KINGMAN ARIZONA HOMES FOR SALE
| 10/7/2011 Kingman finding a place on the map as Arizona Wine Country |
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VALLE VISTA - A new industry is taking root just outside of Kingman that will market the area as a destination for wine travelers and enthusiasts. Resident Don Stetson and his business partners broke ground on a new winery and event center in Valle Vista on Sept. 30. Stetson Winery is the second such endeavor to break ground in the Valle Vista area. Cella Winery, which is located nearby, harvested its first crop of mature grapes in September. When it is completed, Stetson Winery will house not only winemaking equipment, but also a tasting room, sales room and event center for weddings and other parties. The building will be able to hold around 350 people with more seating outdoors, he said. "There's no place to hold large meetings or events in the Kingman area," Stetson said. "Wine is usually served at such events, so it was a natural pairing. Also there are no wineries in Northern Arizona." Stetson plans is to use as much local labor and materials as possible in the construction of the 6,500 square-foot facility. "We're trying to give something back to the community," Stetson said. The building will be made out of special pre-fabricated Air Light panels made by Wanessa Sue, Inc. located in the Kingman Airport and Industrial Park, he said. The panels are made of a recycled material and have a high energy efficiency rating, which will cut down on the cost of heating and cooling of the building, said project consultant John Loomis. The building will also be faced with natural stone from a nearby quarry. Stetson and Loomis hope to have the building finished by April. It will be located west of Painted Rock Drive and north of Brooks Boulevard. The first crop of 1,400 grape vines will be planted on five acres in January or February, Stetson said. He's already tested the soil with several varieties of grapes on five acres behind his home in Valle Vista and plans to plant a mix of vines on the 15 acres surrounding the winery over the next few years. However, he winery won't be bottling juice from its grapes for a few years. It takes two to three years for the vines to mature, Stetson said. In the meantime, the winery will use juice from other Arizona wineries. The company hopes to employee around 34 people once all 15 acres are planted and the grapes have fully matured, Loomis said. "This is great news for Mohave County," Mohave County Supervisor Gary Watson said at the groundbreaking. He said he is excited about not only the prospect of a new business moving into Mohave County, but possibly a whole industry. Pam Wilkinson, the president and CEO of the Kingman Chamber of Commerce, said, she too was excited about the idea of the Kingman area becoming a wine grape growing area. |
WINE SELLER: Stetson Winery Planned Near Kingman
By Dave Hawkins – Independent Staff Writer — Within a few years millions of grapes might dangle from vines strewn through row after row after row of trellises spread about 15 miles north of Kingman. Wooden 55-gallon casks in a climate-controlled basement would ferment wine for bottling, sale, and on-site tasting. That’s part of the vision for the Stetson Winery that would include a multi-use event and reception center on 15 acres on the outskirts of Valle Vista. Visitors and locals alike could view the vineyard, enjoy a wine tasting, attend a corporate party, or even get married at the event center. “The impetus is to try to do something that is unique, and we think we have a good model of a combination of things on the site that we’re planning,” said project consultant John Loomis. “People are enamored with the wine industry. It’s quite a beautiful thing to have aesthetically when it’s all green.” Planning and Zoning Commission-recommended approvals for the
Stetson Winery will be considered during the Jan. 18 Mohave County Board of Supervisors meeting. Owner Don Stetson said construction of the 7,500 sq. ft. event center could be under way in the spring and completed by fall. The event center would be put into use first to establish the location and generate some revenue while the vineyard is established. It should take three years to raise a wine-producing grape and another year for the wine to ferment in a cask. Loomis said the plan is to store the barrels in a basement at a temperature of about 57 degrees. He said expectations are high for quality wine
production. “One of the things the owners initially did is they hired U.C. Davis to do a study to try to find a location in the United States where all the conditions were optimum, and they came up with Kingman,” Loomis said. He said the study indicated superb soil and sufficient sunlight for grapes.
Stetson, one of the winery owner-investors, already has some 400 grape plants growing on his property adjacent to the proposed vineyard. He said the zinfandel grapes show the best promise at this point. Grapes that would make cabernet, merlot, and chardonnay are also planted
as the owners try to determine which varieties to grow in the vineyard. “It is kind of pioneering, we know that; but all things look good,” Stetson said. Stetson said one wine plant can generally produce about a gallon of juice to be fermented to wine. He said they plan to use a drip irrigation system and that grapes require very little water compared to other agricultural production. “Taking care of vines is like bringing up kids, except the grapes mature a lot sooner,” Loomis said. He said plants begin
to green in the spring and that the summer sun grows the grapes for harvest in the fall. The Stetson Winery, LLC, business partners believe they can capitalize upon the popularity of Historic Route 66 to blend tourist-drawing charm into the development. “We’d really like to be able to make great wine on
site and have a fun tasting environment and a very welcoming and enchanting environment for special events,” Loomis said. “We’re trying to create something really unique here.”
