Many people in Arizona and around the world are wine aficionados. And if you were to tell one of them — especially someone who doesn’t live in this state — that Arizona’s wineries have become highly competitive in comparison to those with much longer, well-earned reputations for high quality like California’s Napa Valley or parts of Europe, they might shrug or be a little surprised.
But the examples of success are growing, and competition is fierce — so much so that the Southwest Wine Center at Yavapai College won the 2019 Arizona Wine Competition.
The winning wine was developed by students. One of them is Chris Brinkmeyer, who joined The Show to explain how a school could win this kind of competition.