Casavino Custom Winery

We really like this winery. My husband isn’t a wine fan but he likes this place. We’ve gone twice and always enjoyed it. Now, it is in a strip mall, so if you are expecting to wander around rows of grapes in a field and stomp on them yourself, you’ll be disappointed. But, for a winery where you can enjoy tastings, this is great. We love the wine they offer, and the customer service and prices are also wonderful. We usually keep an eye out for a living social or groupon deal, make a reservation, and head out to the winery. A great Fountain Hills gem.

The concept is cool. The décor is very well put together. And that’s about the only thing I can say positive about the place. Apparently, Monday through Friday is by appointment only and Saturday and Sunday, regardless of business hours posted, is by reservation only. I feel like that should be in bold letters all over the website. They were kind enough to squeeze us in but then we had to listen to the waitress give excuses as to why service was so slow and that she was tired. We tried 6 wines, each one more terrible than the last. If you have any sort of palate for wine I’d skip this place. We had a Living Social deal so we got what we paid for but I wouldn’t return nor go back and pay full price.

Went here with a Groupon, very load environment the time we visited but staff was very friendly and we actually were served by the wine maker, very reasonable prices and an excellent product in my opinion

I visited this «winery» a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday mid-​afternoon. Conceptually, this is a great idea. you show up at the winery, make your wine, design a label, come back and pick-​it up. I love the concept.
This winery is not the traditional winery in the sense that you arrive to a grape vineyard and there are rows of grapevines and the wine is made in hug batches. This winery has all of their grape juice delivered from California (if I recall correctly). So, it is located on a city street in a small strip mall. The décor is different, but just fine. The facility is small and I would call ahead and make a reservation during the AZ high season to assure that there is seating when you arrive. Particularly if you plan to drive out there from any place other than North Scottsdale.
NOTE: if you like a particular kind of wine and you’d like to have it in your flight, then I would also suggest calling ahead to see if they have that type of wine available at the time. some things are in the process of being made/​aged and you might not get them.
My friend and I had the 8 flight tasting with the Cheese plate. The price was extremely reasonable. I certainly didn’t expect that! We both enjoyed most of the wines (w/​cheese pairings) that we tasted. We also had a small plate off the cooked menu, neither of us liked the crab empanadas that we ordered.
My favorite part of the experience was participating in the discussion about the wines with the new owner. I’ve forgotten her name, but she was extremely helpful and knowledgeable and just plain pleasant.
For the most part, this was a nice experience. My friend bought 3 bottles of wine from there and was happy with the choices.

My husband and I went today, and were disappointed. We had a Groupon for Wine and Chocolate pairing, a $ 46 value. Even at half price, the Groupon was overpriced. I thought the other reviewers were not taking into consideration the new ownership, but their assessments were correct.
The tasting room is located in a strip mall. We were immediately greeted by Beth-​Ann, one of the new owners, when we arrived. As we were seated, we were given the news about transition in ownership, introduced to executive chef Nicolas and Andy, and given a table. There were approx 6 tables and a small bar, but only one of the tables would be comfortable for longer than 30 minutes. All the other tables were just wine barrels with a large wood topper and the seating was backless stools. The noise level was medium, not too loud for a wine tasting, but not a place friends could hang out to converse over a glass of wine. The tasting room was tidy and easy on the eyes, everything seemed clean.
For the Chocolate pairing, we were served a small platter of chocolates: Ghirardelli peppermint bark, Ghirardelli caramel filled milk chocolate square, 2 Ghirardelli dark chocolate squares, 2 dark chocolate truffles, 2 almond rochas, and 2 Lindt truffle balls. This was confusing because there were two of us, but only 1 of the first 2 chocolates served. There were no napkins, knives, or indication of how we were supposed to split the chocolates without getting hands-​y with them.
Andy, the manager, was our server. We sampled all the standards (Sav Blanc, Chard, Cab, P. Sirah, P. Noir, Merlot), but have no idea what years or region they originated. To be fair, Andy mentioned if something had a strong fruit after taste or was dry. We didn’t experience any pressure to purchase bottles, but I don’t know if that is due to the depletion of stock over the holidays or our open disappointment in the wines.
The good news is that if you are wine tasting at Casavino’s, you don’t have to worry about drinking and driving. At best, the tastings were averaging 1 – 2 tablespoons each, less than ½ shot; however, they were perfectly adequate for tasting and pairing with chocolate. The bad news is that it is going to take over an hour to sample those 6 wines.

i’m not a big wine drinker.
but i really like learning things from passionate knowledgeable people.
1. get there by 1pm, not a lot of seating, maybe 15 chairs.
2. have a cell phone or computer to look up names etc.
information over load, save for later learning.
3. look at the wall of 6 gallon bottles fermenting.
4. get excited about new tastes.
5.now i’ve seen the scientific papers that casts doubts on our real abilities to judge wines. but it is fun and tasty.
a craft business. father — son.
nice people.
when i think about small business, i will think about places like this.
we bought 4 bottles. about a year’s supply at current drinking rate.
on the way out, drive around the fountain, watch the wind direction, get in the spray…
thank you.

