Kokomo Winery

Erik Miller came west from Kokomo, Indiana after graduating from Purdue in 1999, intent on making wine. A 2002 harvest internship at Belvedere Winery confirmed the calling; a 2004 cellar job at Amphora Winery brought him to Dry Creek Valley. That same year, with an unexpected allocation of excess Cabernet fruit, he founded Kokomo Winery with 500 cases, naming it after his Indiana hometown and choosing a Coastal Cypress as the logo to mark his move out west. His college roommate Josh Bartels joined, and grower Randy Peters (a fourth-generation Dry Creek farmer, basketball coach, and great-grandson of a Sonoma winery owner) signed on as full partner. In January 2008, the operation moved to its current home at Timber Crest Farms on the east bench of Dry Creek.

Kokomo sits on the 120-acre Timber Crest Farms, prime benchland on the east side of Dry Creek Valley. Most wines are fermented in small lots and aged in French oak, typically about 30 percent new, racked gently with nitrogen rather than a pump, and bottled largely unfined and unfiltered. Erik also runs Breaking Bread Winery, a natural-wine sublabel making orange wines, pétillant-naturels, and natural reds. Wine Spectator's senior editor Tim Fish profiled the lineup in the February 2026 issue. The tasting room is incorporated into the cellar at Timber Crest Farms (a complex that also houses Amphora, Papapietro Perry, and Peterson Winery), with a Reserve Tasting in the Barrel Room and a picnic area and bocce court overlooking the valley. Flights are offered at 11 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM daily, with reservations recommended.