I love wintering in Arizona, [even if people call me a snowbird!! LOL] there are so many beautiful little towns around Phoenix area that make for a perfect day trip. On this particular day we decided to grab one of my best wine friends, Lindsey Dell and head on up to Prescott, AZ!! Lindsey and I worked together and got to know each other pretty well during one of my first assignments in Arizona, at Banner Del Webb. We wanted to go walk around town and grab some lunch, just because!! HA!! We would [of course] have to stop in and check out the Flying Leap Winery while we were there!!
Before you get me going on about Flying Leap, let me tell you a tad about the town of Prescott itself. It was founded in 1864, and named after William Hickling Prescott. William was a 19th Century historian who wrote "The History of the Conquest of Mexico". [never heard of this book, has anyone else??] Well, the founders of Prescott were so enchanted by William’s story that they decided to name the town after him. They even named some of the streets after the characters mentioned in his book. Prescott was then a gold and silver mining town and legends like Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, and Doc Holiday called home for a time. You should check it out!!
Ok, now back to the Flying Leap Winery story. Three lifelong college friends who met at the USAF Academy in Colorado discovered a mutual passion for wine. Mark Beres, Marc Moeller, and Tom Kitchens, all served our country as Air Force pilots and founded Flying Leap in 2010. They purchased a small farm in Wilcox, AZ and planted the first vines. During the next several years they acquired Canelo Hills, a small farm winery in Elgin, AZ and they started producing wine in 2013. The sale of their wines soared higher than even their own expectations. [pun intended.. Haha] This prompted three major vineyard expansions with the need to plant more vines and hire more staff just to keep up with the demand!!
You can see our wine tasting line up in the photo above!! Now let me tell you the really cool meaning behind the logo on their labels. It is called a triskelion [or an ancient symbol of three curved segments that radiate from a center point] and it represents the lifelong friendship of the three founders. The upper left leaf is an “F” for “Flying”. The upper right leaf if a backwards “L” in motion, for the “Leap”. The single bottom leaf is a “V” for “Vinyards”. Together the three leaves from a logogram [letters or characters that represent a word or phrase] for “FLV”. Each leaf also has a theme attached, but the best part is that they form a shape of a propeller, symbolizing their background in military aviation!! [aww… makes me think of my pilot and his love for aviation!!]
Flying Leap produces between 12,000 and 16,000 cases [yes cases… a case usually consists of 12 bottles] of wine annually. They operate three wine tasting rooms, located in Elgin/Sonoita, Tuscan, and Tubac. They also have a distillery in Elgin where they produce all kinds of whiskey. In case you didn’t notice, I failed to mention Prescott as one of their wine tasting room locations. That is because the Prescott location [pictured above] has permanently closed. It was a cozy little tasting room with simple but pretty decor. They had fun signs hanging around like WINE: "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy".
I was unable to find any information as to why they closed but sadly, they mentioned that they were not planning to reopen a tasting room at this location. The three friends, Mark, Marc, and Tom, take pride in the fact that all their products are grown, produced, and bottled by Flying Leap. They combine new and creative techniques with more traditional methods that are tried and true, to produce small quality batches of excellent and delicious wine!! I’m so happy that I was able to visit their beautiful tasting room in Elgin!! [pictured below] If I remember correctly I may have left with a bottle of wine [or three] as a souvenir!! Haha!!
The more I learn about Flying Leap the more I like their wines…I also love the website. It not only shares their wonderful story and their mission, they take the time to introduce you to their team, which I find refreshing. You should check it out, and you should also definitely check out one of their tasting rooms!!
In the words of Faith Hill… “Hey baby let’s go to Vegas”… I know they say that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas but... next week Wine with Wixy is going to spill the beans and tell you all about it!! Haha!!
Cheers to you my wine loving friends, and TTFN!!
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