Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/764739
9 0 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | J a n - F e b 2 017 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m is made with California Verdelho grapes co-fermented with Cascade hops. Half of the batch is carbon- ated and packaged in beer bottles, while the other half is packaged as a still wine. "It's a wine dressing up like a beer," she says, noting that allotments of Drag Queen usu- ally sell out the same day they're released. In addition to incorporating hops into their wines, Haller and Zouzou- las also plan to establish a small brewery on the property — that is after they "work out the kinks" with the state's liquor licensing depart- ment, Haller says. In 2013, the pair teamed up with a lobbyist to change an Arizona state law that prohibited a winery and a brewery from operating he first thing visitors might notice when driving into Megan Haller and Shannon Zouzoulas' winery are the hops bines growing near the entrance. The sisters decided to factor hops into their business plan from the very beginning of co-founding Arizona Hops and Vines in 2011. They plant- ed an acre plot in a low-lying area at the same time they established the winery's 10-acre vineyard in Sonoita, Ariz., south of Tucson near the Mexi- can border. Today, as part of a variety of traditional and not-so-traditional offerings, winemaker Haller also incorporates the estate-grown hops into the primary fermentation of the winery's Drag Queen label, which As interest in craft beer continues to soar, some vineyards are adding hops and even making their own beer. BY TOM WILMES C R A F T B E V E R A G E S R E P O R T