Kinkead Ridge Vineyard and an Estate Winery Weblog

Musical Interlude

I just came back from Steve Kaumann's Acoustic Kamp in Alcoa Tennessee; I play the banjo, and this is a phenomenal opportunity to take lessons from internationally recognized players. If you are interested in the banjo, the teachers were Bill Keith (who invented Keith tuners), Jens Kruger, Bill Evans and Gary "Biscuit" Davis (three time national banjo champion). I'm as passionate about my banjo as Ron is about the vineyard.

Of course wine is ALWAYS in the picture. The Marysville College campus where the seven day event is held asks you to be discreet about alcohol; so I set up a tasting in the laundry room! Here I am with fellow banjo pickers Mikey from Nome Alaska, and Lauren from Palm Beach Gardens.

Nancy and Mikey with their banjos

While I was gone, the hay was cut on the back ridge. This is the view from the back porch. I thought it was lovely.
And now I'm back in the car delivering and tasting. White Revelation is down to 60 cases from 150. That's almost last call when you have 100 wholesale customers!

Your friendly wine blogger,
Nancy Bentley
Banjo Picker
Owner/Managing Partner Kinkead Ridge

Buzz continues

We are shipping wine to Andrew Stover, CSW. He has two restaurants in Washington DC This is a unique opportunity to get some national recognition. The two wines we are shipping Andrew called "stunning".

Meanwhile, back in the real world. I had 44 cases of wine in the Blazer to go to the Cleveland area. This is pre-ordered wine. People trust us and our quality, they pre-ordered without even tasting the wine! The Blazer was handling like a large boat, so I annoyed a bunch of people when I was driving 40 mph and they had no chance to pass due to the double yellow lines.

Disaster at the Days Inn, my hotel up there. 

After I took my shower, I realized the hot water faucet was broken, and I could not turn it off. So hot water is spewing without rest into the room. The mirrors are so fogged up I couldn't even use the mirror to put makeup on. After an exchange with someone who didn't speak English, constantly using the work "broken" with hand signs, I got to move all my stuff to a new "upgraded" room. Now what is the difference between the room I had and the "upgraded" room. Here it is: a couch; a bottle of complimentary water; a package of microwave popcorn; a complimentary granola bar.

A word to the wise: Order this Revelation blend now if you want it. 90 cases of 150 have been sold. It was released on Memorial Day.

Your friendly wine blogger

Nancy

Owner/Managing Partner, Kinkead Ridge

Glitz and Gloom

Gloom:

Delivered 3 cases of wine to a fine restaurant in downtown Cincinnati. I don't have truck plates. They said to park in the hotel parking lot across the street, $1 after 4 p.m. Unfortunately when I emerged from the parking garage, I was four blocks away from the restaurant. Uphill. 85 degrees. 120 pounds of wine on the dolly. When I finally got in there (and in this restaurant, you then need to transport the wine down two flights of stairs to cellar) they looked at me, and said "Are you OK?" I burst into tears. It was just one of those awful days.

Glitz:

Spent 3 hours next to Tony Coturri at the Dayton Fleurs et Vin wine festival. He's organic. I told him there is no way we can grow wine organically in Ohio with the fungal disease pressure. I really liked his single barrel Pinot Noir. JT Mayer, a local wine aficionado brought over Meeker to taste our Viognier Roussanne. He wandered away with the glass, so I didn't get any feedback. Then I was at Sher-Blis in Columbus and ran into Karen Culler Also a small producer from Napa who grew up in Mansfield Ohio. She's been written up in the Wine Spectator; the same magazine that has told me that they don't cover small wineries. Her production is about the same as ours. The translation is the Wine Spectator doesn't cover small wineries unless they are from Europe, California or New York. Is it possible Culler doesn't have a web site? Couldn't fine one.

Here I am with Tony Coturri and his distributor, Cory.

Fantastic review of the samples I sent to Oya in Washington DC. From their sommelier andrew@chiefwino.com

"Tasted the wines today with Paul Roberts of Deep Creek Cellars in Maryland. Needless to say our jaws were on the ground. Both the Viognier/Roussanne and the Revelation White are stunning wines.

I was very impressed with the Viognier because too often wineries just dont get it right. Its either way too fruity with a little residual sugar left on the wine or they've picked the grapes too early and you end up with a Sauvignon Blanc-like wine.

Kudos to you and your team for making wines that should make Ohio proud not to mention such great examples of what regional wine in this country can really be."

We treated our employees to tickets for Fleurs et Vin in Dayton. Someone said "Oh I saw your posse", our four fantastic girls. I'm thinking T-shirt. Kinkead Ridge Posse. Maybe a Kinkead Ridge bottle of wine with a cowboy hat on top!

Hectic-ness

Our hectic life. We opened the winery for the release of the 2008 white wines on May 23 and May 25. Huge weekend, over 300 people visited on Saturday. Because we hadn't finished bottling, we had to tear it all down and set up the bottling line. Bottled 600 plus cases of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc last Wednesday and Thursday. Then the bottling line is torn down, and the tasting room is set up for the summer. I usually sob after the last bottle comes off the line, it is such a relief.

Here's the happy crew.

Left to right: Ron Barrett, Winegrower, Nancy Bentley, Managing Partner, Gretchen Yaus, champion picker and corker, Judy Carrizalez, Cellarmaster, Ron Hitt, vineyard and winery assistant, Amy Smith, vineyard and winery assistant.

There was an event connected with Chef Jean Robert de Cavel on Sunday night at the fabulous Art Deco Omni Hotel in Cincinnati; Ron told me to bring the "baby", the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon. I was nervous, since it was just bottled; and it's a huge wine needing lots of time in the bottle. It turned out to be the absolute hit of the evening. Jean Robert, his wife Annette, and Chef Sturkey came back for seconds.

Meantime, I am now on the road with the white 2008 wines. Everyone loves them. Case orders.

There was a little story though at a wine shop. I came in when David Shiverick (of Langdon-Shiverick, importers) was there. Well, sometimes you just get off on the wrong foot with someone. He held up a Riesling, and asked if I wanted to taste it, and said "It's 9%". I assume he's talking about residual sugar. I say: "Oh, I've only ever had a 9% residual sugar wine, it was a Scuppernong from the south." David: "No, 9% alcohol by volume." So I now look like an idiot. Next exchange. David. "I have a vineyard". Nancy: "Really, where?" David, with no French accent, who lives in LA, names some town I've never heard of. I look blank, assuming it must be some city in California. Long pause. David: "In France." Strike two. Then I realized when I left I had a big run in my black stocking. Looking like white trash.

Good grief. He did taste our Riesling. He said it was a well made wine, so I guess that's nice.

Just a word to those interested. The 2008 Revelation, which is Ron's favorite from the vintage... we only made 150 cases. With over 100 wholesale customers, this wine will be gone in the blink of an eye. Get it now.

The vineyard is now in high maintenance mode, the shoots are going crazy. The staff is lifting catch wires, tucking and tying.

Nancy

Your friendly wine blogger

Owner/Managing Partner, Kinkead Ridge Estate Winery