June 2009

Two Kinkead Ridge wines win Gold and Double Gold at Appellation America's Best of Appellation... tasting notes should be published soon.

2008 Revelation: Gold Medal
2008 Riesling: Double Gold Medal

A great time had by all at the Dayton Fleurs et Vin Festival. I spent three hours next to Tony Coturri, owner and winemaker of Coturri Wines in Napa. Here we are with him and his distributor representative, Cory.

Tony Coturri, Nancy Bentley, Cory

The white wines were incredibly well received at a Taste of Duveneck. The buzz started early about the Viognier/Roussanne and Revelation. This always happens at festivals... someone tastes the wine and then we get a lot of guests who come up saying... "My friend told me to taste....."

Here are a couple of photos of the really nice volunteers who poured the wine. One originally from Russia who is the Art Museum librarian, one who spends time in Namibia, one whose aunt was a typesetter years ago like I was, and the lovely lady with friends who promised to visit the winery! Click any photo to enlarge it. For anyone who liked the Revelation Bordeaux blend reading this, get it now. This wine will probably be gone in two months. We only made 150 cases of it. 100 wholesale customers, plus selling at the winery. Do the math! And the winegrower Ron, thinks this is the best white wine of the vintage. My personal favorite is the Viognier/Roussanne.

First reviews of the 2008 whites!
http://dogswine.blogspot.com/2009/05/kinkead-ridge-2008-white-wines.html

From Mike Rosenberg, thenakedvine.net

Kinkead Ridge 2008 River Village Cellars Traminette -- Traminette is a hybrid of Gewurztraminer, and a friend of Ron's said that she had a couple of tons available for sale. He picked them up and, unfortunately, found that some of the grapes had already begun to raisinate. He cobbled together an interesting, semi-sweet, eminently drinkable wine from the ton and a half he was able to use. Plenty of traditional gewürztraminer pepperiness to be found therein, lots of floral notes, and a surprisingly fresh finish. For about $10, a very nice sipping wine or a nice pairing for spicy Asian cuisine.

Kinkead Ridge 2008 Riesling -- My personal favorite of the four whites that we tried. Reminiscent of a German spatlese to me -- slightly sweet (1.2% residual sugar -- or at least that was Ron's self-described "SWAG" -- short for scientific wild-ass guess...) but full of really pleasant apple and pear flavors. Crisp acidity on the finish and a lasting fruit flavor that begs for some roast pork loin or a meat and cheese tray. A very flexible wine for all seasons. $14.

Kinkead Ridge 2008 White Revelation -- One of the flagship white wines of Kinkead Ridge, the blend on this white cuvee changes every year. This year, it's largely Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, with a hodgdpodge of other grapes thrown in for good measure. The wine certainly reflects the character of the grapes -- and it drinks very much like a decent white Bordeaux. Acidic and minerally from front to back, it's a nice accompaniment for anything from salads to grilled chicken. Great summer wine. $14.

Kinkead Ridge 2008 Viognier/Roussanne -- Of the four, this one was probably my least favorite on its face, because I think it's still a little too young. That's not to say it was bad -- far from it. One of the customers had brought in a bottle of the 2006 Viognier/Roussane, and the difference was remarkable. This one needs a little time in the bottle, maybe even a couple more months, for the flavors to marry and balance and for the slight oiliness of the Viognier to die down, but the backbone of tropical fruits and aromatics were certainly there. Pick up a bottle and stash it until fall. Then have it with some grilled fish. You'll thank me. $16.
 

From Andrew Hall, wine blogger from Columbus:

2008 Revelation White. Predominantly Sauvignon Blanc, this was the clear winner in the 2008 white line-up. Crisp mineral and herbal nose with nice persistence. Good lines and cut. Nice intensity of the acidity and mineral. Nice integration which carries its 14%abv well. A revisit showed an elegant side to this wine. Very good, best white Revelation I’ve had. Wide open for business as well.
 

From Michelle, wine-girl.net

My absolute favorite of the Kinkead Ridge wines is the Viognier-Roussanne. The 2008 is 14.8% AbV, which means that I'll happily drink an entire bottle and then probably happily fall down. I am usually fairly sensitive to high-alcohol wines, but this one isn't hot at all. Ron may have contended with high alcohol, but he dealt with it superbly.

After the jump are the few notes I managed to scribble down. Did I mention how poor my notes were this time?

Cabernet Sauvignon 2007: Sampled from the tank, bottled last week, to be released on Labor Day. This was pretty tasty. It had nice flavors of cherry with acid on the finish. Well-balanced.

Cabernet Sauvignon 2008: Has one more year in the barrel. This is a fruit forward wine with a lot of complexity and structure. It's got a real full mouthfeel.

Cabernet Franc 2008: Has one more year in the barrel. I didn't like this one at all at the first taste. A few minutes later I realized my glass was empty. It definitely grew on me. It was peppery and big at first, but it seemed to settle down as it got used to my glass, sort of like a happy puppy when you first come home. This wine had an amazing jewel-tone color. I look forward to tasting it in a year.

