2015 Caduceus Primer Paso

Caduceus Cellars is an unusual winemaking enterprise from every angle. It is located in Cornville, Arizona, which is southwest of Sedona, and it is owned and operated by Maynard James Keenan, the Grammy Award-winning singer for the progressive metal band Tool. MJK, as he is often known, has also been part of the bands Adam Jones and A Perfect Circle. Keenan was inspired to start a winery partly based on his Italian roots. One set of his grandparents were winemakers in northern Italy. Keenan named his winemaking enterprise for the ancient symbol for business, but his wines have been named to honor his late mother, Judith, and to pay homage to some of the Native Americans who once lived in the area. Caduceus makes red, white and rosé wines from a variety of grapes, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Aglianico, Sangiovese and Syrah.

Central Coast AVA is a huge wine producing area that extends from Santa Barbara County in the south to San Francisco in the north. With more than 100,000 vineyard acres, it includes parts of six counties near the Pacific Ocean. Nearly 20 smaller AVAs lie within the Central Coast AVA. Central Coast earned appellation status in 1985. Included in the appellation are parts of the counties of Contra Costa, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. Nearly every grape varietal grown in California is grown somewhere in the Central Coast AVA, though Chardonnay accounts for nearly 50% of the entire wine grape crop.