I’d bumped into Dr. Sal Tirrito a couple of times at wine dinners around Tucson. Sal is a little quiet if not humble, which is maybe why I hadn’t picked up on the gravity of what he’s building in Willcox at Tirrito Farm. That was, until he invited me to stay in one of their geodesic glamping domes.
Glamping? Wine? 90 minutes from Tucson and 10 degrees cooler? I was in.
Tirrito Farm is a multifaceted operation with components carefully connected to one another to achieve the quality and sustainability standards they’ve set for themselves. But before we look at all the components of Tirrito Farm — and all the fun things you can do there — let’s talk about Sal’s heart.
Sal is a rare type of cardiologist — one that focuses on preventative care, trying in earnest to help his patients lead healthier, more active lives and reduce their dependence on medications. That may sound like what a cardiologist ought to do anyhow, but is unfortunately rare in today’s modern allopathic medical system.
Sal himself was a raw vegan for many years — a fruit and vegetable-heavy diet associated with improved lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke. He now puts his healthy heart into Tirrito Farm, again using unconventional practices to build something special, this time with regenerative agriculture.
Did I lose you at “regenerative agriculture?”
That’s okay. Let’s talk about Barbies.
When visiting Tirrito Farm, you can stay the night in one of its luxury suites or themed glamping domes. I stayed at the Barbie-themed dome, which was way more Barbie than I expected, adorned with fluffy pink blankets and pillows, Barbie bedside lamps, pink tile in the bathroom, and a neon Barbie sign above the bed.
The Barbie dome was also more luxurious than I expected, with heated floors in the bathroom and a gorgeous view of the Chiricahuas.
Did you know that Willcox grows 74% of Arizona’s wine grapes? The climate and the soil — full of alluvial and volcanic deposits from nearby mountains — make it great for growing well-known Mediterranean varieties including Grenache, Syrah, Sangiovese, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as some lesser-known varieties like Mourvedre and Viognier.
Tirrito Farm’s vineyard currently grows Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese, and Barbera, with plans to experiment with new varieties in the coming years. I tasted wines made with all three as soon as I arrived and found myself with a bottle of their Barbera Rosé in my hand on my way to check in to the Barbie dome.
A bottle of Barbera with Barbie. I was into it.
I had dinner with Sal and his wife, Yuri, in their banquet room next to their event space, which was hosting a surprise party for a local Wilcox cop that night. I thought about crashing it, but I didn’t want to get arrested. I opted instead for a tour of Tirrito Farm’s brewing facility from their head brewmaster, Andrew Walter.
An American Brewers Guild graduate, Walter started brewing when he was 19.
He’s brewed locally and all over the country, from Tombstone to Colorado. My favorite beer was his Barrel-Aged Doppelbock. To make it, Walter adds agave nectar in the boil kettle and then ages it in mezcal barrels from Oaxaca and Sotol barrels from Texas. It’s good.
You can get it and other Tirrito Farm beers locally at Ermanos Bar, Empire Pizza, Agustin Kitchen, Fresco Pizzeria & Pastaria, and Westbound.
The restaurant at Tirrito Farm called The Kitchen, sources organic ingredients locally and from their farm. I tried several dishes, but all I want to talk about right now is their Dill Pickles brick oven flatbread pizza.
Ciao Down here in Tucson first introduced me to the amazingness that is a pizza that tastes like dill pickles.
Tirrito Farm’s head chef Chance Fraze created a double dill delicacy by adding fresh dill from the farm on top of the dill pickles and drizzling the whole thing with hot honey, also made by Tirrito Farm bees. Sal’s wife, Yuri, is the beekeeper.
When you visit, don’t sleep on the Buffalo Cauliflower either, which are tossed in candied pecans that I wish they’d sell in bags. The Soppressata-Stuffed Dates are also great, stuffed with goat cheese made by — you guessed it — Tirrito Farm’s onsite dairy program.
This brings me to my favorite part of the visit — the farm tour led by Yuri.
If Sal puts his heart into Tirrito Farm, Yuri puts in her spirit.
Yuri grew up in a small town in Mexico. After marrying Sal and living the sort of life you might expect the wife of a cardiologist to live, she realized she’d rather play with animals in the mud, pushing Sal to buy her a ranch with “at least one cow.”
Her demand was met. Yuri now cares for dozens of cows, a herd of adorable goats, countless chickens, a few horses, several beehives, one donkey, two cats, two dogs that wanted to kill me to protect the chickens, and another dog named Pancho that joined us on the tour, demanding a seat in the golf cart and hunting for pesky groundhogs that might mess with the grapevines.
If you join a tour while you’re there ($15, make reservations), I’m sure Pancho will join. He just showed up on the farm one day and they let him stay. Lucky dog.
Yuri also educated me on Tirrito Farm’s sustainable practices.
The spent grain leftover from the brewing process is fed to the animals. Any leftovers are converted to methane gas used for energy and liquid fertilizer used in the vineyard. The aim is to eventually grow or raise everything served in the restaurant. This goal not only meets the growing demand for true farm-to-table food but also significantly reduces the farm’s carbon footprint, considering the substantial greenhouse gas emissions from food transportation.
Even the Tirrito Farm building is sustainable, which Sal covered with 12 million pounds of dirt and 5 million pounds of rock to create a natural cooling effect.
Perhaps the best way to know that the care and intentionality the Tirritos bring to their land make a real difference is the smiles on the faces of every guest and animal I encountered during my stay. Even the toads that came out at night to swim in the rain puddles seemed happier than the average amphibian.
I didn’t even know goats could smile.
Tirrito Farm is located at 6150 S. Kansas Settlement Rd., Willcox, Arizona. For more information, visit tirritofarm.com.
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