MOONLIGHT HARVEST

PAVLE MILIĆ IS PRODUCING WORLD-CLASS WINES IN THE ARIZONA DESERT.

- LUCY SIMON

Pavle Milić points to a warm glow that breaks through the pitch-black night. “That’s Agua Prieta in Mexico, 30 minutes away.”

It’s 2 a.m., and we’re standing in the middle of Los Milics’ vineyards outside Elfrida, Arizona. The cuadrilla (crew) started harvesting just after midnight, and they are working steadily down the rows. Above us, the stars are unlike anything I’ve seen before. Constellations trace through the dark night sky, dimly illuminating the bustle of harvest. Around me, I can hear the low hum of insects, the rustling of Milić’s dogs zigzagging through the vines, the clang of grapes dropping into plastic buckets, and the stomping feet of the crew as they run up and down the rows. But at dawn, as the sun peeks up over the Chiricahua Mountains to the east, everything quiets. The grapes are loaded onto a truck, and we drive an hour west to the Los Milics winery in Elgin.

Milić is Yugoslavian and Colombian, born in Medellín, Colombia, before moving to Queens. His stepfather was a cabdriver and bartender in New York who followed the restaurateur he worked for to Scottsdale, Arizona. Milić grew up there, caught the hospitality bug working as a busser at his parents’ restaurants, then was introduced to winemaking in Napa Valley. He returned to Arizona and opened his restaurant, FnB, in 2009 with chef Charleen Badman. They serve hyperseasonal food (“no peach cobbler in December,” Milić says) and are known for a surprisingly deep list of Arizona wine. That award-winning list captured the attention of diners—including one Mo Garfinkle, who would later become Milić’s business partner in Los Milics.