2008 River Village Cellars Traminette, Rock Springs Vineyard: Ron bought these grapes from a local vintner who is just getting started. We'd already purchased two bottles when Ron informed us that the grapes weren't in the best condition when he got them. Once again proving his abilities, he made a heck of a wine. Traminette is a white grape - French-American hybrid. If you like sweeter wines, or what I call summer porch wines, you'll enjoy Traminette.

2008 Revelation White: This is a blend of a little bit of everything. It's another fresh, light white but what caused us to buy several bottles is the spice. There's a little bit of Semillon in there, and I think it is adding a light spicy finish to the wine.

 

Andrew Hall (http://oinosnervosa.blogspot.com) matched Ohio wines against comparable wines from around the world in a blind taste test. Our River Village Cellars Syrah bested Cycle Buff Beauties, a Syrah/Malbec blend and was a 6-1 winner and "it was clear it would be better with food than the Aussie." Our Revelation bested the Michel Rolland Close de la Siete.

The 2006 River Village Cellars Cabernet Franc won a Silver Medal at the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition, March 28-29, 2009. Excellent, considering this was a very difficult cold wet vintage resulting in a lighter bodied wine. We did not enter the Revelation or Syrah as they were sold out.

Click here for a one page summary of our 2009 releases

2001 KINKEAD RIDGE CABERNET FRANC "BEST VALUE"
A small group from the Cincinnati Chapter of the American Wine Society recently blind tasted eight Cabernet Francs from France, California, and North Carolina.

In a field of eight wines, the 2001 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Franc was voted "BEST VALUE" against six wines from France and California, and a Biltmore Reserve.

It finished in the top three for "BEST QUALITY" behind two Napas, priced at $40 each. Thea Teich, who relayed this information to me, said it was fascinating because it was one of the oldest wines and it really held up, while the one from France just died. Plus it was right up there with wines 2 or 3 times the price.
Here is the lineup. This result should inspire confidence in buying Kinkead Ridge red wines and setting them aside in the cellar. This wine is eight years old!

The winery is closed until Memorial Day 2009 (May 23 and May 25) when we will release the 2008 white wine.

Our award winning wines are available in fine wine stores and restaurants throughout Ohio. Contact us for a list and for information about shipping out of state.

Kinkead Ridge written up in Trip Magazine: Song of the Vine. Click here.

Kinkead Ridge 2005 Syrah rated on the Most Exciting and Unusual Finds list, Atlantic Northeast Region, Tom Stevenson, British Wine Editor of the 2009 Wine Report. "Ohio Syrah? Yes! Former Oregon grower Ron Barrett keeps proving the viability of the limestone soils along the Ohio River."

We are often asked about food and wine pairings. This is a great site to browse, Natalie MacLean's Food Matcher.

On the verge of picking Roussanne, I came across a great article about this Rhone variety by Patrick Comiskey: "...the single white Rhone variety that has winemakers losing sleep, the one that lures them with its promise and its complexity, just as surely as Ulysses was lured to the rock by the Sirens, is Roussanne... the vine is designed to give winemakers a lifetime of mystery... " Click here to read the article.

Another vintage review:

"We were at a party at a friend's house and we had given a bottle of the 2004 Cabernet Franc to them two years ago. We found out their were not wine drinkers and they still had the bottle. Of course I talked them into opening the bottle. It was superbly smooth and fantastic to the taste and all the other guests that sampled said that this was the best wine they had ever tasted! They asked me where they can get some and I told them that it is all sold out and the only places would be an auction or E-Bay. Looking forward to the 2007 reds."

Those of you lucky enough to have our older wines in your cellar might appreciate this August 2008 review of the 2004 white Revelation:

From Jim Stutzman, Virginia:
"I was dazzled the other day. A bottle of your 2004 Revelation had wandered off to the wine cellar netherlands. When I found it, I chilled it down a bit for lunch, and when I tried it - WOW! - Very impressive."
 

Kinkead Ridge 2004 Cabernet Franc rated one of the Top 100 Exciting Wine Finds, international list compiled by Tom Stevenson, British editor of the New Sothebys Wine Encyclopedia and publisher of the paperback Wine Report 2008. "Succulent, intensely flavored fruit, ripe, supple tannins, and a truckload of flavors--from cherries, cassis, chocolate, and cream, to vanilla and coconut."--Sandra Silfven, Atlantic Northeast editor of the 2008 Wine Report "This shows what promise there is in Ohio." --Tom Stevenson

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

 

   Words on Wine: 
 

Famous quotes throughout history about wine. Click here.
___

You are riding on a beautiful white horse.
On your left side is a drop off.
On your right side are several ostriches being chased by a lion.
In front of you are four large gazelles that won't get out of your way
and you can't seem to overtake them.
Behind you is a stampede of horses.
What must you do to get out of this highly dangerous situation?

* Get your drunk ass off the merry-go-round. *

Funny drinking quotes:

"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel shame. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes and dreams If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
~ Jack Handy