a river renaissance

Ohio River Valley enjoys winemaking renaissance … for a third time

Story By Natalie Walston

Photos By Megan Nadolski

An aerial view of the Kinkead Ridge vineyard in Ripley shows a rough-and-tumble terrain rising above the Ohio River; it’s where wild turkeys run free and where barbed wire fences keep deer from crushing delicate vines and eating prized grapes.

Owners Nancy Bentley and Ron Barrett bought the 125 acres for their homestead and vineyard in 1998.

Prior to that, Bentley had a career as a graphic and Web designer and as a certified chef living in London, California and Oregon. She described herself as a city kid from Staten Island, New York who “never thought she’d own a riding lawn mower.”

Barrett, on the other hand, grew up in Columbus and helped his grandfather farm. In the mid-1970s Barrett, who is an electrical engineer, became involved in the wine industry in Oregon.

“I owned and farmed a 40-acre Pinot Noir vineyard,” he said. But after researching various places to start anew, he realized southern Ohio was often overlooked as a place to grow premium grapes. The unique land 40 miles east of Cincinnati first attracted Barrett, who has a keen interest in geology, and knew the rocky soil, rich with limestone and clay, was perfect to grow vinifera (European variety) grapes. “We know how important the soil is,” said Barrett. “The French are right about that: The soil is the most important.”

In addition to having good soil, the couple said they use a number of techniques to grow better grapes, in turn making better quality wine. For instance, they space their vines closer together to promote vegetative vigor and to maximize the fruit’s intensity.

The History
Beginning in the late 1700s, the land that is now called Kinkead Ridge Estate Vineyard was used as a tobacco farm, but since that time tobacco farming has waned in southern Ohio.

“There were a few tobacco patches left here but the rest of it was hay,” said Bentley, who worked with Barrett to create the v-shaped vineyards on five acres.

But, the area where Kinkead Ridge is located was once populated with vineyards before tobacco became a popular crop in southern Ohio.

In the book “The Wines of America,” author Leon D. Adams states that in 1859 Ohio was America’s premium wine state, producing almost 570,000 gallons a year – 200,000 gallons came from Brown County, where Kinkead Ridge is now located.

At that time there were 3,000 acres of vines along the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Ripley. But soon fungal diseases such as black rot and powdery mildew took their toll, and many of the vines began to die. (Modern growers avoid such diseases by using wire to keep plants off the ground.)

Adams wrote that while vines in southern Ohio were dying, the wine industry was growing along the shores of Lake Erie. In the 1940s there was a brief grape-growing renaissance near Cincinnati after Henry Sonneman purchased a grape juice plant. Sonneman’s son began growing grapes for wine in the 1960s, but he left to start vineyards at Lake Erie. Market forces drove farmers in the area to other crops, and tobacco became king.

But now there is a third renaissance in grape growing along the Ohio River.In addition to the vineyards, Barrett and Bentley have built a small winery in Ripley, where people can come and sample the fruits of their labor.

The couple has also convinced others to start growing their own grapes and build wineries. Some of the other people getting into the wine business are former tobacco growers.

Changing Times
Seth Meranda grew up on a tobacco farm and, after graduating from Ohio State University in 1994, planned to continue to grow the crop as his livelihood at his great-grandfather’s farm. He said he didn’t foresee the demise of the tobacco industry in southern Ohio.

“Around 1998 I saw the writing on the wall,” Meranda said. “Free trade and cheap imports led to the demise of the industry here.”

Seth and his wife, Tina, looked for an alternative crop to replace the tobacco.

“We knew the history of the land, and figured we’d try, too, to bring back the wine industry for the third time,” he said.

In 2003 the Meranda Family Vineyards was born on five and a half acres of land, with the first bottles of wine to be produced in 2007. The Merandas sold last year’s crop of grapes to Kinkead Ridge for their River Village Cellars’ Traminette wine. The couple is also building a winery on their property, adding to a growing list of wineries in the Ohio River Valley region.

Overcoming Stereotypes
Marketing wines from the region has not been easy because many expect Ohio wines to be fruity or sweet, such as wines from grapes grown near Lake Erie. While those wines appeal to some, others prefer drier wines. Barrett and Bentley wanted to make ultra-premium wine. “We got tired of people saying you can’t grow premium grapes.”

On top of many international awards, Kinkead Ridge recently beat a French wine in a blind taste test sponsored by Ohio Grape Industries, a program started by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

Now orders for Kinkead Ridge wines are coming in from many places, from fine restaurants to wine shops and specialty stores. Prices range from $8 to $20 a bottle.

Dave Bihn, owner of Grapes of Mirth in the North Market in Columbus, has been selling Kinkead Ridge label wine for about two years. He said he is always educating his customers about Ohio wines.

“There has been a tendency for many if not most customers to think Ohio wines are sweeter than what they like,” he said, adding that most people are surprised when they get a taste test.

“They expect the wine not to be in a class with equally priced wines from the West Coast. But Kinkead is doing everything they are.”

International connoisseurs are not overlooking the couple’s wine. Bentley and Barrett are proud of a long list of awards given to the Kinkead Ridge label.

“Our 2003 Viognier/Roussanne was rated one of the top 100 Most Exciting Wine Finds in the world in the 2006 Wine Report by Tom Stephenson,” Bentley said. The 2004 version of that wine also beat a French wine in the Ohio Wine Challenge this year.

Beyond that, Kinkead Ridge has been featured on the Web site of English wine writer Andrew Jones.

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