Looking at the pool at Mountain Shadows in Paradise Valley AZ, it appears that nothing has changed since it opened as Del Webb’s Mountain Shadows exactly 60 years ago (the luxury resort was named because it looks far up to both Camelback Mountain and to Mummy Mountain). Today, as part of Westroc, it is as busy as ever. People come here for meetings, and to relax. The pool is busy all day long. For those who want hearty exercise there is the Citizens Club fitness centre, named for those who founded The Town of Paradise Valley 1961.
There is also an 18-hole, par-3, Forrest Richardson golf course, and that is where I spied wine cans on the portable drinks trolley that goes around the course. Wine cans are becoming HUGE, and I checked a Decanter article, 23 July 2019. The advantages appear to include ease of transportation and opening, and lower carbon footprint than glass, thus promoting more efficient recycling. The only disadvantage seems to be snobbery. And the contents must be drunk quickly rather than put away for decades. Underwood is one of the most prominent can labels: from Union Wine Co in Oregon, it first appeared in 2014 and now 55% of all its wine is in cans. Wine Spectator says can sales in the USA have jumped from $2 million in 2012 to over $69 million in 2018.
But in future decades other ways of serving wine will have evolved. Meanwhile, good for Mountain Shadows and its Aussie GM, Andrew Chippindall, first for having a beverage cart on the course of this lovely luxury hotel and also for stocking it with wine cans.
