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It’s hard to forget certain moments in life. How a passing whisper in the form of a thought would become a formative trajectory. While working in Napa and driving south on Silverado trail, with the windows down and the scent of harvest ever present, Pavle thought: “One day, I will be involved in the world of winemaking. I don’t yet know how or when, but it will happen.”

With the sharp green color of the vines waving in full display sealing that moment in time, Pavle Milic had a dream. One day, he would make wine that would evoke that same spirit of adventure and connection to nature he had experienced in Napa.

Fast forward to 2014: to much fanfare, Pavle launched his wine label with the help of Kelly and Todd Bostock of Dos Cabezas WineWorks in the southern Arizona town of Sonoita. Los Milics was born.

Pavle finally had his wine label, but his dream of being a winemaker wouldn’t be complete until he was able to plant, tend, and harvest the grapes himself.

Fast forward again to 2017, when, waiting tables at his James Beard-award winning Scottsdale restaurant, FnB, Pavle took the order of a table of four guests: two bottles of Los Milics. Halfway through dinner, one of the patrons asked about his future plans with his wine label. “It is a foregone conclusion that, when the kiddos leave the nest, my wife and I will build a small winery in Sonoita,” Pavle said. The guest responded, “If you would like to speed up your project and scope of the project, let’s talk,” said the patron, Mo Garfinkle, who had looked at buying wineries in Italy and New Zealand. And the rest, as they say, is history.

After that momentous meeting and several more, in 2018, they purchased a vineyard in Elfrida from Juan Alba, former vineyard manager for Oregon legend Dick Erath, followed in 2021 with the purchase of an additional 70 acres on the same road. In 2018, they also purchased a 20-acre parcel on Upper Elgin Road at the foothills of Mustang Mountains to be the estate vineyard and the location of the state-of-the-art winemaking facility, tasting room and guest lodging. They enlisted the renowned Chen + Suchart Studio architectural firm to design these facilities in harmony with the beautiful landscape framed by the Mustangs and the iconic Biscuit. Pavle’s and Mo’s objective was simple: create great wine in a magnificent environment that would elevate the customer experience and create unforgettable memories. In other words, the Los Milics experience.

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Google map to Los Milics Vineyards

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Other photographs for Los Milics Vineyards