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2005 Petit Verdot
The first Kinkead Ridge wine to be
on allocation. Production: 76 cases.
From HC, Cincinnati:
Incidentally, I drank one of the bottles of your Petit Verdot 2005.
It
was sublime! The
concentration, the fruit nose, and the fine structure
were all wonderful. This is
truly one of the best made wines that I
have drank. I am now letting
my other bottles sit in the cellar for a
little bit - less than a year, because I predict that the wine will get
even better with a little aging - I like to experiment a little.
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SOLD OUT at the winery. Hand-harvested on October 28th, this
intensely-colored dark purple tannic complex wine displays a fragrant nose
with tones of violet and leather. Small-lot fermentations with hand
punch-downs and classic small scale winemaking techniques were used to
create this wine. Aged in premium French and American oak. Enjoy with
beef, lamb, or wild game. Production: 76 cases.
"Upon receiving my allocation of the 2005 Petit Verdot from Kinkead Ridge,
I brought a bottle home to try with my husband. That evening, I gave it to
him blind, as I often do, so as to get his honest reaction. He swirled and
took a good sniff. Over the glass, he raised his oversized eyebrows and
threw a hopeful glance my way. He then took a sip, chewed and slurped the
wine for a moment. 'Very nice. Definitely French,' he announced, 'but I
can't quite place it.' I quickly retorted that it was Petit Verdot from
Kinkead Ridge. He quickly swallowed the remainder of his small sample and
dashed for the bottle. Truth be told, I drank my full glass in a few
moments and followed right behind him, as I wanted another look, as the
wine was quickly opening up. Although we have been strong advocates of
this producer since our founding, we had yet to try any of their Petit
Verdot. We refilled our glasses and also drank the whole bottle in a half
hour, toasting Ron and Nancy in our kitchen with each newly refreshed
glass. I was just dumb-struck how absolutely charming the wine was, with
its fragrant pepper and spice nose, beautiful palate, and a very good
finish." |
Ann Boucher names 2005 Petit Verdot her 2007 Wine
of the Year. "My reasons for this choice and the long introduction are
simple; the wine is very good and by industry standards is completely
unknown. Furthermore, consider that the vineyards are still young and
owners, Ron Barrett and Nancy Bentley, have literally and figuratively
only scratched the surface of their site. Give the high quality I have
observed this far, I do predict big things from Ripley in the future. Chave Hermitage big? Perhaps not, but I think Kinkead Ridge is producing
exciting and novel wines, while at the same time quite literally giving
birth to a new fine wine region. For this alone they merit high praise and
loyal patronage."
A guest at the winery in July from Paris told me
that the Petit Verdot is so prized by French winemakers, that they often
bottle it only for themselves and their families.
Petit Verdot on the
Rise in Bordeaux, click here.
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2005 Cabernet Franc
The 2004 won a DOUBLE GOLD Medal, November 2006
American Wine Society International Commercial Competition, Baltimore
Maryland. The 2004 was rated 91 by Andrew Jones, International Wine
Reviewer.
2004 Cabernet Franc just rated one of the Top 100
Exciting Wines in the World, Tom Stevenson's 2008 Wine Report. Tom is the
British editor of the New Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia.
October 2007 American Wine Society International
Competition, Silver medal, garnered when the wine was extremely young, in
competition only one month after release.
We think maybe the "wine honeymoon" wasn't
over... "Bottle aging is the anaerobic process when the aromas of the
grapes and the aromas and extractives of the oak are married into the
bouquet. Grgich called this process, which takes one to two years, "the
wine honeymoon."
We're releasing our reds only several months after bottling, and this is
why they continue to develop dramatically over time.
From
the Tastings column, Wall Street Journal, Dorothy Gaiter and John
Brecher:
"Give the little guys a chance. It's hard to be a small producer.
Small producers often offer wines with special individuality and
character... these wines are rare."
"Winemakers
aren't what makes wine. Wine makes itself in the vineyard.
We are
just wine-watchers."
Jess Jackson.
