Aridus Wine Company

Aridus Wine Company is a family-owned winery located in the heart of southeastern Arizona. Aridus opened its cellar doors in 2012 after refurbishing an existing 28,000 square foot apple warehouse which had been built in 1982. It is one of the largest winery facilities in the state. Surrounded by majestic mountains, the beauty of this modern rustic-style winery was recognized when it won the Design Excellence award from the International Interior Design Association’s Southwest Chapter in 2014. The award was for Sustainability, for “Interior Design Excellence.” The winery building incorporates reclaimed lumber which was collected from old barns and homesteads in the area around the town of Willcox. Continuing with the theme of recycling and salvaging, the exterior of the tasting room in Willcox was built using reclaimed Wyoming snow fence lumber. In the interiors of the winery and tasting room, lighting is provided by retro-style ‘naked’ bulbs, providing a feel of old-fashioned caves illuminated in this fashion.

Using grapes sourced from Arizona, New Mexico, and California, Winemaker Lisa Strid seeks to express the essence of these terroirs, ranging from the desert to the California coast. Using cutting edge winery equipment, she hand-crafts small lots of complex and balanced wines, all uniquely ‘made in Arizona.’

Estate Vineyards: Aridus has owned 40 acres along Turkey Creek in Pearce, AZ since 2009. At 5,200 feet in elevation, the warm days and cool nights provide complexity and personality. The winery continues to expand the planting of the estate vineyard.

Name:     Latin word meaning dry or arid, pronounced air-i-dus

Enthusiastic wine consumers to passionate wine producers.

We had this romantic idea of owning our own vineyard, and winery, and was introduced to the South East part of the state where the majority of the grape growing area exists. After exploring all of our options we decided to build our vineyard and winery from the ground up (pun intended).

We purchased 40 acres on Turkey Creek in 2009, and soon decided to separate the vineyard from the winery. That way we could be closer to town, and have a large enough facility to be able to accommodate custom crush clients until our own vineyard was producing grapes.

We began planting all of our white varieties on the north side of the creek in 2015. We continued to plant our reds on the south side. In 2017, we had our first harvest from our own vineyard and every year we receive more of our own estate grown fruit.

It started with an empty apple warehouse.

It was an abandoned warehouse that was used to store local apples before they were processed into apple juice and apple sauce. The processing plant still exists across the street. The warehouse was completely striped but it had good bones, insulation, and a covered outside area that we now use as the crush pad.

It is Aridus’ philosophy to re-purpose where we can. This is where we found our esthetic; cold grey steel, reclaimed lumber, concrete, and natural stone. By bringing these elements to our tasting rooms, this would bring the winery experience to all of our locations.

The winery was recognized when it won the award for Sustainability, for “Interior Design Excellence.” As of 2012, Aridus’ award winning building continues to produce award winning wines with the help of a talented team.