Winemaker Profile - Maynard James Keenan, Tool

ofMUSIC, WINE, and MEN

tool frontman maynard james keenan talks caduceus cellars

By Jill Dutton

to know maynard james keenan is to know his wine

Keenan has a particularly tough persona to crack. When asked the typical question about the passion that led him to winemaking, he answers, “I’ve been asked that a lot, and I don’t have an answer. I think the wine shows ‘me’ in some way. It kind of fit like a glove, and so we pursued it.”

This celebrity who reportedly doesn’t enjoy celebrity status has earned ample adoration. The musical and lyrical influence of two of Keenan’s bands, Tool and A Perfect Circle (he is also frontman for Puscifer), is supreme.

In addition to being the frontman for three bands, Keenan owns Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards, an Arizona winery with 110 acres under vine throughout the state. The general manager of Merkin Vineyards Old Town Scottsdale tasting room, Jim Cunningham, projects the perfect balance of rock star vibe and winery—laidback yet exciting. The two seem like an unusual blend; aren’t rock stars known for whiskey and women, not a glass of merlot by the fire? Still, that unusual balance of exciting yet mellow is found in the wine, the tasting room, the man, and the brand.

When asked if he has a background in winemaking, Keenan says he has a history in farming. “We lived right in the middle of orchards and cornfields in Michigan. My dad had his vegetable gardens, and I worked summers in the peach orchards and the asparagus fields.” While farming was a large part of his younger years, Keenan says winemaking holds even more fascination. “When you start digging deeper into wine and understand some of the nuances and reasons why people talk about it … [they] talk about it in more depth and with more interest than they would, say, a tomato. So, there’s something more to it.”

“wine expresses a place, and this place is very unique.”

terroir as an expression of place

The wine industry in Arizona’s high desert terrains began pre-prohibition, with hundreds of acres of vines being pulled out because of prohibition. Not until the ‘70s did the locally-made wines again take root to produce award-winning expressions.

“Wine expresses a place, and this place is very unique,” Keenan says, “There are so many varietals that grow much better here than they do in other states. And that expression of place dovetails right into our cuisine as well. “We feature things that we grow. We have three greenhouses, about 45 ducks, and 40 quail. Our eggs from our fowl go into either the pasta dough or a quail egg pizza they make in Scottsdale.

“As far as terroir, expression of place, if you’re familiar with wines, we are similar in elevation and proximity to the equator as Mendoza. So, if you’ve had Argentinian Malbec, you understand that wine can grow here because it’s very Mediterranean. Italian fruit, Spanish fruit, parts of southern Spain, Portugal. We’re pretty much primed for it here. “That’s the factor that makes our wines unique.”

Bartenders looking to recommend Caduceus Cellars wines should keep in mind that, “Our wines are of the mindset of subtlety and restraint. You expect from an Arizona winery big, jam-my, over-the-top fruit. And we’re not that. Our wine is much more elegant, much more restrained. “If you want to put it in terms of music, we are far less Metallica and far more Pink Floyd.” Like his wine, MJK is restrained and elegant. To get to know him better, it may take drinking a few bottles of his wine.