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March 2009

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!

Wine	Vintage	Location	Price	Quality pts	Best value pts
Biltmore Reserve	2000	North Carolina	$20	0	2
Domaine de la Chantelleuserie Bougeril	2006	Chinon, France	$16	0	0
La Pensees de Palius	2005	Chinon, France	$18	0	0
Dare (Viader)	2005	Napa, California	$40	10	4
Domaine de Noire	2005	Chinon, France	$22	0	2
Titus	2005	Napa, California	$40	5	1
La Jota Vineyard	2000	Napa, California	$65	2	1
Kinkead Ridge	2001	Ohio River Valley	$17	4	11

WINE DINNER

For the Cincinnati followers... Fantastic wine dinner March 18 at Roberto's in Loveland.
Thanks to Chef Bunny, Stephanie, Roberto and the servers for a wonderful evening.
Click any photo to enlarge it.


Our almond cheesecake dessert	Elaine wins the door prize, a jar of Nancy's Cabernet Sauvignon Jelly	Dick Kinkead's friend. Dick is a direct descendant of William Kinkead who settled our road in the 1790s

Chef Bunny and friend Fred from Tennessee	Our group of 30+!

The menu was:

Carpaccio of Sirloin with Olive Oil and Flakes of Manchego Cheese served with 2005 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is impossible to find, it's been sold out at the winery for over a year.

Rich Man's Pasta E Fagioli served with Kinkead Ridge 2006 River Village Cellars Syrah

Brussel Sprouts with Caramelized Shallots and Pancetta served with 2006 Kinked Ridge River Village Cellars Cabernet Franc

Assorted Sorbets

Boeuf Bourgignon served with 2006 Kinkead Ridge Revelation, the top red wine in the 60 entry Ohio Michigan Wine Clash!

Almond Cheesecake with Sour Cream and Blackberries served with Chalet Debonne Ice Wine.

If you haven't eaten at Roberto's in Loveland, you owe yourself a treat; a very international menu, fabulously executed.

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Southern Ohio Wineries Making a Comeback,
featured on Benson Marketing Group Wine News
Click here to download the pdf

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 the March Cincinnati Magazine:
"Kinkead's award-winning wines have convinced the noses and palates of oenophiles worldwde to take notice of the small estate winery in Ripley, Ohio. Theirs are not merely wines that are "good enough," but exciting and complex vintages that stand up to pricier Europeans. I count the 2005 cabernet franc and 2006 viognier roussanne among my favorites. Though the winery is sold out of those vintages, you might get lucky at your favorite wine store."

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

Jan and David Lazarus (Cincinnati) treated a group to a Kinkead Ridge red wine vertical tasting on February 21. Here's what's amazing: If I'm counting correctly, we have released 32 red and white wines since 2001. This table has 15 of them! Syrahs on the left, followed by Cabernet Francs and Cabernet Sauvignon and Revelation blends. The older Syrahs were really nice. The 2001 Cabernet Franc was stunning. The Cabernets, all of them, were showing really well. For descriptions of the older vintages and their medals, please see http://www.KinkeadRidge.com/htm/earlier.htm. For those of you with these older vintages in your cellars... lucky you! And here's my 88 year old mother's take on a "vertical" tasting: "Other than that all bottles are "vertical" does that have another meaning other than the display? Perhaps, a "STAND UP" wine tasting?"

A quote from Loren Sonkin on Mark Squire's bulletin board, regarding the
2008 Ohio/Michigan Wine Challenge:
"The final group was miscellaneous reds. The group’s favorites mirrored mine for this flight. They were the 2006 Kinkead Ridge Revelation Red, the 2006 River Village Syrah, the 2005 South River Karma, and the 2006 Fenn Valley Cabernet Franc. All of these are $15 or less. Mine, and the groups’ favorite came from Kinkead Ridge. They are an Ohio Valley winery just east of Cincinnati and in my opinion making the best red wines in Ohio.
I would easily spend the $15 on the Revelation or around $20 for the Cabernet Sauvignon (which was not in the tasting)."

Kinkead Ridge written up in the Wall Street Journal Wine Column!
Nov. 28, the Ohio River Valley the first entry (that is a photo of our Syrah, and Harmony Hill's logo), featured along with Walla Walla, Napa, Rutherford, and the Finger Lakes!

Neat "Song of the Vine" web site from Cornell University, including rare books, photographs and other artifacts about winemaking and viticulture. 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."

Kinkead Ridge red Revelation wins top prize in red wine category, the first Ohio/Michigan Wine Clash! Click here!

"This event was created as the first consumer-sponsored wine competition to feature only locally grown and produced wines from Ohio and Michigan. Demand for locally-sourced food has grown across all market segments, but wine has not followed this trend due to misperceptions about quality and cost. By linking the competition with the storied football rivalry, this competition highlights the wines of both states in a unique fashion and helps drive consumer demand.

Separate judging events were conducted in Ann Arbor and Columbus with all wines being tasted blind. Judges were a mixture of wine retailers, restaurant proprietors, accredited wine professionals, wine enthusiasts and writers."

In the category of all other dry red wines, most commonly associated with the Meritage style of grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, the winner was 2006 Kinkead Ridge Revelation.

Over 60 wines were tasted. Of the five top category winners, three were from Michigan and two were from Ohio.

“I would consider any of these winning wines to be on a par in quality to their peers from California and elsewhere,” said organizer Andrew Hall, “and at very consumer-friendly prices.”

From the Cincinnati wine blog, www.wine-girl.net: "Both Ohio and Michigan share a centuries-old tradition of viticulture which was wrecked by Prohibition but has re-emerged in recent times. From the Ohio River Valley to the upper shores of Lake Michigan, growers and winemakers are working hard to create unique and quality wines. In light of the growing concerns about the carbon footprint of transported products, this event was created to showcase these local efforts and in the context of one of our storied local rivalry.

Slow Food Columbus sponsored this event as part of a ‘Drink Local’ campaign. The winning wines will be poured at Alana's in Columbus on November 20.

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.

2006 Releases, all medal winners at the American Wine Society International Competition

$14.95	$12.95	$11.95

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."

Brillat Savarin noted two features which distinguish man from beast:
1. Fear of the future.
2. Desire for fermented liquors.

Words on Wine:

Last night, my friend and I were sitting in the living room and I said to her,

"I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids
from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug."

She got up, unplugged the TV, and threw out my wine.

She's such a bitch.

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Famous quotes throughout history about wine. Click here.
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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

Click here for more funny drinking quotes.

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