A wine making tragedy in Kentucky

[jojabri]

Apparently Acres of Land winery in Richmond, ky has recently been sold to a cattleman who intends to let his cows take over and graze the land. I also read recently that the Ohio valley (and we are in the OV region) is one of the top 5 fastest growing US vineyard areas.

Cows wrecking lovely established rows of wine grapes.. WTF!?!?!

If nothing else I would love to be able to contact the buyer and ask to do a small pick on harvesting. Perhaps even to be able to get a starter off off their grapes.

Its just a shameful waste to let cows wreck through such a beautiful established vineyard.

I hear that the owner s are a-wholez, so contacting them may be tricky.

How would you go about it.? Also are there any other people in this area who might be interested in helping or picking if at all possible?

If the owner is willing, I totally have plans on doing a weekend crush and renting equipment.

Seriously.... cows..... its a crime!

 

[Runningwolf]

Is it? If it was profitable, growing decent grapes someone would have probably bought it and kept it going.

On the other hand, the reviews online were good. Their Facebook page focused more on the food than the wine though. I guess the cattleman had more money then the people maybe wanting to keep the winery going. Kentucky is a growing wine region. Maybe the new guy will open a nice steak restaurant there.

 

[JohnT]

I am not surprised at all. Keep in mind..

- this is Kentucy, not Boreaux France. It is not a long established wine producing region. Not to say that the wine isn't good, it is just that is does not have a long established reputation that commands a high price.

- If this truly is a fast up-and-coming region, and public demand has not really grown to match the amount produced by all of the start up wineries, then it is very hard to make a "go of it" for a winery. Many start up wineries fold for this very reason (the market in that region has become saturated).

- To make a small fortune in the wine business, you start with a large one. The return on investment of a winery makes it a very bad choice. A large portion of the wineries out there exist mostly because of creative desire of the owners.

- Cattle, considering the price of beef these days, will have considerably higher return on investment than a winery (ever hear the term "Cash Cow").

I agree with you that this is a true shame, but unfortunately, business is business.

 

[jojabri]

Welllll, the rumor is that there may have been some misappropriated funds given by the state for repairs after a fire a few years back. This particular winery has been around since I think about 2006ish.

By looking at the map, it seems rather logical that the cattleman buy the land because it adjoins his grazing property. So, to expand, he'd only have to move fences.

Either way, I think it's a shame.

 

[blueflint]

I hate to see that too, growing and managing a vineyard is a lot of work ... just getting one started even. Also remember, selling a vineyard here in the east is pretty hard. I know of a couple for sale, much cheaper than starting one and they are having no luck selling. The cattleman looked at this as a "land" purchase only, not knowing what he paid I bet he did o.k. Also remember that Kentucky is the largest beef producer east of the Mississippi river.

I have friends that went down to the auction and got some of the furnishings real cheap but one guy overpaid for some of the equipment from what I heard.

All you can do is try, approach them about even removing a few vines or taking cuttings...if you know what you are getting that is.

Good luck.

Tony