LDV Winery

From transforming cities to nurturing grapes, serendipity describes the LDV Winery evolution. As professional community and strategic planners, LDV owners Peggy Fiandaca and Curt Dunham made a career assisting clients in creating successful plans. A strong game plan is vital in any industry, but more importantly, success results from responding to possibilities. That life journey of possibilities is what led Fiandaca and Dunham to develop a vineyard in southeastern Arizona that is now producing distinctive, hand-crafted wines. The initials L and D represent our family names – Lawrence and Dunham. The V denotes our vineyard.

Fiandaca and Dunham, long-time wine collectors, have found the magic of the “grape to glass” journey intriguing. From wine collecting and thinking about retiring, to finding the perfect land in Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains our vineyard/winemaking adventure began in the most serendipitous way.

Curt & Peggy

Curt Lawrence Dunham
Owner/Winemaker

My love of wine is traced back to a bottle of 1974 Beulieu Vineyards George Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon brought home by my parents from a trip to Napa Valley. I couldn’t believe a grape could taste like blackberries, cherries, coffee, and chocolate. Learning to cook and visiting wine regions all over the world expanded my interest and insight to winemaking. These visits were not the typical tourist visits but appointments with winemakers at small wineries focused on learning the entire process; never dreaming I would someday be making it myself – with my name on the bottle!

As I learn more about the grapes that are being produced from our mountain vineyard location, I am excited about the possibilities with every day presenting a new challenge. My goal is to ensure that every vintage is respected as the once in a lifetime occurrence it is with the resulting wines reflecting truly exceptional place-based wines.

Peggy Fiandaca
Owner/Brand Manager

Wine is a character actor in every Italian family. The Fiandaca family emigrated from Sicily to a Chicago Italian neighborhood. My mom’s father, William Hogan was a well-known bootlegger in Kentucky during Prohibition. With this kind of heritage, my urban planning career was a side step on the road to growing grapes and producing wines.

Every day brings a new experience in the vineyard or winery where my creativity, knowledge, and patience are challenged. Watching someone taste wine and identify the flavor characteristics for the first time or examine a vine closely with a new appreciation for its role in producing that wine, provides me with great satisfaction. That connection to the land, our environment, and to each other is what our winemaking journey is all about.