ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥

But when that looked like it was never going to happen, Manning took matters into his own hands and launched his own version of a regional wine festival.

This weekend, his Elgin winery Kief-Joshua Vineyards will host the eighth annual Southeast ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Wine Growers Festival to celebrate all things vino.

“This is the only wine festival in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ that’s held on a vineyard,â€� Manning said, noting that other events around the state, including last weekend’s sixth annual Off the Vine ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Wine Festival in Oro Valley — the closest the Phoenix-based ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Winegrowers Association has come to Southeast ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s verdant wine-growing region — are held in parks.

In fact, some two-thirds of the state’s wine grapes are grown in the Sonoita-Elgin and Willcox regions.

The festival also celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Sonoita-Elgin American Viticulture Area designation, the first in the state. The designation recognizes the region as a unique wine-growing area based on its topography, soil makeup, geography and other factors.

Willcox got the state’s second AVA designation in 2016.

Here’s the 411 on this weekend’s festival.

• When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 2-3.
• Where: Kief-Joshua Vineyards, 370 Elgin Road, Elgin.
• Cost: $30, which includes 10 wine tastings and a souvenir glass. Buy tickets in advance at or at the door.
• Wineries: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Stronghold, Birds and Barrels, Burning Tree, Caduceus, Callaghan, Carlson Creek, Cellar 433, Deep Sky, Golden Rule, Keeling Schaeffer, Kief-Joshua Vineyards, Lightning Ridge, Page Springs, Pillsbury, Rune, Su Vino, Sonoita, Village of Elgin.
• Music lineup: Saturday — 11 a.m. Blaine Long and Rosas Del Ray; 2 p.m. Rythym Jax with Angel Diamond. Sunday — 11 a.m. Cat Daddy and the 12 Barz Blues Band; 2 p.m. Billy Shaw Jr. Band With Caiden Brewer.
• Eats lineup: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s Culinary Graduate/Dante’s Fire and Las Vigas Steak Ranch Mexican Cuisine from Nogales, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.