WELCOME TO FREITAS VINEYARD IN COTTONWOOD ARIZONA...
NESTLED IN THE BEAUTIFUL RED ROCK COUNTRY OF NORTHERN ARIZONA...
THE OLDEST PRODUCING VINEYARD IN THE VERDE VALLEY
Unfortunately Freitas Vineyard is not open to the public
About Us
OUR FIRST VINES WERE PLANTED MARCH 4,2000 , AND BOY, WHAT A ROCKY AND EXCITING ROAD IT’S BEEN!
When my husband and I decided to plant vines, we thought “how hard can that be”? After all, my grandfather had made wine in the old country and then here in America. You just grow some grapes, pick them when they’re ripe, skwoosh them and add a little yeast… let the stuff ferment…squeeze out the wine/juice when it’s finished and bottle it up. Right? WRONG !!!!
Therein lies the story, or should I say SAGA of Freitas Vinyard.
Now, we weren’t as naïve as all that. I proceeded to purchase EVERY book I could find about wine grape growing and processing. After reading thousands of pages, I realized that I needed HELP. I knew how to plant and grow things, but the more I read about the pruning, watering and care of vines the less it seemed I knew. And the chemical procedures! And choosing yeasts! And the actual processing of the grapes! WELL!
At that time, there was no viticulture program available (now there IS..at Yavapai College right here in Cottonwood). SO Ray Freitas took herself off to UC Davis in California to take some classes… which were wonderful… and gave me the basics, but, of course did not relate to the unique weather, soil conditions and high UV that our grapes here in the Verde Valley have to endure.
And, what varietals do we choose? My husband and I decided to plant what we liked to drink, so , just in case no one liked our wines, we would drink them ourselves! So our first planting was of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah. We also decided that we needed a white grape, but wanted something unique. Malvasia Bianca was our choice simply because my husband said it looked beautiful in the grape book and was Italian like me. What a blessed choice! (more about that later)
So we got busy laying out rows , pounding fence posts and putting in irrigation. Another fortuitous stroke of good fortune was happening on Duarte Nurseries in California, which became the source for our wonderful vines. Then we got a bunch of friends together armed with shovels and pickaxes (soil/rock here is very hard) who were willing to work for beer and barbeque, and we planted and planted! And,voila, the vines thrived...more to come, keep posted.
When my husband and I decided to plant vines, we thought “how hard can that be”? After all, my grandfather had made wine in the old country and then here in America. You just grow some grapes, pick them when they’re ripe, skwoosh them and add a little yeast… let the stuff ferment…squeeze out the wine/juice when it’s finished and bottle it up. Right? WRONG !!!!
Therein lies the story, or should I say SAGA of Freitas Vinyard.
Now, we weren’t as naïve as all that. I proceeded to purchase EVERY book I could find about wine grape growing and processing. After reading thousands of pages, I realized that I needed HELP. I knew how to plant and grow things, but the more I read about the pruning, watering and care of vines the less it seemed I knew. And the chemical procedures! And choosing yeasts! And the actual processing of the grapes! WELL!
At that time, there was no viticulture program available (now there IS..at Yavapai College right here in Cottonwood). SO Ray Freitas took herself off to UC Davis in California to take some classes… which were wonderful… and gave me the basics, but, of course did not relate to the unique weather, soil conditions and high UV that our grapes here in the Verde Valley have to endure.
And, what varietals do we choose? My husband and I decided to plant what we liked to drink, so , just in case no one liked our wines, we would drink them ourselves! So our first planting was of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah. We also decided that we needed a white grape, but wanted something unique. Malvasia Bianca was our choice simply because my husband said it looked beautiful in the grape book and was Italian like me. What a blessed choice! (more about that later)
So we got busy laying out rows , pounding fence posts and putting in irrigation. Another fortuitous stroke of good fortune was happening on Duarte Nurseries in California, which became the source for our wonderful vines. Then we got a bunch of friends together armed with shovels and pickaxes (soil/rock here is very hard) who were willing to work for beer and barbeque, and we planted and planted! And,voila, the vines thrived...more to come, keep posted.
