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Harvest

  • Vintage Report 2007
    An early bud break meant an early harvest; we were finished by mid-October. Sadly, it also meant several days of 80 degree weather, shoots four inches long, and then an Easter freeze which plunged the vineyard to 28 degrees. All the white wine was affected, to a tragic degree. There will be very little Viognier/Roussanne, little Riesling, and it may not even be worth bottling the Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend. Syrah was also heavily affected. The good news is the long dry ripening season was outstanding for Cabernet; small berries, high sugars. These wines will be reminiscent of Calistoga, higher in alcohol than our general practice.
  • Vintage Report 2006
    As this is written (January 2007), I've had the opportunity to both reflect on the vintage past and taste the wines as they have begun to develop. Going into harvest season, the vineyard was in excellent condition. Crop load and canopy management was on target. Weather deteriorated in mid-September and some of the harvest conditions were as difficult as I've ever experienced. October in particular was troublesome as cold temperatures and excessive rainfall limited maturities. Despite the above, white wines are turning out surprisingly well. Red wines, however, are questionable and many may end up as second label when released in 2008. So far we have had a mild winter and I look forward to a spring with little winter damage and overall good growing conditions in 2007.
  • Vintage Report 2005
    2005 in the vineyard was a vintage of extremes. Unlike 2004 where moisture, heat and humidity were well distributed, it seemed like the heat and humidity would never end. Rainfall came either not at all or in a deluge. Fortunately, harvest turned out mostly dry with only the Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot caught by rain at the end of October. In the winery, most of the fruit came in low in acid and high in sugar. Adjustments were made and fermentations, though quirky, finished well. Overall, the wines show good promise, and for some, 2005 may prove to be the best vintage yet.

Photo Album

  • View from the farmhome

« October 2006 | Main | December 2006 »

And Now For Something Completely Different -- The Good News: An Extraordinary November / Kinkead Ridge? or Cheval Blanc?

Some extraordinary things have taken place in November.

-- Kinkead Ridge entered four wines into the American Wine Society International Commercial Competition. Four medals. The 2004 Cabernet Franc was awarded a DOUBLE GOLD, which means every judge awarded it a gold medal. Of 1010 entries, awarded 695 medals, only THREE received this incredible result, and only two were for vinifera wines, the other a Barbera from California.

-- The 2007 Wine Report paperback book by  Tom Stevenson, British editor of the New Sothebys Wine Encyclopedia was released. We did not even have any idea we were in it this year (last year we were recognized as one of the Top 100 Exciting Wine Finds in the World for the 2003 Viognier/Roussanne). The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon was rated #2 on the Top Ten List of Exciting Wines, Atlantic Northeast, which obviously includes New York, Michigan, Indiana, etc.

Last year we were rated #4 on the Up and Coming Producer List for the Atlantic Northeast. The next category up is the strangely named "Fastest Improving", which to me implies possibly your wine was not so good, but it's getting better! :-) We are #2 of the Top Ten on that list. We know that as our young vineyard ages, our wines are improving. I wish they would rename this category.

-- I visited Cleveland for the second time, and was happy to meet with Mike Tomaselli, Sommelier, Vue Restaurant, the Best New Restaurant in Cleveland in 2006. He loved the wines, and will bring them in early December. Chalk up another restaurant that "walks the walk" about supporting local growers, and not just "talks the talk".

-- Melvyn Masters, wine writer, restaurant owner and importer of French wine, tasted our 2004 Cabernet Franc and 2005 Viognier/Roussanne, and promptly ordered a case of each to be delivered to Colorado. His email last week? "I am having a blast with the Kinkead Ridge wines! I have poured them blind to various "experts" and love to watch the results; 'ah yes this is probably the Cheval Blanc 03' "

-- I felt like a rock star at the Hocking College Wine Auction and Gala to benefit the students of the Hocking College Culinary School. Ron has autographed less than 30 bottles of wine in four years... a case of autographed wine auctioned for over $1000!

Crush is over, and Ron has now moved on to racking all the 2005 reds, blending them, washing the barrels, and putting them back to bed for a few months.

When we decided to sell our vinifera vineyard in Oregon and create a new challenge, we looked at the Finger Lakes, Walla Walla Washington, and southern Oregon, as well as southern Ohio. It's hard to know if we would have had the same spectacular results in one of these other locations as we have had on this site.

Life is good.

Your friendly web mistress,
Nancy Bentley
www.KinkeadRidge.com

November 16, 2006 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)