Went for a wine and chocolate tasting as a guest and had a great time!
The father-​son team buy the grapes as juice (layman’s terms) and make their own (extremely) small batch wines. Literally, you could taste the same wine and have slight variation, monthly!
Who wouldn’t be inspired to witness these guys living their passion? It was fun! I wound up buying a couple bottles to support the cause. The wines are young (as you might imagine) but I’m looking forward to seeing how they age… who am I kidding? Not too long, of course! Just a couple weeks…
Cool tip: For under $ 450 you can make your own (their recipe, your custom label and modifications). You get about 27 – 28 bottles which would make super cool, unique holiday gifts!

I love wine, my husband tolerates it because he loves me. Of all the wine tastings I’ve taken him to… this one won his heart! The chocolate and wine pairing was so good, and 8 out of the 10 wines we had we really, really enjoyed. He will only drink fruit-​forward whites, and we left with a Malbec and Pinot — first time he has ever suggested taking red wine home!
We learned all about the wine-​making process from an angle that we had never heard before. The owner and his son run everything, so you get the first-​hand knowledge that makes this winery stand out amidst all the others.
Go with an open mind and prepare to be delighted with a simple and surprising atmosphere along with some wonderfully smooth and unique wines!

I went last night with my boyfriend because we purchased a Groupon of Wine and Chocolate Pairing. When we first arrived it was a little strange it was in a little shopping center but once we entered we were pleasantly surprised. Its a quaint little wine cellar almost and everyone was very friendly. We tried 10 different wines and little chocolate wine tastings. All were good and it was overall a fun experience and we would do it again!

Server disappears for literally 20 min… Finalky had to leave cash and walk out. Never seen a room of people so let down by horrid service.

We did the wine and chocolate tasting Thursday. The 10 wines were very interesting. everything from very light and fruity to a robust medium body wine. We ordered the olive plate. it was too large for the two of us. We left with 4 bottles of wine. can’t wait to share with friends. We’re hoping to go back for the custom winemaking session as well. A great discovery!

Casavino Winery is a quaint and hard to find location out in Fountain Hills. Once you get inside, you feel like you are in a wine chamber. The ambiance is perfect for beginners to wine. Josh, our host, was very helpful in explaining everything we needed to know about the wines and the process. My friend was pretty new to wine, so it was a very educational experience too.
We came with the Groupon that gave 10 wine tastings with chocolate. You get about 2 oz serving for each wine, and you get an opportunity to try white, red, and dessert wines. Out of the 10 featured wines, I would say I liked 7 out of the 10. I ended up buying an ice wine and a Pinot Nior with Blackberry flavor.
At the very end, we got a chance to bottle and cork our bottle too. This made the experience very unique compared to other wineries I have been to. Lastly, I got a picture of myself as a cover of the label of the ice wine!

11 wines to try, one wine to make for $ 44. Say what? Yep that is what me and my girl Soraya did last Thursday evening. She had purchased a Living Social deal for up to four people for $ 88 to make our own wine. We got to try 11 of the wines but the last wine we tried was for purchase only. It was a Port that I swear would make a great marinade for some beef because it has a distinct taste that would make a roast extra yummy.
The first two wines, I loved because they were sweeter. They mixed alot of their wines with some very nice flavors. Very unique. There were a few reds that I liked but not so much the whites (except for the first one) We ended up making a batch of the second wine which was a sweeter Pinot Noir. It will be ready in about 8 weeks or so and we even get to make our own labels to put on our bottles when we come back. We will end up with 4 bottles each since it was only the two of us. Not to shabby if I do say so myself. Brandon (Hi Brandon) was very knowledgeable and extremely patient with us. I am looking forward to coming back to pick up our batches of yummy wine. I may even buy a bottle of that port I was telling you about.

I like short reviews so here is my attempt at one.
Wine Quality — ⁴⁄₅ stars — Some good wines here thanks to the fact the grapes are from elsewhere.
Wine Uniqueness — ⁵⁄₅ stars — Awesome… they mix some really unique flavors, especially for the ‘after dinner’ type wines.
Email Communications — ¹⁄₅ stars — They came across as jerks…“Be on time and if you’re late we’ll cancel your appointment. Oh by the way, even if you’re on time, you might have to wait up to 45m.” Seriously???
In all fairness, the owner seemed to be a good guy and the concept is great. Definitely worth a Saturday afternoon (if you can get an apmt within the next 6 months… I had to wait about 4 months from purchase to redemption).

