appellation arizona new mexico founded 1991 first vintage 1994 key people don and carol minchella dennis minchella herve and florent lescombes tasting open to public website http www.kokopelliwinery.net kokopelli winery & bistro is a winery located in chandler and surprise arizona united states . it is the largest winery in the state of arizona . 1 2 contents 1 history 2 see also 3 references 4 external links history edit the winery planted its first grapes in 1991 on land about 20 miles north of willcox arizona first harvested in 1994 and opened in 1995 . the winery was founded by don and carol michella and herve and florent lescombes . 3 4 herve lescombes was a sixth generation winemaker with a family history of making wine in france and north africa . 3 it became arizona s largest winery in 1995 producing over 5 400 cases that year . 3 its first winery location was in chandler part of the phoenix metropolitan area and it opened its second location and restaurant in surprise in the summer of 2008 . 5 6 the michellas have been recognized for developing methods for growing grapes in arizona despite its heat . 7 kokopelli wines have won multiple awards in regional wine competitions . 8 9 see also edit arizona wine references edit kevin zraly kevin zraly s american wine guide p. 77 2007 isbn 978 140272585 2 hugh johnson hugh johnson s pocket encyclopedia of wine p. 240 1999 isbn 978 068486756 4 a b c julie phillipsen january 15 1996 . willcox is now home of arizona s newest winery . kingman daily miner associated press . retrieved january 21 2010 . about the history of kokopelli winery kokopelliwinery.net retrieved january 21 2010 kokopelli winery opening second location in surprise . phoenix business journal . june 30 2008 . retrieved january 21 2010 . erin zlomek june 7 2008 . kokopelli winery & bistro to open in surprise . the arizona republic . retrieved january 21 2010 . erin zlomek august 22 2008 . kokopelli offers trips to the vineyards near willcox . the arizona republic . retrieved january 21 2010 . kokopelli winery . the business journal . july 21 2000 . retrieved january 21 2010 . kokopelli winery tempe was awarded two bronze medals at the 2000 connoisseur classic southwest wine competition in ruidoso n.m. for entries of pinot grigio and white cabernet sauvignon . howard seftel june 25 1998 . second helpings . phoenix new times . retrieved january 21 2010 . external links edit kokopelli winery & bistro retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title kokopelli winery & oldid 740447096 categories wineries in arizonahidden categories arizona articles missing geocoordinate dataall articles needing coordinates navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 21 september 2016 at 03 44 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view