Stetson Winery Gets Thumbs-Up
A grape-growing business venture along with a facility to produce and taste wine and host guest parties was approved during Tuesday’s Mohave County Board of Supervisors meeting. The Board approved plans for Stetson Winery at the edge of Valle Vista north of Kingman.
Investors are already experimenting with different grape varieties hoping to produce wine
from the vineyard in about three years.
12/9/2010
6:01:00 AM Mohave County P&Z
OKs winery
Suzanne
Adams Miner
Staff Reporter
January 19, 2011
KINGMAN
- The County Planning and Zoning Commission is recommending approval of a winery to the Board of Supervisors. The commission first approved a request from a couple to build a winery and reception center on 15 acres of land near Valle Vista, west of Painted Rock Drive and north of Brooks Boulevard. The project would include a vineyard, winemaking center, wine tasting room, sales room and reception area for weddings and other parties. "We're happy to be here," said John
Loomis, who represented the couple at Wednesday's meeting. The Kingman area has real potential for wine making, he said. The project would be built in phases because it will take approximately three years for the vines to mature to the point where the grapes could be used for wine, he said. Commissioner Mehdi Azarmi asked what kind of production volume the winery expected. Loomis said the winery planned to plant 4,000 vines, which should produce 20,000 bottles of wine. a year. However, that figure could vary depending on the growing season and the types of vines the winery
planted. The couple was still experimenting with a number of different grape varietals, he said. Another commissioner asked about the amount of water the winery would use for care of the grapes and processing. The whole process uses very little water, Loomis said. In fact, over-watering the vines is a big no-no in the business. Wineries want their grapes to have to work hard to get water. It increases the amount of sugar in the grapes and the amount of wine that can be produced, he said. At most, the winery would use between a half-gallon to a gallon of water per day per vine. Very little water is used in the production of wine, answered Loomis. Water
is mainly used to clean the equipment afterwards. Azarmi asked how many people the winery would employ. The production of wine is a very labor-intensive process, Loomis said. The winery would need a number of employees, but he didn't have an exact number of how many.
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| First bottles from local grapes will be opened next summer |
| KINGMAN - Could Kingman grow into the next Napa Valley? Carlos Cella and a few of his neighbors certainly hope so. Cella started his winery, Cella Wines, about four years ago after retiring after 35 years as a car body shop owner in California. Cella said his friend, Don Stetson, purchased land in the Valle Vista area several years ago and encouraged Cella to come out and take a look. Cella liked the property and invested. He planted several acres of vines in 2008 with the help of family and friends and converted part of his garage into a winemaking facility. Cella still lives in California and works for a body shop there. He commutes to Valle Vista on a regular basis to check on the vines and help a neighbor, Rand Terwilleger, harvest his grapes and bottle the juice. "I've been making wine all my life," he said. Cella's parents are originally from Italy and immigrated to Northern California in 1978. His father taught him how to make wine as a teenager. A family friend taught him how to perfect his winemaking skills. But this is the first time Cella said he ever tried to grow the grapes to produce wine. Luckily, he had help from Terwilleger. Terwilleger spent most of his life growing wine grapes in California and selling them to local wineries. He tired of the process of trying to grow and take care of acres and acres of grapes and moved to the Valle Vista area several years ago. Once here, Terwilleger, who is also an ad rep at the Miner, planted a few vines in his backyard to make a little wine for his family and friends. Cella's vines reached full maturity this year and include Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sirah and Sangiovese. He invited everyone who helped plant the vines three years ago to come back to help with his first harvest and bottling of the grapes. The area is perfect for growing grapes, Cella said. The weather is mild, there's very little humidity, very few pests and the soil is great. He had his soil tested by a lab in California and was told that it was better than one of the best grape growing regions in California. "I think the wine will have a very unique taste because of the soil," Cella said. But he won't know what the wine will taste like until next July. If people like the wine, he may expand. Cella's friend, Stetson, plans to build his own winery and an event center. He already has the zoning in place for the facility. Cella hopes that the two wineries will become a tourist attraction and maybe bring more people interested in making wine to the area. "This is something I have done all my life, with my dad first and now my friends. I love to do it. Every step of the way it's been exciting. I am hopeful that it is something good for Kingman," he said. For more information on Cella Wines, call (714) 402-4878 or send an email to CellaWines@yahoo.com. |
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