This place provides a unique experience at an affordable rate with a great staff and wonderful wine.
I found a great livingsocial deal for a custom winemaking experience. I took my wife up for our anniversary and we got a 12 wine sampling, a choice of 4 varietals we could make ourselves and the ability to make our own custom labels for our wine.
The tasting was delightful although some of our favorite wines were not custom made options. The staff is attentive and the place seems to stay busy.
The wine is good, variety great, and customer service stellar.
We came back 3 months later to bottle our wine and it was wonderful. They took us through every step gave us a chance to taste any new wines since our last visit and we got to keep 8 bottles of the wine we made.
I am so pleased with the whole experience and recommend them very highly.
Thanks Casavino you made our anniversary special!

If you are a wine connoisseur or perhaps pretend to be one, you will most definitely enjoy a glass or two here.
My wining companions and I took advantage of a GROUPON deal worth $ 100 allowing up to 4 people to partake in the tasting.
What you get:
x Sip on a dozen or so white and red (total)
x Snack on a tray full of crackers, cheese, and fruits
x 4−1−1 on how they blended the wine and origin of the juice they acquired to produce their custom wine, places such as California and Italy
x Partake in the bottling process which included, rinsing a clean bottle, filling it with wine, corking, and labeling!
I failed in the labeling, however! :(
After completing the tasting and activities, you get to take a whole bottle home of your choice! Since we’re still in the summer I figured a Peach Apricot (white) would be perfect.
The winery is run by a team of Father and Son who pretty much were our tasting guides. Pleasant and informative!
If you ever get the chance to try this, do it!

This delightful little winery in the heart of Fountain Hills should be awarded a «Top Ten Places to Impress your Date in the Valley».
Casavino offers something truly unique: A wine tasting, vine and wine education, and a wine making to end the evening.
The experience begins with a tasting of ten of their very signature wines. Their wine is not chemically engineered, so aromas and flavors vary from bottle to bottle. Hence, you will not find detailed descriptions of the wine’s floral notes or eclectic ingredients on the backs of the bottles. However, this is what your sommelier is for. He will guide you through the process from pour to delicious pour. Let your other senses explore the wines. Smell it, swish it, and let it linger. We certainly did!
We began with the Gewürztraminer infused with apple. (8% Alcohol) Something so sweet yet crisp that we had to buy the bottle. With prices ranging from $ 13-​$ 19,all available bottles are a veritable steal.
Next came the Merlot infused with blackberry. Until this day, I had never enjoyed Merlot unless I was sharing it with a steak. Absolutely divine, enjoyed by both the white wine drinkers and the red wine snobs who look down on sweet reds. Words fail me, it was simply wild and beautiful and sweet.
To lighten the load on our palates, we next sampled a (10.5% Alcohol) Piesporter with elderberry and notes of honey and peach. This was a drier wine, with a very smooth finish. Perfect to pair with a summer salad or light fish dish.
Their custom white blend came next — white table wine with Pinot grigio, viognier, and Riesling. My least favorite as it had a little tartness and was much drier. But at 12.5%, this white blend from California Chardonnay packed quite a punch.
During our tasting, our discussion led to wine headaches: we learned from our knowledgeable wine steward that it is not the sulfates, but histamines that cause this unhappy side effect of wine for some. He explained that malicious acids in the wine are removed by bacteria, which in turn produces lactic acid and histamine. He was happy to share that none of their wines have these nasty acids, so we could be happy in the knowledge that we would not be developing allergy-​like symptoms. And we were fit as fiddles, not a even a wine hangover the next day.
When we began the tasting of the reds, we started with a Pinot Noir. It was very drinkable, coming from a white wine lover.
This was followed up by a merlot, which had just been bottled, so we noticed a sort of effervescence in the glass. This led to our next wine lesson. When wine is fermenting, yeast eats the sugars. This releases CO2, which can add a slight fizzle to the wine.
We swilled their custom red blend: a full bodied red wine without the aftertaste. With its vanilla finish it is designed to whet the palate — I actually had the opposite experience. Again, my taste buds love sweet, light wines so don’t let my personal opinion sway yours.
After the California Shiraz it was finally time for the «Amarone», with its distinctly raisin finish. It was explained to us that when the grapes turn to raisins, it brings up the alcohol content, almost 15% percent alcohol! Joe and Jordan Burglin, our sommeliers, both attested that this was a food wine, a wine made for steak!
After our palates were so overwhelmed with their cornucopia of bouquets, they brought out the dessert wines. First was a ruby port, which was too sweet even for my taste but a welcome change. (They also sell ice wines, which are harder to come by and more expensive outside of Casavino — hence they did not have any in stock)
Speaking of port, they offered us something truly unique to end our tasting experience. Something appreciated by the discerning wine drinker. And the cigar smoker. This was the chocolate port. At 16% alcohol content, all of its splendor comes from yeast fermentation. With dark chocolate notes, amaretto, and a butterscotch finish, our wine professor noted that there’s a lot going on in this wine. «Cigar smokers buy as much of this as women that love chocolate.» — Joe Burglan.
To complete our experience, we went on to make our wine. Our friends decided to make the full bodied Shiraz, and we were all involved in the process.
One of us poured the Bentonite clay into our pseudo wine cask, which helps the yeast break down sugars. Then the grape juice was added by another member of our motley crew. Then french oak chips were added, followed by the yeast which converts the juice to alcohol. The container was sealed and the fermentation began. In six weeks we will be picking up our bottles with our own personalized labels, created by their inhouse graphic designer.
We walked out of there with half a dozen bottles of wine, so thoroughly fortified with wine, wine education, and excitement over our experience. Truly a fantastic date!
Thank you Joe and Jordan, and Casavino!

