He wanted us to taste the Nagual de Judith (Judith was the mother of the wine maker/owner) but none has been made since 2008 and it is all gone. However, another label is made with the Judith grapes - the Nagual de Marzo (Marzo is the Italian grandfather of the owner who was a vintner and inspiration to the owner). It turns out the the grapes used in both are grown in the Judith vineyard - a one-half acre vineyard in Jerome that can only produce 90 cases of wine a year. So we bought some.
We tasted nine different wines (but not the Marzo because it is not available for tasting); and we bought another red that was remarkable (Nagual de la Naga).
We talked at length with the server and learned a lot about the stories behind the wine labels. We already had learned from Chris that the reason he was fascinated by Caduceus is because it was founded and owned by Maynard James Keenan - never heard of him you say?
Well he is one of the founders of the rock band "Tool" (and a few other bands) and has a passionate following around the world (and Chris is one of them).
Partially because of this (and because of the fine quality and limited quantity of his wine) the wines can only be purchased at the tasting room (although a few can be ordered on-line for a few weeks after they are released - but not much longer because they are gone).
Rick originally found this vineyard fascinating simply because of the labels: "Nagual de ......." "Nagual" is a an Aztec word for a person with spiritual power that can be used for good or evil. "Naga" is a Sanskrit word for powerful spirit, similar to the Aztec "nagual." Mr. Keenan seems to be a student of world cultures who is obviously interested in their spiritual perceptions.
After sipping wine for an hour we walked around and looked at the menus of several eateries - some of which had waiting lines. We climbed up the mountain side to Alice's Restaurant and enjoyed a sandwich. The view across the Verde Valley toward the red rocks of Sadona is beautiful but it was a little hazy today.
This afternoon we hung around the trailer and finalized the rest of out trip. We will leave our current location in Cottonwood on Friday and head for Williams, AZ. From there we will tour Walnut Canyon and other attractions around Flagstaff then on the following Monday we will drive to Tusayan to tour the Grand Canyon (we were not able to get a spot in the Grand Canyon National Park because there are no spaces available). Then on Thursday, April 4, we head for Bryce Canyon NP for a couple of days. On Sunday, the 8th, we head for SLC to spend the night with Shirley - then back to Pocatello to finish filing our taxes, and to dog-sit for Nick and Marie while they are off to Tennessee to present a paper at a professional meeting (the Society for American Archaeology).
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