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| - Like many others, came here on a Groupon for their tasting and bottling experience.
Casavino is tucked away in a typical Fountain Hills strip mall, right off the frontage road adjacent to Saguaro Boulevard (just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the famous fountain). It's an "if you sneeze, you'll miss it" kind of thing; best be on the lookout.
Run by Joe Burglin, this little gem of a place is set up as a working winery, even if there's no vineyard in the back! They import their grape must from California, prepare it in-house for blending and bottling, and you get to dictate the results. From jammy ports to Jolly Rancher-style Green Apple chardonnays, this place will let you make (almost) any flavor combination from their selection of add-ins and base varietals.
Our tasting experience began in the typical fashion, with light whites to start, and we were served a delightful cheese tray to accompany our tastings (before you cringe, these were very mild cheese selections, from White Cheddar to Swiss, and some palate-cleaning crackers to go with). As we progressed from whites like Pinot Grigio and Gewürztraminer, our deft "sommelier" brought us into the reds quite gently with varietals and blends such as Pinot Noir, Cab/Merlot, and an Amarone. Finishing with a super-bold port style wine with huge chocolate and Amaretto overtones really was a treat.
Next up: Bottling the product! We move to the front of the building where a basic bottling "line" is set up to allow us wino's to try our hand at putting the juice into the retail stream. Patiently teaching us the proper way to sanitize, fill, cork, seal, and label the bottles was our superhero sommelier again, who explained bottling is a task mastered by few, but enjoyed by all. We were quite proud of ourselves for bottling 12 bottles in 20 minutes, hardly a world's record. To wrap it all up, we each were entitled to select a bottle of our own to take home, and every one of us selected something different.
This is a great venue for small events, such as retirement parties, wedding showers (or bachelorette parties), anniversary celebrations, or even corporate team-building (over wine - can you imagine?), as long as you set it all up in advance.
On the downside, their website (as of 6/6/11) doesn't have anything more than just basic information about their store/winery, business and bottling opportunities and some basics about the "process". No varietal, certified organic, appellation, or racking information is present or acknowledged, so be aware of those limitations. Call for specific info, and the nice folks there are happy to give guidance.
I know what I'm doing for Christmas gifts this year...
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