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SOLD OUT at the winery. Hand-harvested on October 12th, this complex wine's
fragrant aromas of black cherry and violet precede a rich finish with
chocolate and raspberry overtones. Small-lot fermentations with hand
punch-downs and classic small scale winemaking techniques were used to
create this wine. Enjoy with beef, turkey, pork and salmon. Aged in
premium French and American oak. $17.95. Production: 383 cases.
Mark Fisher, Dayton Daily News Wine Blog on Kinkead
Ridge: Click here...These
are NOT Your Grandma's Ohio Wines!
Unsolicited testimonial from David, Powell, Ohio:
"Your 2005 Cab Franc is delicious. The juicy black
berry/cherry nose and floral accent, with a touch of smoky oak was
surprising! This is an Ohio wine? Then I tasted it... WOW! Top quality!
I love the rich smokiness, pretty fruit, and just the right amount of
spice. Thank you!"
October 2007
David Rose blog posting 'Great red wine from Ohio? I found one!'
"The 2005 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Franc is outstanding! I actually did
a blind tasting and had no idea what I was about to discover. The nose was
brimming with juicy black berry/cherry and floral accents, finishing with
a sweet touch of smoky oak. Then I tasted it... WOW! Top quality! I love
the rich smokiness, delicious fruit, and the right amount of spice".
Click here to read the post.
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"Like all of their wine, the 2005 Cabernet Franc
reflects both the unique attributes of Kinkead Ridge's vineyard site and
the meticulous viticulture practiced therein. The wine offers readily
identifiable varietal characteristics, but taken together its various
features are not directly comparable to any other Cab Franc, old or new
world. It is unique and I think reflective of this up and coming wine
region.
The nose is fragrant, buoyant and bright, somewhere
between Chinon and St. Emilion. There is a prettiness to its bouquet that
I typically associate only with French Cabernet Franc. I'm happy to report
that the promise of the nose is fulfilled on the palate, where bright,
well-expressed fruit and delicate floral notes combine with a subtle hint
of baker's chocolate. There is a nervy, cherry-ish brightness to the
palate, akin to Cru Beaujolais, but with the addition of deeper
flavors. It is old world in style, and if pressed, I would describe it as
an artful combination of equal parts St. Emilion, Chinon, and Cru
Beaujolais. This is a wine for the table and will compliment a wide range
of foods, including the eclectic spread found on the Thanksgiving Table."
--Ann Boucher
Wine making is witchcraft... sometimes the spells work, and
sometimes they don't. There are no recipes." Nancy Bentley, Kinkead
Ridge.
Partner Ron (engineer) has a different perspective... but this is what
it seems like to me!
"Wine has to reflect the place it comes from... otherwise it's just a brand name."
Antinori, creator of Ornellaia, 1998 Wine Spectator Wine of the Year, in the movie
Mondovino.
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2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2004 won a Gold Medal at the
Finger Lakes wine competition. Only 141 Gold Medals were awarded to 2126 entries. Only
15 Cabernet Sauvignon's won a
Gold Medal. Kinkead Ridge won the only gold medal for a vinifera wine
from Ohio.
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Hand-harvested on October
26th, this dark ruby, well structured complex wine displays classic
cabernet aromas of cassis, plum and black cherry. Aged in premium French
and American oak. Small-lot fermentations with hand punch-downs and
classic small scale winemaking techniques were used to create this wine.
Enjoy with beef, lamb, or wild game. $17.95. Production: 344 cases.
From Irv, New York/NY:
I received my wines last week. After letting them
recover from their travels and receiving your e-mail, I decided to open
a bottle of the Kinkead Cabernet Sauvignon. I want to let you know that
it was very good the first night, but even better the next day. (I used
a vacu-vin). I find that the better made wines are able to tolerate or
improve over a few days. The poorly made ones become non-potable. It is
hard to believe that a wine this good at this price point was made in
Ohio. It will be interesting to try it again in a few years.
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Higher alcohol wines should stop! We agree. Read
this fabulous article by Randy Dunn of Dunn Vineyards! Click
here.“It
is time for the average wine consumer, as opposed to tasters, to speak up.
