Erik Miller didn’t name his winery Kokomo after The Beach Boys’ 1988 song. He gets that question a lot. Rather, he took the title from his hometown, Kokomo, Ind.
You’ll find plenty of people from the Midwest living in Sonoma County and making wine. I’m from Indiana, too, and I felt the connection immediately when I first came to Sonoma. There’s something about the unpretentious lifestyle, the ruralness and agricultural landscape that made me feel at home.
So, how did a boy from Kokomo, with little connection to wine in his youth, go on to make consistently impressive reds and whites in Dry Creek Valley? It’s a long story, but I’ll tell you the short version ……