Flying Leap Vineyards Tasting Room

Had a great time!
Must try trio!
I want a fan of the dessert but the rest on the tasting list was great! So smooth.
Great time taking with the host.

BACKGROUND

I first visited Flying Leap Vineyards Tasting Room two years ago, when I went to the Wilcox, Arizona Wine Festival with my mom.

I've written extensively about that experience in several reviews about Wines of Wilcox and City of Wilcox that are listed below, so I'm not going to go into the whole story again.

Long story short, the biannual Wilcox Wine Festival is a good time, a great chance to try some fabulous wineries, and a must-see, at least once in a life-time, which happens to be this weekend, May 19-20, 2018.

FLYING LEAP VINEYARDS TASTING ROOM WILCOX

Well, you know I'm a sucker for an interesting story, and the Flying Leap Vineyards Tasting Room in Wilcox doesn't disappoint.

Flying Leap operates a beautiful tasting room and fine art gallery right in the heart of historic downtown Wilcox, immediately across the Railroad Park.

The tasting room is over a century old, and was formerly the infamous Headquarters Saloon, which was where Warren Earp was shot and killed on July 6th, 1900, by Johnny Boyett, a cowboy on the same ranch whom he had picked on one too many times.

Though the original frame of the Headquarters Saloon burned down during the Great Depression, the floor was preserved.

Flying Leap Vineyards spared no expense, even installing a beautifully custom-made front door of native Arizona mesquite wood, with a carved glass inlay and decorative, brushed steel handle.

The tasting bar is made from a whole, book-matched and curved slab of wonderfully finished mesquite.

TRUST Art & Design has partnered with Flying Leap Vineyards to bring local art and local wine together in this historic building.

The fine art gallery features beautiful and interesting original artwork by local artists, chosen by Thomas and Kim Johnson, collection curators and owners of TRUST.

FLYING LEAP VINEYARDS

Three former military pilots in Elgin, Arizona took the proverbial "flying leap" together and founded Flying Leap Vineyards in 2010.

Lifelong best friends with diverse backgrounds in the wine and farming industries the three entered the Arizona wine business with a goal of developing a new brand based on local, self-sourced viticulture and high quality, small-batch winemaking.

Flying Leap Vineyards is an Arizona domestic farm winery based in Santa Cruz County.

This committed team are now local family farmers, talented winemakers and passionate wine merchants who grow a select portfolio of both red and white wine grapes in two vineyards, and they produce their fine wines at their estate winery in Elgin, Arizona.

THE STORY & SERVICE EXPERIENCE

Luckily for Wilcox, we went to this wine tasting room first.

The wine tasting environment has several aspects: bar seating, couch seating, and people can also walk around. It's fun to have a little mingle whilst sipping.

I was surprised at the detail of the tasting room and that there was an art gallery displaying art from local artists. I liked being able to wander about whilst looking at TRUST's fine art selections by local artists.

The place can get pretty busy, and the service can be patchy. I was comfortable on the couch with my wine, so I didn't really care.

My mom and I tried their whites, and walked out with several bottles, including, 2015 Escape, 2015 Canelo Hills White, 2016 Fly Girl White, and 2016 Trio.

CONCLUSION

I appreciate the determination of the local wineries to include the City of Wilcox in their efforts; it's a small town, and the wineries bring in a lot of business.

Flying Leap Vineyards Wine Tasting Room is one of the best, and I enjoyed my visits.

4/5 RECOMMEND

OF NOTE

*Parking is on the street.

*There are several wine tasting rooms in Arizona, including Bisbee, Elgin, Tubac, Tucson, and Wilcox.

*Flying Leap Vineyards has various special events, so check their website for more information: flyingleapvineyards.com

This review is actually from 9/22/13 - I posted it on the Elgin location's page but thanks to a friendly Yelper buddy, I can now post this on the correct location's page.



A warm welcome, tasty wines, crackers AND chocolate!

M and I walked in to Flying leap and were warmly welcomed by Rachel, our tasting room hostess. She seemed to enjoy her job and was enthusiastic about the wines the offer. She explained that this new winery was started by three retired airmen, hence the name!