This place is definitely a fun time. Don’t gohere if you are a wine connoisseur, but come with an open mind and ready to learn!

Like many others, came here on a Groupon for their tasting and bottling experience.
Casavino is tucked away in a typical Fountain Hills strip mall, right off the frontage road adjacent to Saguaro Boulevard (just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the famous fountain). It’s an «if you sneeze, you’ll miss it» kind of thing; best be on the lookout.
Run by Joe Burglin, this little gem of a place is set up as a working winery, even if there’s no vineyard in the back! They import their grape must from California, prepare it in-​house for blending and bottling, and you get to dictate the results. From jammy ports to Jolly Rancher-​style Green Apple chardonnays, this place will let you make (almost) any flavor combination from their selection of add-​ins and base varietals.
Our tasting experience began in the typical fashion, with light whites to start, and we were served a delightful cheese tray to accompany our tastings (before you cringe, these were very mild cheese selections, from White Cheddar to Swiss, and some palate-​cleaning crackers to go with). As we progressed from whites like Pinot Grigio and Gewürztraminer, our deft «sommelier» brought us into the reds quite gently with varietals and blends such as Pinot Noir, Cab/​Merlot, and an Amarone. Finishing with a super-​bold port style wine with huge chocolate and Amaretto overtones really was a treat.
Next up: Bottling the product! We move to the front of the building where a basic bottling «line» is set up to allow us wino’s to try our hand at putting the juice into the retail stream. Patiently teaching us the proper way to sanitize, fill, cork, seal, and label the bottles was our superhero sommelier again, who explained bottling is a task mastered by few, but enjoyed by all. We were quite proud of ourselves for bottling 12 bottles in 20 minutes, hardly a world’s record. To wrap it all up, we each were entitled to select a bottle of our own to take home, and every one of us selected something different.
This is a great venue for small events, such as retirement parties, wedding showers (or bachelorette parties), anniversary celebrations, or even corporate team-​building (over wine — can you imagine?), as long as you set it all up in advance.
On the downside, their website (as of 6÷6÷11) doesn’t have anything more than just basic information about their store/​winery, business and bottling opportunities and some basics about the «process». No varietal, certified organic, appellation, or racking information is present or acknowledged, so be aware of those limitations. Call for specific info, and the nice folks there are happy to give guidance.
I know what I’m doing for Christmas gifts this year…

What a cool experience to make your own wine!
Not only is Casavino offering a great new experience for visitors, but it also has fabulous wines! We went in to make our own batch of wine, and to kick things off, we were offered a wine tasting. We tried about 10 or 12 different wines, of all flavors, varietals and from all around the world. The wine was great. Young, but good enough for me to enjoy an afternoon :)
After the tasting, we got to choose the wine we’d make, and mix it up for fermentation! A couple months later, we went back after having designed our customer wine bottle labels, and bottled our own wine. Being a part of the wine making experience is great.
The owner is a very nice man, knowledgeable and hard-​working. He made the experience more enjoyable every second, and was quick to answer my questions about any of the wines available.
Now, we’ve got a great keepsake of a fun time, something to pass out to friends, and a new place to go when we want to enjoy some new wines with some new friends.