The year 2007 ended up kindly for the Ohio River Valley where a warm and dry Fall blessed the vines whose fruit survived the frosts and stresses of the Spring. Red wines were particularly blessed and the grapes produced wines across Ohio with beautifully ripe fruit. Red wines from structured grapes like Cabernet tend to spend about a year in barrel and are often released 18-24 months after the harvest. Labor Day, with harvest about a month away, has been a traditional day for open house and release parties at the wineries. With the current releases now all on retail, this was a good time to taste and compare the wines from the top three wineries in the Ohio River Valley.
With the help of a local restaurant, all three wines were blind-bagged and poured for myself and three companions. We tasted and re-tasted all of them and compared impressions before revealing the wines. (The only problem, solely mine for pulling the wines from the cellar too early, was all were really too warm.) We re-tasted and compared them again during and after dinner to get an impression of how the wines held up and worked with food.
Before I get to the details, here is the take home point : All three wines were quality not just for Ohio, but on a larger scale. It would be very interesting to throw three Cabernets from more renown regions up against these three wines. If we keep the price points similar, I have confidence that these three wines would not be out of place.
Wine #1 Nice nose of fruit. Developed menthol and mocha with time. Slight sour edge, light body. Nice side view of fruit. A bit tart in a nice way. Good balance. Very smooth finish initially. Time gave oak and imbalance more prominence. Three votes for favorite. Less enjoyed by end of evening with the oak really dominating. [ 2007 Kinkead Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon (USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley) ] 18.99$
Wine #2 Dark, bruised fruit nose. Big and brassy textures. Very broad and sloppy on the palate. Peppery notes and spice.Fighting tannins. Crushed leaves and tea finish. Got very imprecise over time and overly styled. One vote for top from a taster who really like the peppery aspects. Started as most complex wine, but also faltered and treatment aspects took over. [2007 La Vigna Proprietary Red Wine (USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley)] (Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon blend) 23.99$
Wine #3 Oak and sour on the nose. Palate follows, but not dominantingly so. A shaky edge. Light mouthfeel initially, but grows with grip and slashy edge. Definite alcohol heat (needed to be cooler in temp.) Goes a bit glycemic and way primary. More time rounded it out and the wine recoiled into a nicer, more restrained and fruit-centric package. Consensus best wine with the food after about 1.5 hrs open. Held a good bead. [2007 Meranda-Nixon Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Estate (USA, Ohio, Ohio River Valley)] 34.99$
All three wines were of very good quality and the overwhelming consensus was that it was pleasurable to drink any of them. The Kinkead Ridge, most preferred to start with, was also clearly young and not settled. Nancy, from Kinkead Ridge, recommends waiting until at least November to drink this. Absolutely concur. This will be a perfect companion to Thanksgiving dinner.
LaVigna proclaims this red wine to be easily ageable for 20 yrs. I am skeptical. The vineyards themselves as well as the region just doesn’t yet have the track record and self-knowledge to make these predictions. Layering up oak and very ripe fruit isn’t enough and the imprecision of this wine makes me very skeptical. Not to say this wine doesn’t have merit.
I (and one of my companions) had had the Meranda-Nixon the night before as well. This bottle was way more primary and alcohol-apparent than the previous night’s. Time resolved this out to a certain extent, but I suspect the wine being warmer had a lot to do with it. While I am not sure about the higher price on this wine, I am consistently a fan of it (now sold out at the winery.)
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