The varieties served on this particular day were quite good, my favorite of the day being the Grenache Noir. The tasting room is small but beautiful with local art adorning the walls.

I could spend a decent amount of time at Flying Leap.

I appreciated the tastings and the varieties they had at Fly Leap. The Australian gentleman was a wonderful host, very personable and knowledgeable and this helped as part of the experience. He was great to chat with and very knowledgeable. I picked up a bottle of the Habanero infused wine and am looking forward to having it with some dark chocolate for dessert. They also have salumi from Seattle's Pioneer Square which I purchased. I recommend coming to this tasting room because of the variety and quality of wines they carry.

If I could give no stars, I would! I went last weekend for the first time. Where do I begin? The pours were the smallest I have ever seen!!! I belong to several wine clubs and I have been to at least 100 tasting rooms and never in my life have I had smaller pours. They were the size of a thimble. I should've walked out after the first pour, but I'm not that type of person. The tasting was supposed to be $10, but then the guy charged me $15, because I had to purchase the glass for $5. I told him I didn't want the glass, but he said that wasn't an option. Then why lie and tell people the tasting is $10? Their name says it all! They can take a flying leap, because I'm never going back!!!

Tasting room was nice, the lady was nice and the were ok. They have some other local goods for sale.

However, I will never return! The lady charged for the tasting and charged for the wine glass I drank out of-worst of all it was to my surprise!!! Even though I spent $200, I was charged for the tastings. Every other room waived the fee! But the gall to charge for the wine glass sneakily!!! I should give it 1 star, but I'm too nice!

Many of the other tasting rooms are far better options!

Stopped in after eating BBQ across the street. Knowledgeable & nice Australian man did the tasting. No one else was around. Tasting was $10 for 6 wines. We like red so he kindly offered to let us try different reds. He had crackers & chocolate available. We bought a habanero-infused wine, which worked well with the chocolate. Nice quiet experience.

I really enjoy Flying Leaps! I haven't been to the one in Tucson yet, but the one in Willcox is one of the tasting rooms that we always have to hit up when we visit!

Right on the corner across the road from Railroad Park, it's right on the road where a few other tasting rooms are located, which makes it convenient to get to when you go for a day of wine tastings!

The wine here is delightful! They have some very unique blends as well as some amazing Syrah! The staff here are always welcoming and kind, and they work to create a comfortable room to try some yummy wine and converse with other people about whatever it is you want to talk about.

It's a stop I would recommend taking anytime you're in the area!

I couldn't figure out if the woman working there didn't want to be there or didn't want us to be there, probably a combination of two. Awkward silence, no background music. There should be some distraction if she didn't want to talk to us. There was some chatting, but strained. Finally another couple came in to break the awkwardness. Expensive (compared to the one other tasting we did in town), no crackers were offered, and no bathroom.

Flying Leap is one of the newest tasting rooms in Willcox, located right next door to Keeling-Schaefer. We heard about this room opening about 6 months ago and have been excited to pop in for a visit. We purchased a 20$ deal online which included tasting for 4 people.

When we entered the tasting room it was dead silent- there were about 6 other people, and everyone was standing quietly, not speaking. Really odd. The other tasting rooms in the area have a fun, light hearted vibe and are enjoyable to visit. The woman running the tastings was not interacting or speaking with her customers. We were not acknowledged or greeted when we walked in. I stood at the counter waiting to be even looked at which took a while.

When the woman poured our wine, she gave us barely a half pour! The bottles all have measures on them and are used for standard pours- she managed to maneuver the bottle so barely anything came out! Wow! We were using a Groupon, but this does not excuse her service. Do not offer Groupons if you feel that the customer using one is not as worthy as your full price paying customers!

When then asked some questions about the wine and she told us, "I just pour the wines." Worst response ever! We were completely shocked that she said this. We noticed that there were chocolate chips and crackers on the counter which were obviously intended for pairing with the wine, but we were given zero information about this.

To be honest, this is the worst tasting room I've ever visited in all my trips worldwide. Pretty bad. Save your money and go next door, or visit any of the other tasting rooms in the area that know how to treat their customers and who actually have knowledge about the wines they are pouring.