Winery Week: Kinkead Ridge

I never hide how much I love our local vineyards. We always try to put in appearances several times over the course of a summer. When the wineries opened this year on Memorial Day weekend, we were there. Of course, we chose to go on a rainy Monday, but that was alright. Even the rain couldn’t dampen the fun.

Our first stop was Kinkead Ridge in Ripley. If you haven’t been to Kinkead Ridge, the winery is in a little house on a residential street. The first time we went, we thought we were at the wrong place. Then you walk in and you see barrels and tanks everywhere. And people. The winery always seems to be filled with happy people mingling, tasting, and enjoying the wine.

This year they were able to release a bunch of new whites, including a Riesling, Traminette, Viognier-Roussanne, and the Revelation blend. Since their whites are actually my favorites, I was excited to try them. We were also lucky enough to get to taste the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from the tank, and even two 2008 reds from the barrel.

I thought I’d taken better notes. When I sat down to write them up, I realized they’re terrible. So my apologies on that. The best endorsement of all, of course, is what we went home with: 3 bottles of Viognier-Roussanne, 3 bottles of Revelation White, and 2 bottles of the River Village Cellars Traminette. We’re thrilled enough with these that Kevin is taking a bottle of Revelation White and a bottle of the Viognier-Roussanne to the Wine Bloggers Conference with him in July.

Ron Barrett, the winemaker, creates what the grapes tell him to make. These releases are slightly higher in alcohol than you might expect. I heard that from several local winemakers this year though. The wines are balanced, however, so the alcohol will sneak up on you, as opposed to banging you on your head.

My absolute favorite of the Kinkead Ridge wines is the Viognier-Roussanne. The 2008 is 14.8% AbV, which means that I’ll happily drink an entire bottle and then probably happily fall down. I am usually fairly sensitive to high-alcohol wines, but this one isn’t hot at all. Ron may have contended with high alcohol, but he dealt with it superbly.

After the jump are the few notes I managed to scribble down. Did I mention how poor my notes were this time?

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