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Business beat: Grand Canyon Winery expands offerings in Williams

GC Winery owner John Kennelly stands in the winery’s tasting room on Route 66 in Williams. Marissa Freireich/WGCN

GC Winery owner John Kennelly stands in the winery’s tasting room on Route 66 in Williams. Marissa Freireich/WGCN

People can sample a variety of Arizona wines at the Grand Canyon Winery and Tasting Room.

The Grand Canyon Winery started the tasting room portion of the business about four months ago. For the past three years, the winery location was a gift shop, and it still sells gifts like luggage, purses, T-shirts and hats.

Owner John Kennelly said his family started the winery so they could have a wine label for their restaurants. The Kennelly family also owns Doc Holliday's Steakhouse and Saloon, Pancho McGillicuddy's Southwestern Bar and Grille and Station 66 Italian Bistro.

"We wanted something custom with a good name that we could sell across the table," he said. "It became such a success that we're like, we need to see about taking this business to the next level."

Now the winery sells to about 75 different locations and is working on getting a distributor.

Eric Glomski of Page Springs Cellars in Cornville, Ariz. custom makes five wines for Grand Canyon Winery. The winery also serves other wines from around the state, for a total of 23 wines.

"A lot of tasting rooms only sell their own wines, and maybe they'll bring in a couple different wines from California, but we're 100 percent Arizona wine," Kennelly said. "That's what we pride ourselves on. We want to be the source for Arizona wine."

About a month ago the Grand Canyon Winery started a wine club, which allows customers to have three or six bottles shipped to them four times a year. The club has three different membership types that correspond to different types of wine.

The winery also offers wine flights, which allow customers to sample six different wines.

The Grand Canyon Winery plans to start serving its two new red wine blends this week.

The Winery is open every day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It is at 238 W. Route 66. More information is available at www.thegrandcanyonwinery.com.


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