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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

« July 2007 | Main | October 2007 »

Kinkead Ridge is one of five finalists in the First Annual Wine Spectator Video Contest

Nancyron3 How does it feel to be on the home page of the most visited wine web site on the Internet! Pretty darn thrilling! When I clicked on the link this morning and saw our picture, time stood still for a moment! Five finalists were chosen and the videos may be viewed over the next few days at www.winespectator.com.  My video, "The Romance of the Vineyard" shows the "alternate realities" of the smiley couples photos that appear in the Spectator (Reidels in hand, dog at your feet) versus what vineyard and winery life is REALLY like. Please view our video and vote for us using the star rating below the video. (Currently this doesn't work in the Safari browser, but does in Internet Explorer and Firefox... they're working on it.) The photo on the home page was taken by Megan Nadolski, www.megannadolski.com.

Your friendly web mistress and blog queen,
Nancy Bentley
Owner/Managing Partner, Kinkead Ridge Estate Winery

September 25, 2007 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Cost of Frost

It seems strange to be in a weather pattern with 90 degree days and think about frost. Around Easter, we had very hot weather and budbreak with shoots up to 4 inches long... followed by a plunge to 21 degrees. This decimated the Syrah, the Sauvignon Blanc, the Viognier and the Roussanne. As an example, this year we picked 164 pounds of Viognier; last year it was 7000+ pounds. This translates to decimated wine inventories for 2007 white wine. (Buy the 2006 whites now folks!) It also translates to difficult winemaking decisions; you must have enough gallons of a white wine to cold stabilize it. So the weird choices are: A) (1) Make 100% Riesling (2) Make white revelation which would be a blend of Viognier, Roussanne, Sauvignon Blanc and the miscellaneous whites from the experimental block. B) (1) Make a blend of Viognier/Roussanne in which most of it's Roussanne (almost 90%); (2) Blend 23% miscellaneous including Sauvignon Blanc into the Riesling. Sauvignon Blanc being such a strange beast, I don't really want to see it blended with anything but Semillon; but needing to get the liquid volume up, we may be forced to make some strange decisions this year. What would YOU do! The Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, all high in sugar due to the dry weather, remain on the vine, awaiting harvest.

Kind words from wine bloggers Chuck and Ann Boucher on Kinkead Ridge wine: "Rest assured, the quality at Kinkead Ridge is very high, and I would argue represents the best in Ohio and possibly the eastern US.  I would also add that yes indeed their terroir is worth expressing!  A good sniff and a quick taste will prove that to anyone.  The important thing to me is that these are not wines of ego, rather they are clearly wines of place.  Ron and Nancy have worked hard to clearly express the virtues of their vineyard, and have given the wine drinking public something rare indeed…  an entirely new wine region, with its own unique combination of flavors and aromas.  To me this is exactly what fine wine is all about." Click here to read this stunning review.
--Chuck and Ann Boucher, Serendipity Wine Shop, Columbus

There are two new Youtube videos showing the Roussanne harvest and crush, respectively two and three minutes long. Here they are:

September 24, 2007 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

I've Been Everywhere Man...

You all may remember the Johnny Cash song: "I've been everywhere, man; I've been everywhere... I've been to: Boston, Charleston, Dayton, Louisiana, Washington, Houston, Kingston, Texarkana, Monterey, Ferridey, Santa Fe, Tallapoosa, Glen Rock, Black Rock, Little Rock, Oskaloosa, Tennessee, Tinnesay, Chicopee, Spirit Lake, Grand Lake, Devils Lake, Crater Lake" etc.

Well, we released our 2005 red vintage Labor Day weekend, and I'm "on the road again."  Georgetown, Cincinnati,  Dayton, Wilmot, Cleveland, Chagrin Falls, Akron, Mainville, Moscow, Springboro, Ripley. Saturday open the winery. Saturday night, Gourmet Sensation, a very upscale event with extraordinary national and international chefs. Upcoming this week: Columbus, New Albany, Dayton, Springfield, Tipp City, Troy, Yellow Springs, and more.

And oh yes, harvest begins on Wednesday (Riesling).

Pbs3We had a film crew from PBS Sacramento film us for five hours for a nationally syndicated program called "America's Heartland." We're written up in national Wines and Vines magazine by Mark Fisher, Dayton Daily News wine blogger. I won a prize from the Wine Spectator video contest (50 prizes out of many entries). The finalist videos will be shown on their web site starting September 22. Please vote for us if we are a finalist! The concept of this video was the "smiley" photos in the vineyard, Riedels in hand, dogs at our feet, vs. "what REALLY happens."

The 2007 vintage: Viognier, Roussanne and Syrah got frosted badly. The good news it has been very dry, the Cabernet Sauvignon berries are small, and it could be an outstanding vintage for Cabernet!

Your friendly web mistress,
Nancy
Owner/Managing Partner, Kinkead Ridge Winery





September 10, 2007 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)