Motley Crew!

Update: Friday March 18. The OGIC has written the web designer to remove this link from their site, but you can still comment on the eater.com link below.

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Many emerging wine areas have faced prejudice in their early years; Oregon in the 70s and the North Fork of Long Island (Hargreave) come to mind.

I am somewhat disturbed by this:

A featured link on "Recent News Stories" on the taxpayer funded web site from the Ohio Grape Industries Committee actually has these two sentences below. Feel free to go there and comment! http://eater.com/archives/2011/01/10/ohio-the-birthplace-of-american-winemaking.php

The writer states:

"Ohio may never regain its place as the epicenter of American wine production. It will probably never produce wines that rival California, Oregon, or Washington, ..."

This has clearly been shown to be false. Ohio does produce wines that rival these areas, and European areas.

She goes on to say:

"Of the state's five AVAs, the Ohio River Valley in Southwestern Ohio and the Grand River Valley in the North have emerged as the state's top two growing regions. The Ohio River Valley, Longworth's former stomping ground, stretches along the banks of the Ohio River, creating a dividing line between the humid sub-tropical climate of the South and the humid continental climate of the North. As a result, warm and cool climate varieties—in this case a motley crew of French-American hybrids like Marechal Foch, Baco Noir, Seyval and Vidal Blanc, Catawba, and Chambourcin—can thrive here."

Obviously, we are stunned at the use of the term a "motley crew" of hybrids. The writer is misinformed, and I personally don't believe that this article should be featured on a site which promotes Ohio wineries. I would like to see it removed, despite the interesting history about Nicholas Longworth.

Southern Ohio has estate vinifera from Kinkead Ridge, estate vinifera from LaVigna, estate vinifera from Meranda-Nixon and estate vinifera from Harmony Hill, all medal winning in international competitions.

I left this comment, and Harmony Hill has also commented on the site.

"Ohio River Valley... a "motley crew" of hybrids? A little more accuracy is due here.

How about Kinkead Ridge with two wines rated in the Top 100 Exciting Wine Finds in the World by Tom Stevenson, British editor of the New Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia.

How about Kinkead Ridge (southern Ohio) and Ravenhurst (central Ohio) the only two wineries featured in Opus Vino, the internationally published wine reference book?

How about estate Petit Manseng and Cabernet Franc from LaVigna Estate Winery, Higginnsport; the estate Bordeaux blend Rhapsody from Harmony Hill, Bethel; the estate reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Meranda-Nixon (Ripley).

Kinkead Ridge also has two wines featured in the upcoming "1000 Great Wines" hardback, also internationally published.

The Kinkead Ridge vineyard planted in 1999 on a southeast facing ridge, draining to the Ohio River, on soil similar to St. Emilion, with a modified continental climate similar to Eastern Europe is producing wines that are internationally and nationally recognized. They ARE producing wines that rival California, and have been praised by people such as Bernard Portet, winemaker, Clos du Val, Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Library TV, international wine writer Andrew Jones, Mel Masters, importer of wine from the Languedoc and others."

 

 

 

Comments

[Meranda Nixon Winery]

Thanks for the post and keep up the great work and great wines.