Old Town Cottonwood Wine Tasting: A Walkable Guide to Main Street

Old Town Cottonwood wine tasting is the easiest wine day in northern Arizona: roughly a dozen tasting rooms, wine bars and bistros packed into about four flat blocks of North Main Street, around 19 miles and 30 minutes from Sedona. You park once, walk everywhere, and a flight usually runs $10 to $12. We have been bringing guests here since the first tasting rooms opened, and this is how we would plan the afternoon.

Why Old Town Cottonwood works so well for wine tasting

Most wine regions make you choose between the scenery of the vineyards and the convenience of a downtown. The Verde Valley gives you both, and Old Town Cottonwood is the convenient half. The vineyards are spread along Oak Creek and the Verde River, and several of the wineries that farm here, plus a few that grow their fruit in southern Arizona’s Willcox area, pour on Main Street.

The street itself is a 1920s main drag with covered sidewalks, brick storefronts and a colorful Prohibition-era past. The tasting rooms sit shoulder to shoulder with antique shops, galleries, restaurants and a couple of small hotels. At about 3,300 feet, Cottonwood runs a few degrees warmer than Sedona, which makes October and November prime patio season.

The Old Town Association keeps a current directory of who is pouring, and it is worth a glance before you go because the lineup changes a little every year.

The tasting rooms on Main Street, block by block

Here is the walk from the north end of Old Town heading south. Hours below are as posted by the businesses or the Old Town Association when we checked this week. Small tasting rooms adjust their hours often, so check the current hours before you build a tight schedule.

Copper Jackalope (1048 N Main St), Small Batch Wine & Spirits (1044 N Main St) and Rubrix Wines (1040 N Main St). These three sit almost next door to one another at the top of the street. Rubrix is a small-batch boutique label listed as open Sunday through Thursday noon to 7 p.m. and Friday and Saturday noon to 10 p.m., with live music on weekend nights. Small Batch is listed as by appointment only.

Arizona Stronghold Vineyards (1023 N Main St). One of the anchors of the street and one of the larger producers in the state, with fruit from Cochise County. Arizona Stronghold’s own page lists flights at $12 for five wines, first come, first served, with a maximum party size of ten. Posted hours are noon to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and noon to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

Pillsbury Wine Company. A few doors from Stronghold. Sam Pillsbury’s vineyard is down near Willcox, and the Cottonwood room is where most northern Arizona visitors meet the wines. The Verde Valley Wine Trail listing shows flights at $10 to $12, with the flight comped when you buy three bottles, and hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 9 p.m. Friday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.

The Eureka Room (1012 N Main St). Part art gallery, part tasting room, pouring southern Arizona wines. Listed as opening at noon daily.

Tantrum Wines (918 N Main St, Suite C) and Cellar 433 / Odyssey Cellars (909 N Main St). Mid-street stops. Cellar 433 pours blends from Dragoon Mountain Vineyard and is listed as open Wednesday through Sunday, opening at noon or 1 p.m. depending on the day, so it is a good one to save for the later part of your walk.

Da Vines Vineyard Wines & Bistro (705 N Main St). At the south end, a micro-vineyard label with a French bistro menu. It takes reservations and is listed as open Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., which makes it a natural lunch or early dinner stop.

Beer drinkers in the group are covered too: Belfry Brewery is at 791 N Main St. And a short drive up the hill from Old Town, Merkin Vineyards Hilltop Winery & Trattoria (770 Verde Heights Dr) pairs estate wines with house-made pasta and a wide view of the valley.

How many tasting rooms can you fit in one afternoon?

Three is comfortable. Four is the limit if you want to remember the fourth one. A flight is typically five pours, and most people spend 40 to 50 minutes per stop once conversation with the staff gets going, which is half the fun.

A pacing plan that works for our guests:

Noon: Lunch first. Tasting on an empty stomach shortens the day.
1:00 p.m.: First tasting room at the north end of the street.
2:00 p.m.: Second stop, then a break to browse the shops and galleries.
3:30 p.m.: Third stop, ideally one with a patio.
5:00 p.m.: Dinner on Main Street, or one last glass somewhere with live music on a Friday or Saturday.

Share flights if you are visiting more than three rooms. Nobody behind the bar minds, and you will taste more of the street.

Parking, getting there and what else is nearby

From Uptown Sedona, take State Route 89A southwest about 19 miles and follow the signs for Historic Old Town when you reach Cottonwood. Plan on 30 minutes, a little more on a busy Saturday. From Phoenix it is roughly 105 miles and under two hours via I-17 and State Route 260.

Parking along Main Street is free, and there are free public lots just off Main behind the storefronts. On weekends the street spaces fill by early afternoon, so head for the lots first.

If you want to earn the first glass, two good stops are minutes away:

Dead Horse Ranch State Park is just across the Verde River from Old Town, with lagoons, river trails and big cottonwoods that turn gold in late October and November. Day use is 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and $7 per vehicle for up to four adults. Leashed dogs are welcome on the trails.
Tuzigoot National Monument is a hilltop Sinagua pueblo about ten minutes away in Clarkdale. The short paved loop takes under an hour. Check the NPS page for current hours and entrance fees.

Jerome is another eight miles or so up the mountain on 89A if you want to add a ghost town and a few more tasting rooms to the day.

When to go: seasons, crowds and Walkin’ on Main 2026

Old Town pours year-round, but fall is the sweet spot. Harvest is wrapping up, afternoons are in the 70s and low 80s in October, and the patios are open. We covered the bigger seasonal picture in our post on the best time to visit Sedona.

Weekdays are quiet and the staff have time to talk. Saturdays are lively, with music at several rooms in the evening. Mondays and Tuesdays have the shortest hours, and a few rooms are closed, so midweek visitors should plan around Wednesday through Sunday if possible.

The biggest day of the year on Main Street is Walkin’ on Main, set for Saturday, November 14, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. The street closes for a classic car show, live music and art, and a wine garden pours Verde Valley wines with tasting tickets sold separately in advance. Visit Cottonwood has the details. It is a great day to be there and a hard day to find parking, so arrive before 11.

If you like collecting stamps, the Verde Valley Wine Trail runs a passport program: check in at ten stops, by app or paper passport, and you are entered in a prize drawing. Old Town alone gets you most of the way there.

What to book, what to bring and where to stay

What to book. Most Old Town tasting rooms are walk-in, first come, first served. Reserve dinner on Friday and Saturday nights, call ahead for any group of eight or more, and book lodging early for the Walkin’ on Main weekend.

What to bring. A photo ID for everyone tasting, a refillable water bottle, sunglasses and a light layer for after sunset, when the valley cools off quickly. Bring a small cooler or an insulated bag for the car, because bottles left in a warm vehicle do not improve.

Dogs. Old Town is a friendly place to walk a dog, and several patios welcome well-behaved, leashed pups. Policies inside the tasting rooms vary, so a quick call ahead saves an awkward moment at the door.

Where to stay. Old Town has a handful of small boutique hotels right on Main Street, which means you can walk home from your last glass. Sedona’s resorts are a half hour away if you would rather wake up to red rocks.

Getting home. The simplest rule of any wine day still applies: decide who is driving before the first pour.

Pairing Old Town with the rest of Verde Valley wine country

Old Town is the walkable half of the story. The other half is out among the vines along Page Springs Road and Oak Creek, about 15 minutes away, and our guide to Sedona-area wineries and vineyards covers who is pouring where. If you would rather have a guide who has been driving these roads since 2004 handle the route and the wheel, our Wine Tours of Sedona days often mix vineyard stops with Main Street, and the Tour Chooser will match you with the right one in about a minute.