competition. The submitted wines hailed from more than 29 countries.

Arizona Stronghold took home six other awards in addition to its Double Gold and has won more than 20 awards for its wines just this year.

Since the label’s inception, Paula Woolsey, director of sales, says her two favorite awards to date include the Double Gold from the San Francisco International Wine Competition, co-chaired by Tasting Panel Magazine, and a Gold medal awarded to Tazi 2010 by Sunset Magazine.

“The quality of judging is unsurpassed,” Woolsey says, “and I respect both of these publications immensely.”

Due to its numerous awards from local and international competitions, Arizona Stronghold is making quite an impact on Arizona’s wine industry, according to the Arizona’s Wine Tourism Industry Survey conducted by Northern Arizona University’s Arizona Hospitality Research & Resource Center.

According to the survey, the wine industry is boosting Arizona’s economy by creating jobs and bringing money into the economy through wine tourism — with Arizona Stronghold a major player. Because the brand distributes its wines on an international level, this helps build a reputation for Arizona wine across the globe. The winery’s tasting room is also the third most popular in northern Arizona.

Woolsey says that the wine industry is a great business to get into in Arizona because the climate is extremely conducive to both growing grapes and making wine. She adds that she has nothing but high hopes for the wine industry.

“It’s a real deal here; a whole big cultural movement,” Woolsey adds.

And the movement doesn’t stop there. Arizona Stronghold and its winning 2010 Dala Cabernet Sauvignon are heading on a Grand Tasting Tour across the country. Its first stop? The Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix on Thursday, September 6.

During the tour, attendees are able to participate in a grand tasting in which they were able to taste all the Double Gold winning wines. They will also have the opportunity to attend wine seminars, a mixology seminar and a cooking demonstration.