With the massive success of his music projects - Tool, then A Perfect Circle and most recently Puscifer - Grammy Award-winning musician Maynard James Keenan could live anywhere he chooses. He chose Arizona in 1995, mainly because of "my disdain for California."

Several years ago he became enchanted with the notion of expressing himself through wine. He hooked up with neighbor Eric Glomski, who ran Page Spring Cellars. They partnered on wine before Keenan bought a vineyard and started producing wine under the name Caduceus Cellars/Merkin Vineyards. The two will be in town Thursday and Friday doing bottle signings.

The reclusive Keenan believes in his wine enough to chat about it from Las Vegas. The new venture is a large part of his life these days; his plan is to "do music when it feels right and focus on the wines and try to develop northern Arizona as a recognizable, viable, respectable wine region."

What's your history with wine?

"I just kind of tend to follow my nose, and it led me to wine. I didn't really drink as a kid or as a teenager. I didn't have a big Italian family with wine with dinner. The attractive part to me was all of a sudden discovering a whole art form, the magic that surrounds a perfectly crafted wine."

It's an interesting subculture; people can really get drawn into that.

"I think that's changing. I think there's an army of people who are casually getting into it. They're finding new wine shops and tasting rooms that have demystified the process. There's no pinkie extended. Do you like what's in this glass or do you not? It's about trusting your palate."

Is that the industry responding and changing its image?

"I think it's more of us finally catching up with the damage done by Prohibition. I think that there would be a heck of a lot more wineries across the U.S. if Prohibition hadn't happened. It interrupted our growing appreciation for wine and our European roots. It would have just found its way everywhere. Then making it a jailable offense to create it pretty much undermined a huge industry."

What are growing conditions like in Arizona?

"We're in the high desert. What we're getting out of Arizona would be similar territory to what you find in southern Rome, parts of Bordeaux, parts of Burgundy, Spain and Italy. It's a mishmash of all of that. . . . People picture cactus and tumbleweeds."

People think of Napa for wine, but I was surprised to find wine country outside Cleveland.

"All it's going to take is one more winegrowing region outside of California to let people know this is a real thing. . . . That's the first step. The second step - and I think the economy is going to lend itself to this - is to get people to think more locally. Not try to make this a huge business with investors and take it to some other level, try to take over the world with it. The idea is to keep it sustainable. You can make a modest living, be very comfortable and make a fantastic wine that's hands-on and specific to your area."

You're doing a bottle signing. Is that normal in the wine business?

"I don't think so. The controversial side of it is it's mostly music fans showing up to stare at my head. But the upside of that is that hopefully they're going to take the wine home and drink it and realize there's a whole world of art out there they haven't discovered yet."

What do you like about that world?

"I just think it's like any other art. It's about widening and honing your senses. . . . The more you tap into things that are occurring naturally and get the human element in there, focus it and tell the story, the more you do that job well, it follows that you're developing your senses."

Do you have to train yourself to be able to fully appreciate wine?

"I play pool now and then. . . . If I wanted to get into it deep I could, but I don't feel like I have to. I don't feel like I can't play a game of pool because I don't know how to do it like Minnesota Fats."

How much time does wine take?

"Probably half my time. Actually more. I spend more of my time now with the winery than the music, but it does go back and forth."

Will that be a problem?

"Some of that stuff has to slow down as you get older. You have to re-evaluate what's important. And I think family is more important. I think vineyards in general tend to be a cornerstone . . . an economic stabilizer. They really foster community and really nurture family."

Find a longer version of this interview at blogs.RockyMountainNews.com/ rocky_mountain_music.

Maynard James Keenan

* When and where: A wine-bottle signing, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Whole Foods Market, 7400 E. Hampden Ave.

* Cost: Free

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