The current fad of higher and higher alcohol wines should stop.”
So begins Randy Dunn, weighing in against the current trend of high
alcohol wines. He joins a growingly concerned chorus of respected industry
and trade voices lamenting the demise of diversity in the wines of
America's most celebrated appellations.
Red Wine Helps Circulation in the Young As Well
as the Old.
Click here
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2005 Syrah
The 2004 was rated 90 by
Andrew Jones, International
Wine Reviewer.
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SOLD OUT at the winery. Hand-harvested on October 19th, this intriguing,
intense and luxurious wine has excellent balance, deep ruby color and
flavors of spice, pepper, plum and blackberry. Small-lot fermentations
with hand punch-downs and classic small scale winemaking techniques were
used to create this wine. Oak-aged. Enjoy with beef, lamb, braised chicken
and wild game. $19.95. Production: 187 cases.
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We are often asked
how long you can cellar our wines. Here's a 2007 Christmas review of the
2001 Syrah:
"I had family over
for Christmas and I wanted a special wine for the occasion. I dug around
in my wine cellar and I found a bottle of 2001 Syrah from Kinkead Ridge. I
was the best I have had. It aged perfectly. The nose had a very light
scent of oak/earthy. The taste up front was fruity (blackberry to current)
with a pleasant amount of astringency. It finished with a wonderful amount
oak/chocolate and even a little vanilla. It was great wine thanks."
--Russ Berry
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2006 Viognier/Roussanne
The 2004 Kinkead Ridge Ohio River Valley
Viognier/Roussanne ($15) bested the
2003 Domaine du Vieux Lazaret
Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, France ($25) in the first-ever Ohio Wine Challenge, in which
wine experts from North America judged Ohio
wines against wines from Europe and
California. Click here
for the press release.
Tom
Stevenson's 2006 Wine Report.
Kinkead Ridge 2003
Viognier/Roussanne named one of the top 100 Exciting New Wines
in the World.
Viognier/Roussanne 2003 Kinkead Ridge, Ohio
(Atlantic Northeast, US $15). Sandra Silfven, wine writer Detroit
Daily News: "Crisp, flinty, bone-dry, palate-coating tropical
flavours. Starkly clean"
From a well-known restauranteur in
Colorado...
"I had chilled down my last two bottles of the Viognier Roussane blend
for a lunch the next day. I had three of my past chefs from Mel's come
to lunch and as usual I served the wines blind and all the guesses
were Northern
Rhone!!
F rom
Loren on Mark Squires Bulletin Board:
2006 Kinkead Ridge Viognier (67%) Roussanne (33%).
12.6% Alc. This is from Ohio. I opened a Cab last month at an Ann
Arbor offline and it showed quite well.
This one knocked my socks off.
Light golden in color, clear and bright. The nose is wonderful.
Floral with nice minerality. Very Rhone in style. Hints of tropical
fruit. Full bodied. On the palate, this is complex with tropical
fruits and citrus and minerals. A nice finish. At $15, I would drink
this over anything from California and in that price range, Europe
too. A real shocker for us. I need to try this again and see if this
was a great bottle or typical. 50+3+14+18+7=92
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SOLD OUT at the winery. GOLD MEDAL, 2007
American Wine Society Competition, October 2007.
A Rhone blend of aristocratic varieties. The
Viognier was hand-harvested on October 6 and the Roussanne on October 9.
This complex and enticing wine has the kiwi and guava aromas of Roussanne
merging with the orange blossom and golden raisin aromas of Viognier. An
excellent, dry wine with fish, shellfish and poultry, or serve as you
would an aperitif. Serve chilled. $14.95. Production: 303 cases.
Bernard
Portet, the founding winemaker of Clos Du Val in the Napa Valley
and of Domaine Nizas in France says this about the 2004
Viognier/Roussanne: "Finally
did I find the opportunity to open up your bottle of Viognier-Roussanne
with a couple of friends and then with John Clews, the VP, Director of
Vineyard and Winery Operations of Clos Du Val. I did like it very much. I
did find it very fragrant but not shouting “Viognier” all over the
place, elegant, with plenty of charm. Balanced and equally elegant and
charming palate. Much of the character of its aroma could be found in its
taste. There was a great balance of fullness, freshness, and good
complexity, along with a good finish. Definitely a very enjoyable wine.
