Get out your camouflage and pith helmet to join us for a "wild" weekend at Kokopelli. Its hunting season and our chef at the Bistro will be hunting up some unique and interesting wild game to serve our guests.

Unique Menu... Try some Alligator Tenders, Kangaroo Medallions Forestierre, or Buffalo Ribeye with Cabernet Mushroom Sauce. Or perhaps keep to something a it more "tame" like Smoked & Roasted Wild Boar, Pheasant under Wine Glass or Free Range Chicken in White Wine Sauce. Our chef will be cooking up a variety of unique "wild game" dishes and we'll show you how to match the right award-winning Kokopelli wine with each!

Note that all of our "wild" game is actually purchased from a commercial food supplier, farm raised and free range. We didn't send Dennis or Mike out with a shotgun!

Fun & Games...Wear your best camouflage and compete in the "Elmer Fudd" look-alike contest. Our judges will hunt out the best throughout the weekend. You can also test your marksmanship in a special "shoot-out" and go on a wild game hunt of your own, competing for lots of fun prizes!

Live Music...Enjoy live jazz Friday night (6:30 to 10:30) featuring Jimmie McElroy and Stan Devereaux. and Saturday (6:30 to 9:30 pm) featuring the John Shea Trio.

Cost... $10 includes 6 tasting tickets, souvenir wine glass and $1 off on any bottle of wine purchased for drinking at the Bistro or to take home. FREE to children or non-drinkers. Menu items separately priced.

Wild Winemaker's Dinner
November 15, 2007

Thursday night there will be a special "Wild Winemakers" dinner featuring a combination of  "farm raised" wild game and exotic vegetables in a specially prepared menu, each course paired with an award-winning Kokopelli wine. There will be entertainment for our guests from 6 pm to 9 pm with live Jazz. Call for information and reservations.

• Wild Game & Wine Festival & Winemakers Dinner
• News from the Nose
• Featured Wine  
• Cooking with Wine
• Wine Trivia 
• Holidays at the Bistro
• Thanksgiving Buffet
• FREE CHAMPAGNE on "Wine Down" Shopping Weekend
• New Year's Celebrations
• Kokopelli Savings
• Mark Your Calendar 
• Live Music at the Bistro
• NEW Happy Hour at the Bistro 

Our Red Zinfandel Private Reserve is one of my personal favorite wines. Made from 100% zinfandel grapes, this wine is aged in oak for one year before bottling. It has a rich fruit flavor with medium tannins and light acids, making it a perfect wine to drink with almost any meat dish.

Red Zinfandel Private Reserve is light enough to go with white meat like chicken or pork, served alone or with a flavorful sauce. But it is also bold enough to stand on it’s own with red meat like steak. And of course, it is my wine of choice for many of the "Wild Game" recipes we’ll have on the menu at the Bistro during the Wild Game & Wine Festival.

Price: $20 per bottle (get $2 off with this newsletter)

Here's a fun "wild game" recipe that can be made with ground Buffalo or ground Sirloin! 

1/2 pound sliced pancetta
1 med. onions
2 garlic cloves
1 celery rib
1/2 carrot
1/4 cup parsley leaves
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 TBL Worcestershire
3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 pound ground buffalo (or ground beef sirloin)
1 egg

Cook 3/4 of pancetta in heavy skillet to crisp. Reserve the fat in skillet. Finely chop pancetta, onion, and minced garlic. Cut celery and carrots into 1/4 inch dice. Cook all the vegetables in the fat over medium heat, until onions are softened. Coarsely chop parsley while this mixture is cooking.

In a large bowl mix all ingredients from skillet, parsley, cooked pancetta, 1/4 cup ketchup, salt and pepper, Worcestershire, bread crumbs, buffalo and egg, until just combined (don't over mix). In a shallow baking dish form mixture into a loaf and spread remaining ketchup over the top, drape remaining uncooked pancetta over the loaf (this is to baste the meatloaf).

Bake meat loaf in over 1 hour and ten minutes at 375 degrees. This time can vary, so use a meat thermometer and stop cooking when the meatloaf reaches 160 degrees. Let stand for 10 minutes then slice and serve with mashed potatoes.

We love the holidays at the Bistro. It's a time to welcome old friends and meet new ones, over a glass of champagne or a specially-prepared holiday meal. We hope you can join us during this holiday season and share a little holiday spirit!

Thanksgiving... We are delighted to invite you and your family to a Thanksgiving Buffet at the Bistro on Thursday November 22nd from 11am to 4 pm. We'll roast turkey & ham, make homemade mashed potatoes, stuffing, other side items, soup & salad, and homemade desserts and treats. Your meal price includes a glass of wine or beer. All for $30 per person, $12 for children under 12, children under 5 eat free.

FREE CHAMPAGNE on "Wine Down" Shopping Weekend...December 21st-23rd. Celebrate the season and catch up on your last minute shopping in historic downtown Chandler. You'll find something for everyone as you browse our unique shops!!! Then rest your weary feet at the Bistro and enjoy Christmas Carolers (Saturday 1 to 4 pm), FREE Champagne Tasting and a special holiday menu.

If you are looking for something for that "hard to buy for person", don't miss the Bistro's wine-themed retail items and hand-painted "Holiday Bottles'"- they are a great complement to anyone's holiday décor and good to drink too!

