Maynard James Keenan, lead singer for the rock band Tool, was staring at the mountains from the porch of his Jerome, Arizona, home when he decided to start a new career. Following in the footsteps of his great-grandfather, who made wine in Italy, the Grammy Award-winning musician was determined to establish a vineyard in what was, at the time, a newly budding industry for the state.
In 2004, nearly a decade after moving to the area, Keenan founded Merkin Vineyards and Caduceus Cellars. Both have won awards at international wine contests including the Los Angeles International Wine Competition, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and Texas Lone Star International Wine Competition. But the singer-turned-winemaker has far larger ambitions to promote Arizona’s now-established wine scene.
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On October 6, Keenan is slated to debut one of the most progressive wine projects in the state, a massive new development in the Verde Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) that will span multiple hospitality properties and a 4.5-acre vineyard. Keenan hopes the project, an expansion of his Merkin Vineyards and Caduceus Cellars concepts, will help draw visitors to the Arizona wine scene.
“Partly what this is going to provide is a setting to physically see the vines growing,” he says. But it’s also a chance to help define what Arizona wine means in the minds of consumers. “People haven’t really connected the dots with what to expect from an
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