John did concur with the above. Congratulations!"
Jon Christensen (Columbus Dispatch)
reviewed our Viognier/Roussanne
2004 Kinkead Ridge (Ohio River Valley) Viognier-Roussanne
($14.95)
"This remarkable achievement deserves to be compared to the priciest
dry whites from France's Rhone Valley. Its rich hints of apricot and other
stone fruits, minerally crisp finish, food-accompanying versatility and
restrained alcohol put this southern Ohio gem ahead of just about anything
close to its price. "
A wine writer tasted this wine with an
importer and colleagues at the Winds, where they were presenting
their wines from the south of France, including a new
Roussanne-Viognier cuvee. The group was "enormously impressed and
amazed. The wine displayed the kind of balance they are trying to
achieve." |
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Jon Christensen, Columbus Dispatch wine review, July 2007.
"A bargain
southern Rhone-style white blend made from two-thirds viognier and
one-third roussanne, the newest release from the Ohio River Valley
shames countless more-expensive wines that seek what this one
achieves: floral, honeysuckle scents married to a complex minerality
with excellent acid balance and restrained alcohol. It will keep
improving, so buy enough to sit on a few bottles. "
Debra, Cincinnati:
"I have read
about Kinkead Ridge wines in the Wine Spectator and in local
publications for some time. I finally was able to try a bottle of
Viognier/Roussanne. EXCELLENT! We are huge fans of Sonoma wines but
you may have changed that with your delightful vintage. We'll be
repeat purchasers! THANK YOU.
Wine writers of the Wall Street Journal recently encouraged wine
lovers to focus on different varietals than Chardonnay.
Try our Riesling, Viognier/Roussanne, or Revelation for an
eye-opening change.
"When Cheap Chardonnay Is No Bargain"
If you were planning to head to the wine store tonight to pick up a
bottle of American Chardonnay under $20, we have one word of advice:
Don't... Year after year, we have raised our alarms about
inexpensive Chardonnay at a higher and higher and higher pitch.
After a tasting in 2000, we warned that Chardonnay was becoming
predictable, boring and often unpleasant. 'A lot of people are
paying good money for bad wine.' (In 2004), our very first flight
was a warning. We found the wines were dull and lifeless. They
tasted like water with some wood added. Some had a little more sugar
and some had less, but none tasted much like wine made from real
grapes... After that first flight, it struck us that many of these
wines probably weren't better than Two Buck Chuck."
-Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher
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2006 Revelation
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SOLD OUT at the winery. Still available in selected
stores around Ohio. Hand-harvested on September 22, this winegrowers'
blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and small quantities of Chardonnay,
Pinot Blanc and Melon, is crisp, refreshing and aromatic. The wine has
aromas of melon, grapefruit and gooseberry with a mineral finish. This
zesty wine stylistically reflects a French more than a California
character. A classic accompaniment to shellfish, mildly acidic cheeses and
full-flavored cuisine. Serve chilled. $12.95. Production: 125 cases.
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White wine turns up in King
Tutankhamen's tomb! Click
here to read the story
Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher talk about American
Sauvignon Blanc in the Wall Street Journal:
"...many people now consider Sauvignon Blanc a great
summertime wine, and they're right: It's refreshing, good with lighter
food and very easy to enjoy... this grape can be as bright and aromatic as
fresh-mown grass in the sunshine; rich and earthy; dry or a little sweet;
an elegant wine when paired with its traditional blending partner,
Semillon.... In this mix, we believe that some American winemakers are now
creating Sauvignon Blanc that is special, with its own style."
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2006 Riesling
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SOLD OUT at the winery. Still available in selected
stores around Ohio. Hand-harvested on September 27th, apple, rose petal
and honeysuckle notes precede a flinty finish. This racy wine's floral
front palate and sweetness balance its crisp acidity. The grapes were
cold-fermented to preserve aromatic components. Serve chilled with cold
meats, fresh salads, light cheeses, poultry, veal and Asian cuisine.
