Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/105989
Reds Smith-Berry Vineyard and Winery (New Castle): Flat Rock Red ($15.99) Johnson: "I smell poached pear, white norals, honeysuckle. I taste citrus, a hint of almond. Little peachy, apricot-y. It's fruity but very dry, not very sweet. Orange and peach. The acid level's pretty high so it's really lively on the palate. I don't carry these wines right now but I probably should. Good winemaker." Mayhew: "A little nectar taste to it. It's varietally correct; it tastes and smells like it should." Lovers Leap Vineyards and Winery (Lawrenceburg): Riesling ($13.79) Mayhew: "The nose is closed. It should have strong aromatics but they're subdued, muted. You can still smell something but you've really got to seek it out — a little bit of apple but it's really faint. A little more fruitiness, a little more residual sugar, would make it more appealing." Johnson: "It does have some of the classic Riesling characteristics: lemon-lime, apple. There's a little seltzer-y quality on the mnish. Given the closed aroma and awkward mnish, I'm not a fan." Perrine: "Very dry. It almost dries your mouth out. I would probably make a wine cocktail out of it. Just dump it in a big pitcher of lemonade and just go for it. Maybe sangría. In my career of almost 50 years of bartending, there really aren't too many beers, wines or spirits I haven't come across that I can't do something with." Perrine: "Very jammy, plummy, strawberry, blackberry. I can actually smell the sugar. It's sweet and sort of fun." Johnson: "Grape jam, cherry. A lot of blackberry on the palate. Some red plum. Very high residual sugar. I'll be honest: We carry about a dozen of their other wines — Smith-Berry makes some really good dry reds and some good dry whites, too — but we sell more Flat Rock Red than any of their other wines. People like sweet wines." Mayhew: "The mrst thing in my mind is it's a wine for the masses — not Mass — but for anyone's palate. It's well-made." Horseshoe Bend Vineyards (Willisburg): Backhand Shoalin Four Finger Jester Style Cabernet Franc ($13.99) Perrine: "Something's off. But it has a nice cherry aftertaste. If you let it sit out, let it open up for an hour or two, it might get better." Johnson: "Smells a little like sulfur dioxide, like a match. A little red plum on the palate, some peppery navor. I can feel it lingering on the tongue. Some earthiness, raspberry. Cab Franc has a hard time ripening, so sometimes it comes across as green or stemmy on the nose. I think it's decent; probably better with food, too. It's just like a Cab Franc, but it comes across that it didn't get ripe enough." Mayhew: "Smells meaty, smoky. It slips on the palate, which means it skips straight to the back. It's demnitely varietally correct, except it's missing my favorite thing, which is a shaved lead pencil smell." MillaNova Winery (Mount Washington): Cabernet Sauvignon ($18.49) Perrine: "It's got a chalky nose. Kind of smells like wet stone, or earthy. Sort of like dirt. Very dry. Plummy. Drinkable." Mayhew: "Earthy, blackberry. Classic Cab navors: mocha, a little oak, a creaminess to it. My favorite red so far." Johnson: "In terms of what I smell and taste, I think it's a good wine. A lot of blackberry on the nose, and I get a lot of black cherry, plum, red currant on the tongue. The mnish is nice and long. It's not a big Cab; it's a medium-weight Cab." Acres of Land Winery (Richmond): Concord ($9.99) Perrine: "Manischewitz. Just like Welch's grape juice. Intensely sweet. This is like somebody took a bad bottle of red wine and just dumped a bunch of sugar in it." Mayhew: "This is the most popular bottle at all of our stores. For New Year's, my parents would take Welch's grape juice and add something sparkling to it. That's basically what this is." Johnson: "Kool-Aid and alcohol." Thoughts on the Kentucky wine industry Mayhew: "The industry is getting there. The quality has gone up over the last several years. And it shows on our shelves. Bottles aren't sitting there like they used to." Perrine: "Over the past 10 years we've gotten so many winemakers. In the future, I think you'll see many of the wineries become vineyards. A lot already have stuff planted; they just have to wait for the product to mature. Like I've said before, the tobacco farmers have state and federal incentives to become vineyards. Plus, these wineries are just fun to go to. You can pack a picnic lunch, do a tasting, buy a couple of bottles, go out on the porch." Johnson: "The industry is in its infancy again. It's almost like a new industry where you have a bunch of companies dive in and mnd out it's hard. You have these waves of growth followed by a weedingout process. The overall trend is up. I just hope they get more experienced as winemakers so they know what varietals will do best in this part of the country because it's more exciting to me to sell Kentucky wines when the grapes are at least from Kentucky, as opposed to being shipped in from elsewhere. A lot of them have tried to do traditional French varietals — Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot — and those are really hard to do here, whereas Vidal Blanc, Norton and Chambourcin can do well." 2.13 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 3 3