Recent reviews:

Wine Enthusiast reviews 2008 Viognier/Roussanne: "This fun, flirty Viognier/Roussanne blend starts with lively lemon and citrus aromas and leads into a joyful blend of curvy honey and plucky spice. Fruit and acidity are in good balance. A pretty wine with character." - S.K. (2009-11-12)
# Rating: 87

Loren Sonkin gives the 2007 Cabernet Franc 90 points on cellartracker.com.

"IMO, this is the best winery for red wines in Ohio. And, 2007 was the best vintage in these parts in a long time. Perhaps it truly will be a vintage of the century. I drank this bottle over two nights. $18 Ohio. Ruby in color with some opaque qualities to it. On the first night, it showed plenty of raspberries and some cassis. While these remained, on Day 2, a bit of green tobacco and an underlying earthiness came out. On the palate, this was medium bodied raspberry juice on Day 1, but it put on weight and showed much more complexity on Day 2. Layers of fruit and earth. I think a year or two in the cellar (or at least a couple of hours in a decanter), but this is a quality Cab Franc. It does not have any off green flavors. Want to impress someone with the quality of an Ohio red wine? This is it. And, the price is very reasonable for the quality."

Loren Sonkin, Mark Squires Bulletin Board gives the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon 90 points.

"I think this is one of the best wineries in Ohio and certainly the best for red wines. 2007 was also one of the best vintages in these parts. I served this blind and Jeff thought it was local. Most others found it to be very good although no one pegged it for a Cab. Light ruby in color, clear and bright. The nose has pretty strawberry notes with some cherries. A bit of an herbal note as well. Nice texture. This is a very good red wine. I don't know about "varietal correctness" but it is delicious. For $17 Ohio, I am going to lay down a few. I think it ages well for 5 to 10 years as it got better all night long. (90 pts.)"

All the wine released in 2009 is now sold out at the winery, and the winery is closed until Memorial Day 2010 for the release of a small quantity of white wine. Because of the small quantity of white wine from 2009, the winery will probably not be open this summer. Check back after the Memorial Day release for details.

Angelo Gaja (Italian producer) quote: "The vineyard is a tough school. You learn to distrust appearances; you get used to having your hopes dashed. If the season is bad from the start, you have time to resign yourself. But in years like 1966, everything is fine until the fall, and then rain ruins beautiful grapes."

We had a similar experience this year.
We join the ranks of vineyards throughout the world who have good years and bad years.
The 2009 vintage report (and it's not pretty) is available here.

Guido Rivella, enologist for Gaja:
"You know with good grapes this job is a lot more interesting. You can make two kinds of wine: a good one or a poor one. With poor grapes, there's no suspense."

The manager of Chateau Latour, Lamothe, wrote in 1816: "When Nature fails to provide the ingredients of good wine, man cannot compensate for the deficiency. He will never achieve anything greater than mediocrity."

Guido:
"The wine makers job is a lot like the cook's. Of course, a cook can try things out every day, while we get a crack at it only once a year. And a cook doesn't have to wait years to judge the results, as we sometimes do... In the end, of course, even the greatest chef is no better than the quality of his raw materials. He can cover up defects with a heavy sauce, just as you can mask the shortcomings of a wine with a lot of new oak, or a little residual sugar, but that'll never be great cooking. Like the chef, the wine maker should exalt his ingredients, the characteristics of the grapes he gets in a given year from a given vineyard. My job is to get the best out of the grape."

 

Read what others are saying about Kinkead Ridge in their blogs... http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=kinkead+ridge&btnG=Search+Blogs
 

Click below for access to six regional tours of Ohio wineries. Visitors can download turn-by-turn directions to their : Garmin, TomTom, Smartphone, PDA, iPod or any MP3 player. Also included is a brief description of each winery, along with contact information and hours of operation.

When I wrote the wine label text for this year's releases, I found this HILARIOUS web site to generate silly tasting notes. See http://www.gmon.com/tech/stng.shtml. Scroll to the bottom of the page, select Make a New Note, and generate text like these. Have fun!

Rounded but equally over-oaked Merlot. Forcefully bites you with hair-spray, morally superior slim jims and traces of orange jello. Drink now through 2011.

Ready to drink and overdone Syrah. Essences of prune, acidic monster carrot and scant clay. Drink now through whenever the cows come home.

Intense but lackluster Cabernet. Reminiscent of peach-pit, arcane seedless watermelon and dainty beef. Drink now through 2012.

Creepy and whimsical Rose. Starts with pear, limp bourbon and semi-weak toast. Drink now through April.

Rich and smokey almost unripe Gamay. Detectable toast, middle-aged lime and corpulent juniper. Drink now through never.

Last night, my friend and I were sitting in the living room and I said to her,

"I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug."
 
She got up, unplugged the TV, and threw out my wine.

She's such a bitch.
 

You are riding on a beautiful white horse.
On your left side is a drop off.
On your right side are several ostriches being chased by a lion.
In front of you are four large gazelles that won't get out of your way
and you can't seem to overtake them.
Behind you is a stampede of horses.
What must you do to get out of this highly dangerous situation?

Get your drunk ass off the merry-go-round.

Bottle of Merlot

A man asked a waiter to take a bottle of Merlot to an unusually attractive woman sitting alone at a table in a cozy little restaurant.
So the waiter took the Merlot to the woman and said, 'This is from the gentleman who is seated over there.'.... and indicated the sender with a nod of his head.
She stared at the wine coolly for a few seconds, not looking at the man, then decided to send a reply to him by a note..
The waiter, who was lingering nearby for a response, took the note from her and conveyed it to the gentleman.

The note read: 'For me to accept this bottle, you need to have a Mercedes in your garage, a million dollars in the bank and '7' inches in your pants'.

After reading the note, the man decided to compose one of his own in return. He folded the note, handed it to the waiter and instructed him to deliver it to the lady.

It read:
'Just to let you know things aren't always what they appear to be, I have a Ferrari Maranello, BMW Z8, Mercedes CL600, and a Porsche Turbo in my several garages; I have beautiful homes in Aspen and Miami , and a 10,000 acre ranch in Louisiana . There is over twenty million dollars in my bank account and portfolio. But, not even for a woman as beautiful as you, would I cut off three inches. Just send the bottle back'
 

Funny drinking quotes:

"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel shame. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes and dreams If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
~ Jack Handy