Arrested and Sent to Jail for Winemaking The first winemaker in Sedona and the Verde Valley is believed to have been Heinrich (Henry) Schuerman, a German-born baker who, in 1884, settled an old debt of $500 by taking ownership of 160 acres of farmland on Oak Creek. There was a crude irrigation ditch on site built by American Indians, and the couple expanded the ditch to irrigate an orchard and vineyard. The orchard and vineyard flourished.Henry sold peaches, apples and wine to Flagstaff logging camps and Jerome miners until the Prohibition. (In 1920 a constitutional amendment outlawed the manufacture, transport and sale of alcoholic beverages.) At first, Henry refused to believe that the venerable tradition of winemaking could be illegal, and he ignored the new law.He was arrested and sent to jail in Prescott, but friends and neighbors demanded -and won- a pardon by the Governor of Arizona. Today, seven wine makers have planted roots in the Sedona Verde Valley area, and their wineries are producing both white and red varietals, library wines and multi-grape bottlings. Several have been applauded by wine critics. The public can give the wines a try in the vineyards' tasting rooms, during occasional winemaker dinners and by picking up a bottle in fine food and liquor stores. Many Sedona restaurants serve local, national and international wines. And for a drink-as-you-go experience, there's the "Grape Train Escape" on the Verde Canyon Railroad, where Arizona wines are served May through September as the train travels through unspoiled wilderness. The art of winemaking in Central Arizona goes back to the early 1890s when wines were made for miners in Jerome, but the wines stopped flowing when the mines were closed. Only in the last few years has the Verde Valley been rediscovered by vintners, who have come to appreciate its climate and soil for exceptional winemaking. Arizona wines have been served in the White House since 1989.
