February 2012

2012 Wine Releases. Click here. Quality is excellent, quantities are small.

Kinkead Ridge 2011 Vintage Report

Every vintage is different. Every winegrowing region has its variable challenges and certainly many growers in California, Oregon and the East Coast were devastated by the weather in 2011. While it was no picnic here, at least we dodged many of the bullets.

For us, the 2011 vintage started out wet, continued wet and stayed relatively cool throughout. As such, we were delayed in ripening, but this is not necessarily bad for early varieties. The cooler temperatures preserve white wine aromas and protect color pigment development in red varieties. Crop load was adequate and was successfully balanced by shoot/cluster thinning in the vineyard. Given dry weather, we were poised for a substantial, moderate alcohol, nuanced vintage. Well, the rain moderated but did not end and cooling temperatures at the end of October limited maturities in late varieties.

So where did we end up? We dropped substantial crop due to rot and ended up with some very well balanced, complex white wines. I actually prefer them to the 2010s. Except for Traminette, all will be Kinkead Ridge (first label).

Probably due to having thicker skins, red wines show deeper initial color than they did in the hot 2010 vintage. Alcohols are more restrained and the flavors more complex and subtle. It's a long road to bottling and release, but I'm confident that both the 2010 and the 2011 vintages will yield some remarkably good Kinkead Ridge wines.

In summary, we have some interesting wine in the pipeline and though I am somewhat disappointed by the quantity, overall the quality of the 2011 vintage may surprise you.

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More international press! Two Kinkead Ridge wines are featured in the recently published "1000 Great Everyday Wines from the World’s Best Wineries" (DK Publishing, 337 pp.; $25). Former Wine Spectator editor Jim Gordon and his team of writers/tasters identify a range of good and affordable wines (which he equates with “the price of an entrée at a good restaurant”) from around the world with character that reflects their origin. France gets the most ink, followed by Italy, Spain, Germany, California and other wine-producing regions.
“The rest of the U.S.,” which is everywhere but the West Coast, gets a mere two pages. Ohio merits a mention of Kinkead Ridge Winery for its Cabernet Franc and Viognier-Roussanne, long lauded by an enthusiastic fan base for their high quality.
Interspersed among the recommended wines are charts on how to read labels, profiles of grape varieties, tips on doing a home tasting, and many other useful tidbits for the wine enthusiast.

For more information about the nine wineries listed, (Chateau LaFayette Reneau, Dr. Konstantin Frank, Gruet Winery, Left Foot Charley, Macari Vineyards, McPherson Cellars, Stone Hill and Wolfer Estate), see http://www.kinkeadridgewinery.typepad.com.

"Among the more than 100 wineries in Ohio, Kinkead Ridge is one of the state's most compelling. Unlike the offerings of many of its peers, Kinkead \wines are never thin or insignificant, but have rich, varietal character and great balance."

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"Why  go for those long distance relationships when you can find love in your own back yard." 

 

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