Eric Glomski’s love of wine began with a love for rivers. “Rivers in deserts are very special places,” he says. “In addition to their importance to plant and wildlife diversity, they’ve acted as cradles for human civilization…This, too, is where my passion for wine was born.”

Raised in New England, Eric found his way west as a teenager and was enchanted by the country’s diverse landscape. Settling in Arizona, he studied ecology at Prescott College, then founded a river restoration company. Wherever he surveyed local waterways, he would find heirloom apple orchards. And before long, he found himself experimenting with cider making, fermenting apple juice and treating it increasingly like wine. It took just one particularly potent batch to change the course of his life.

“The apples were there, the texture, the tartness, the wonderful sweet perfume. But there was more: The trees themselves, the smell of decaying leaves… it was place in a bottle, the whole experience, a liquid landscape.”

He traveled out to California to work a wine harvest and ended up staying for six years, until he was offered a job at Arizona’s then-burgeoning Echo Canyon Vineyard and Winery. After 12 months attuning his skills to the state’s unique soil, climate and character, he founded his own operation, Page Springs Cellars, just south of Sedona—“one of the most beautiful places on the earth,” he remarks.

“My plan is to craft fine wines that are true to the landscape of Arizona,” Eric says. “And hopefully, the wines themselves bring people closer to the earth and to each other.”

Today, Eric and team work with four expansive estate vineyards, as well as a few top vineyard sites around the state, to create a range of distinctive wines. Grapes that thrive in France’s Rhône Valley are their specialty, as you’ll taste in this balanced, complex red blend.

It blends Rhône grapes Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah, which results in a wine of deep fruitiness, earth and classic herbal notes. Additionally, small amounts of Counoise give the wine hints of white pepper spice, while Petite Sirah imparts depth of color and richness. As Eric says, “This wine is truly the Alma del Suelo, or ‘soul of our soil.’”

Eric produced only 565 cases—hurry for your chance to taste it.