Residual sugar. 1.2%. 100% Riesling. $11.95. Production: 184 cases.
"Riesling is wine's purest
play. What you find in the vineyard is what you get in your glass.
Everywhere you find Riesling, you can find a truth of place." Matt Kramer
Is Riesling Finally
Chic?
"After years of snubbing by high-octane cabernet drinkers, riesling
is finally experiencing a revival, driven by the industry's top writers (Jancis
Robinson and Hugh Johnson), numerous chefs and restaurateurs, and even
some daring American wine writers like Dan Berger. Younger drinkers who
want to distinguish thems from the BFC crowd will likely be riesling
buyers, and while semi-sweet riesling sells like hot cakes, dry riesling
can appeal to connoisseurs. All of this is a boon to riesling producers in
the east."
Richard Leahy, Vineyard and Winery Management, March/April 2006 |
Matt Kramer, Wine Spectator, on Riesling:
"What's so fascinating about Riesling is not only its range of flavor
expression but also its geographic range of performance. Although
Chardonnay is seemingly grown everywhere, it's too often banal. This is
why winemakers go through so many cellar contortions involving oak, lees
stirring and the like just to give it some personality. Riesling, on the
other hand, delivers characterful goods in an amazing array of location.
What's more, apart from a decision about how much residual sweetness to
leave in, winemakers tend not to do much to Riesling. There's no lees
stirring, no business about medium or heavy toast oak, and little
agonizing over yeasts or enzymes.
Riesling is wine's purest play. What you find in the vineyard is what you
get in your glass. Everywhere you find Riesling, you can find a truth of
place."
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2008 Releases
White wines: May 24
and May 26; Red wines: August 30 and September 1
A frost at Easter decimated the white wine production. Very limited
amounts available.
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2007 Kinkead Ridge Riesling
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Hand-harvested on September
19th, honeysuckle, banana, peach and ripe pear notes precede a flinty
finish. This racy wine's floral front palate and sweetness balance its
crisp acidity. The grapes were cold-fermented to preserve aromatic
components. Serve chilled with cold meats, fresh salads, light cheeses,
poultry, veal and Asian cuisine. Residual sugar 1.2%. 100% Riesling.
Production 38 cases. $11.95 |
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2007 Kinkead Ridge White
Revelation
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A Rhone blend of aristocratic
varieties.
Hand-harvested on September 12 and 21, this winegrower's blend,
predominantly Roussanne, is complex and enticing with guava and kiwi
aromas, layered with stone fruit and raisin notes. An excellent dry wine
with chicken, shellfish and spicy food, or serve as you would an aperitif
wine.Production: 48
cases. $13.95 |
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2006 Kinkead Ridge Red
Revelation
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Hand-harvested on October 11
through October 25, this Bordeaux-style blend has hints of black cherry,
plum and currant which precede a rich, complex finish. The grapes were
cold-soaked, fermented in small bins with hand punch-downs, and aged in
premium oak barrels. 68% Cabernet Sauvignon with 18% Cabernet Franc and
14% Petit Verdot.
Production: 404 cases. $14.95 |
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2006 River Village Cellars
Cabernet Franc
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Hand-harvested on October 11,
this wine displays a harmonious complexity with raspberry overtones and
modest tannins. The grapes were cold-soaked, fermented in small bins with
hand punch-downs, and aged in premium American and French oak barrels. A
fine companion for beef, turkey, pork and richly flavored stews.
Production: 375 cases. $12.95 |
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2006 River Village Cellars Syrah
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Hand-harvested on October 18,
this spicy, intense and luxurious wine has excellent balance and notes of
earth, plum, cloves, black pepper and dark berry. The grapes were
cold-soaked, fermented in small bins, and punched down by hand. Oak-aged.
Excellent with beef, lamb, braised chicken and spicy cuisine.
Production: 179 cases. $10.95 |
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Kinkead
Ridge
Wines