New Year’s Celebration... Once again we'll be hosting a Winemaker's dinner on New Years Eve, with seating between: 3 - 4:30 pm, 5 pm – 6:30 pm and 7-8:30 pm.

Our 3-4:30pm seating will be an "Early Bird" with a special price for you to enjoy our four-course meal with wine pairings! $40 per person. Reservations required.

Our 5–6:30pm seating will allow you to enjoy live jazz with John Shea in an intimate environment, with a 4-course meal with wine pairings! $55 per person. Reservations required.

Our 7-830pm seating will include live jazz with John Shea in an intimate environment, with a 5-course meal with wine pairings! $65 per person. Reservations required.

Our chef will be preparing these very special New Year's Eve dinners, for all and our winemaker will be pairing our award-winning Kokopelli wines with each course.

Join us every Friday and Saturday night for our "Kool Jamz" dinners with live music from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.

November Entertainment Schedule:

Fri Nov 9 John Shea Duo
Sat Nov 10 Freddie Duran solo guitar

Fri Nov 16 Jimmy McElroy and Stan Devereaux
Sat Nov 17 John Shea Duo

Fri Nov 23 Jimmy McElroy and Stan Devereaux
Sat Nov 24 Jazzola Trio

Fri Nov 30 String Theory

December Entertainment Schedule:

Sat Dec 1 String Theory

Fri Dec 7 Jimmy McElroy and Stan Devereaux
Sat Dec 8 John Shea Trio

Fri Dec 14 Sentimental Journey -trio from Glendale, Peoria
Sat Dec 15 Sentimental Journey- trio from Glendale, Peoria

Fri Dec 21 Jimmy McElroy and Stan Devereaux
Sat Dec 22 Sentimental Journey from 1-4 John Shea trio at night

Fri Dec 28 Jimmy McElroy and Stan Devereaux
Sat Dec 29 John Shea duo
Monday Dec 31 - New Year's Eve - John Shea

NEW Happy Hour at the Bistro

We are happy to announce that on Thursday we will be hosting a Happy Hour from 3 pm to 7 pm with 1/2 price appetizers and 1/2 price glasses of wine at the bar or on the patio.

Bistro@Kokopelli Winery

Monday to Wednesday - 11:30 am to 6 pm
Thursday - Saturday - 11:30 am to 10 pm
Sunday - 11:30 am to 5 pm

Tutto Bene: NEW HOURS

WEEKDAY LUNCH 10:30 am to 2:30 pm
CLOSED SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
Call 480-443-4524 for reservations & information

We love having festivals at the Winery and thinking up fun & interesting ways to showcase our wines. That's really what it's all about - making wine approachable and part of an enjoyable experience. We believe that wine goes with any food - whether it is wild game, Thanksgiving turkey, or a delicate salmon salad. That's what our festivals and events are all about.

We are happy to announce that we are going to make this experience more easily accessible to folks living in the North West part of the valley. Coming in the New Year, there will be a new Kokopelli Winery and Bistro to serve you in Surprise, Arizona.

This 5,175 square foot space, when complete, will have an exhibition kitchen that can offer a full menu, a 164-seat restaurant, a private dining room for parties of 12, a full winery production facility and private tasting room.

We are partnering with Bobby Freeman, an executive with the Arizona Diamondbacks (and their organist) in this facility and for the first Bobby Freeman's "Rally Chants" sports entertainment venue, which will be right next door to the Bistro. Rally Chants will offer upscale dining with regular live entertainment and a full bar, plus all of your favorite sports on multiple flat panel screens.

Between the two restaurants is a one-acre outside courtyard where we will be able to host lots of fun festivals, fund-raising events and special parties. We won't stop having our fun festivals in Chandler – we'll just have more on the west side!

We hope to be open early in 2008. I promise, we'll keep you all posted and invite you to the grand opening...

Now, I invite you to sit back and enjoy a Kool refreshing glass of Kokopelli wine.

Your winemaster (the nose), Dennis Minchella.

November 15 - Wild Winemakers Dinner

November 16-18 - Wild Game & Wine Festival

November 22 - Thanksgiving Buffet

December 21-23 -Wine Down Shopping Festival

December 31 - New Years Eve Winemakers dinner celebration

January 25-27 - Italian American Festival

February 8-10 - Days of Wine and Roses

February 14 - Valentine's Day Wine "lovers" dinner

Zinfandel is thought to have originated in Croatia and brought into the US around 1820. It is now the second most planted grape in California and is also grown in Arizona, southern Italy, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In fact, Zinfandel can be grown in the most varied heat regions of any grape.

Zinfandel is styled in so many variations that it is often called the chameleon of wines. You are probably most familiar with the popular white Zinfandels or "pink" wine, but Red Zinfandel is become more and more popular.

Cheaper by the Dozen!!!

Pick up a Frequent Buyer Card and get free wine! Here's how it works. Each time you buy a bottle of Kokopelli Wine at one of the Bistro's (for eat in or to take home), we'll stamp your Frequent Buyer Card. Once you have purchased 12 bottles, the next one will be FREE. (Still wines only)

Mention this newsletter at the Bistro and get a free glass of wine with your Thursday night dinner purchase.