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The “Golden Rule” of Arizona Wine

GRV Story and Photos

by Thomas Ale Johnson

W

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hen you walk into the Golden Rule Vineyards wine-tasting room, you may feel right at home… not only because it is a pleasant place to relax with a glass of wine, but also because you’re literally in Jim and Ruth Graham’s home.

They built their house next to the vineyard with visitors in mind — planning extra patio seating, wine storage and a tasting bar so that they could share their wines made from fruit grown on-site at the northern tip of the Dragoon Mountains near Willcox, Arizona.

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The red wines are made from French and Italian grape varieties grown on their vineyard at an elevation of 4,350 feet, while the white wines are made using fruit sourced from other vineyards. For example, the current white wine in the tasting room is a delicious Malvasia Bianca made in Arizona with fruit grown in a New Mexico region that was selected for its similarity in elevation and climate to the Golden Rule location.

“Mining” Local History The names of the vineyard and some of the individual wines are nods to local mining history. “Eureka,” a Sangiovese/

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Cabernet Sauvignon/ Syrah blend, and “Commonwealth,” a Syrah/ Petite Sirah blend, are named for local mines, while “Manzora Red” (Zinfandel/Sangiovese/ Petite Sirah) owes its name to a local mining camp and railroad stop.

Along with this connection to the local mining history, the Grahams also have property nearby (which may become the home of a future winery) located on the historic Butterfield Stagecoach route. You can Google “Butterfield Overland Mail Route-Arizona” to see a map of the original trail in southern Arizona.

Two Desert Crops While tasting wine at Golden Rule, you might notice a large bowl of pistachios on the counter. Although the pistachios are delicious and enjoyable with the wines, that’s not the only point. The pistachios were here first.

Ruth’s parents planted a pistachio orchard in 1981, which Jim and Ruth have expanded over the years. Pistachio trees are desert plants and our long, hot summers are perfect for their ripening. Interestingly, pistachios are an alternate-bearing crop – so an abundant crop one year will be followed by a much smaller yield the next year, and so on.

This becomes a serious issue when what should have been a good crop is killed off by frost. In 2001, 2003 and 2005 the family’s orchards suffered total crop loss due to frost.

The Grahams started Golden Rule Vineyards to diversify AZWINE lifestyle . com

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arriving back home. Upon graduating from the University of Iowa with a teaching degree in 1973, Jim started farming in partnership with his father in Hawkeye, Iowa. In the late 1980s, Jim continued his education at Iowa State University and now explains, “I got a Master’s Degree in Ag Economics, worked for a bank for four years, and decided I really just wanted to farm.”

Jim was involved with conservation farming before it was fashionable. He was the statewide coordinator for the MAX Program, which was co-sponsored by the Soil Conservation Service (the forerunner of the National Resource Conservation Service or NRCS) and Successful Farming magazine. Part of their mission was to highlight farming methods that were both environmentally and economically sound. Although Jim didn’t realize at the time that he would one day be farming in the Arizona high desert, this background seems to fit perfectly with the unique demands of farming in this region.

Multitasking as a Team Cultivating two major crops requires hard work and cooperation between both the family members and the “extended family” of employees at the orchard and vineyard.

The Grahams are not winemakers, although their son, Tyler Graham, may indeed be the winemaker one day. Tyler has

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their farming operation by growing a crop that was stable and did not demand much water. Grapes serve this purpose partially because they are more resilient than pistachios.

When hit by an early frost, grapevines will often bud a second time and produce a good crop, even if that crop is not as large as it may have been in perfect weather.

In 2007 the vineyard’s initial plantings were Syrah, Sangiovese and Zinfandel. In 2010, Cabernet Sauvignon was added and in 2011 GRV planted Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Grenache and Mourvedre for a total of 26 acres of vines.

One of the first varieties planted here was Zinfandel, which is a difficult grape to grow in Arizona for several reasons. Tight clusters can capture moisture between grapes and the thin skins can become ‘sunburned’ in the summer heat. The grapes sometimes prove too fragile to withstand the extreme winds during monsoon storms.

Even with these challenges, an Arizona-grown Zinfandel can be a beautiful thing. Regarding their Zinfandel, Ruth Graham said laughingly, “Every year Jim threatens to tear it out and every year he wins a medal with it.”

It All Comes Back to Farming Jim Graham grew up in a farming family. His father started his farm in Iowa before he went into the US Army (WWII) and started farming again as soon as he could after

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been involved in the winemaking process for several of their wines that have been made in various custom-crush arrangements.

You’ll often see their neighbor Dee Heilman pouring wine in the Golden Rule tasting room, but her other job is running the skid-steer in the pistachio orchard. The harvest schedule for pistachios and grapes can sometimes overlap.

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When this happens, extra equipment needs to be rented.

Around harvest time, protective nets are placed over the grapevines and recordings of distressed and frightened birds are played over loudspeakers. These ‘scary’ noises help to keep hungry birds out of the vineyard while the fruit ripens. While most vineyards in the Willcox area utilize one type of bird protection, Golden Rule Vineyards uses multiple methods because they simply have more birds trying to eat their fruit.

During the non-growing periods there is still plenty of work to be done in both the vineyard and the orchard. All of

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the grapevines and the pistachio trees need to be pruned and ready for the next year’s growth. Also, practical measures

need to be taken to protect both crops from late spring frosts.

A certain balance seems to have been achieved between the Grahams’ 150-acre pistachio orchard and their 26-acre vineyard. As Ruth stated, “Jim figures he has 21,000 pistachio trees and 21,000 grape vines.”

Quality is a top priority in both the orchard and the vineyard as this family continues the legacy of farming and meeting the accompanying challenges with a love for the land.

“You can’t make a good wine without good grapes,” Ruth said, simply. Open a bottle of Golden Rule Vineyards wine at your home or theirs and taste the goodness for yourself!

Golden Rule Vineyards, 3525 N. Golden Rule Rd, Cochise www.GoldenRuleVineyards.com 520-507-3310 Thomas Ale Johnson owns and operates TRUST Art & Design and Wines of Willcox. Visit TrustArtandDesign.com and WillcoxWines.com for information AZWINE lifestyle . com