Kinkead Ridge Vineyard and Estate Winery Weblog

Ron expands the vineyard; how do the posts get in the ground anyway? And... the mouse that roared.

Ron ripped out the fence at the front of the vineyard, and has plans to expand the front section. After a day with the transit, and little bamboo stakes, the post pounder went to work. It's a noisy job. See the video below.

An editor at the Wine Spectator is upset with me about my comments on Mark Fisher's blog, with regard to their ignoring wines from non-coast wineries. I received some email from this editor that I would consider hostile.  This editor should be more upset about the other, much more inflammatory comments, besides mine, on the blog.

We probably never will be able to send wine to the Spectator and expect a fair review. This editor pretty much implied they wish they had known that the finalist video was from us. It may never have seen the light of day if we had put our name on it. I am grateful for the tasting experience; and want to particularly recognize Gloria Frazee of the Wine Spectator, who has been gracious and professional throughout the video contest process. I suppose I'm the mouse that roared.

The winning video was "A Toast to the Little People", Hocus Pocus winery in California. I guess I would have to say... some little people get respect... not all little people; and being from the midwest is an uphill battle as far as the Wine Spectator goes, despite our successful history of growing Pinot Noir in Oregon for over 10 years. This editor actually said: "If a wine is only available at the winery, or is made in tiny quantities, then it doesn't make sense to give it space in a national magazine." And yet, I've seen wineries with 300+ cases of a wine receive a prominent feature.

My response to this was: "I think the Wine Spectator should be interested in what is happening in the wine world beyond where a wine is sold. We have renaissanced this area, several other wineries have started up, and two of our wines have made Tom Stevenson's Top 100 Exciting Wines in the World list; our 2003 Viognier/Roussanne, and our 2004 Cabernet Franc. Our 2004 Cab Franc was one of only two Double Gold medals at AWS last year. Don't you think your readers who migrated to California from other states like Ohio would be interested in what is happening? And that would go for any non-coast state."

Your friendly web mistress and blog queen
Nancy Bentley

Ron expands the vineyard...

The 2005 Petit Verdot has not yet been released; it will be available November 24. The demand for this varietally bottled wine has been so high that Ron has decided to expand the front of the vineyard and plant more of it. A tedious day was spent ripping out posts and fence wire... much to the deer's delight, they can now wander at will in the vineyard. Today we used the transit to set the new fence line. These little bamboo stakes will be replaced with large posts in a day or so.... and of course I will be making another mini-movie for Youtube!

Your friendly web mistress,
Nancy Bentley

Nancy's New York Groove

As a finalist in the Wine Spectator video contest, we won tickets to the New York Wine Experience Grand Tasting, held in the Marriott Marquis hotel on Times Square... an opportunity to taste 250 wines, all rated 90 or above by the Spectator. The first wine I tasted was a 2002 Marques de Grinon, 100% Petit Verdot, retail $40, an interesting comparison to our upcoming $20 2005 Petit Verdot. I ended with some amazing Ausleses, and there was also a group of fantastic vintage Champagnes. The winners of the contest, Amy and Peter, producers of Hocus Pocus Syrah, had a similar scenario to Ron and myself; her Peter and my Ron were overwhelmed with crush and could not attend. So Amy and I toured the floor together.
I came home to find Ron poring over a piece of graph paper, with plans to expand the front of the vineyard!

Here's a little video I made of that dark and stormy outside, but glittery inside, evening. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

kinkead ridge