Arizona's wine industry booming

Arizona's $38 million wine industry is growing -- actually adding jobs -- despite the struggling economy.

Business is booming, said Sam Pillsbury of Pillsbury Wine Co. near Willcox.

"When I planted my first vineyards in Cochise County nine years ago, there was one 40-acre plot of vines in that valley," said Pillsbury. "There's now 300 acres of vines within a very small distance of where my vineyard is. It's quite amazing."

Vineyards already have added lots of jobs in the Willcox area of southeastern Arizona, said Pillsbury.

"There's probably a hundred more jobs in the wine industry in my immediate area right now than there were three years ago, maybe five years ago," he said.

The wine-growing areas near Willcox are underdeveloped, with only three vineyards so far, Pillsbury said, noting there are more wineries and visitor centers and wine-tasting events near Tucson and in the Verde River.

Three vineyards near Willcox have added 100 workers in the past five years.

Pillsbury said that may not seem like much, but, "Willcox has a population of just over 2,000. That's a significant contribution, and I think that the growth curve is potentially quite astronomical. It could be thousands."

Pillsbury said, "I have anywhere from three to 10 people working in my vineyards every day. Five years ago, it was a piece of desert."

There's plenty of work to do, he said -- "We have irrigation, we have electrical work, we have fencing."

Arizona's wine industry, Pillsbury added, "is very efficient, extremely careful on the use of water, very green industry. It's kind of turning the desert valley into something fabulous."