Don your Derby Hat and head out on the Best KY Wine Trail, to taste the selected Kentucky wines that are qualifying in the 2012 “Derby Trials”.  You’ll have fun picking the BEST wine at each participating winery to compete in the Pre Derby Celebration run off.  You judge the “sure bet” winner at each winery by completing a “Derby Trial” evaluation form for appearance, aromas, and flavor.  The winning wine for each winery will be announced on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Best-KY-Wineries/226175697409412   during Derby week on April 30th.

 $10 a person

Includes tasting at the wineries, discounts on wine and chance to win a special Derby Edition T-shirt

Get a Kick out of these SAVINGS! 

Each winery will be offering:

Pick 6 pick any 6 bottles wine and receive 15% off

Pick 4 pick any 4 bottles wine and receive 10% off

Daily Double pick any 2 bottles wine and receive 5% off.

 Springhill Winery  10:00 am – 5:00 pm                                    

Wildside Winery  1:00 pm – 7:00 pm

 Chuckleberry Winery 11:00 am – 5:00 pm             

Forest Edge Winery  11:00 am – 7:00 pm                               

McIntyre’s Winery  9:00 am – 9:00 pm                           

Broad Run          12:00 pm – 6:00 pm

 Horseshoe Bend  11:30 am – 7:00   

 Prodigy                 11:00 am – 7:00 pm

 Chrisman Mill Winery 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

 Reid’s Livery Winery  Begin at Farmers Market 6:30 am – 1:00 pm and at the winery 2:00 pm – until dark

For more information, visit: http://www.bestkywineries.com/

I found myself rather engrossed in an audio-recording of Stephen King’s, The Tommyknockers, as I passed through downtown Newcastle, Kentucky on my way to Smith-Berry Winery. An inane cognizance of the striking resemblance of this charming community to the novel’s fictionalized picturesque setting of Haven, Maine inadvertently flooded my thoughts and sent a chill down my spine. Quite thankfully, my reservations were quickly dowsed and I exhaled with resolute relief as I passed by the historic Henry County Courthouse. For as the townsfolk of Haven slowly lost their grip on humanity in their continued, ‘becoming,’ the population of Newcastle seemed perfectly sane and grounded in reality.

 Just past Newcastle and down a gravel drive off of Drennon Road lies Smith-Berry Winery. At first glance, one could be forgiven for mistakenly questioning if they had unwittingly pulled into a well-maintained dairy farm as opposed to a winery. In fact, not so terribly long ago the large black barn by the parking lot had housed a milking facility for precisely that sort of operation. Now, however, where the cattle once idly stood for their daily milking now stands a line of gleaming stainless steel tanks. A portable state of the art ozone sanitation system sits atop the pristine concrete floors and the back corner of the transformed structure now houses a modern lab. Dozens of new French and American Oak barrels filled with aging wines sit stacked in an adjacent room of the barn which at one time also housed an art gallery.

 Smith-Berry’s owner and wine maker, Chuck Smith, is by no means a novice in his field. With over a decade of experience making wines in the Commonwealth, Smith could be considered a pioneer and one of only a few seasoned veterans in the Kentucky wine industry.  His wines are beautifully crafted with incredible depth, structure and finesse while at the same time managing to capture the unique Limestone terroir of the region. The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, sourced from a single vineyard in Millersburg, Kentucky, pours a dark garnet and has an enchantingly complex nose of fresh summer berries, clove and just a slight hint of Perique tobacco. The medium bodied wine burst with currant and cherry flavors and has just the right amount of spice imparted from an expert determination of precise time spent in oak.

 Centrally located between I-64 and I-71, Smith-Berry’s winery and tasting room is an easy drive from Louisville, Lexington and Northern Kentucky. This hard working winery is an ideal weekend destination for anyone interested in serious wines in a picturesque setting. It’s not all serious business though; Jennifer Cowden, Smith-Berry’s Marketing/Events Director and general Jack-of-all-trades, couldn’t be friendlier. Despite her hectic schedule, she explains the wines with the fervor and apparent pleasure of someone who is truly passionate about her work and realizes that she’s part of something very special indeed.

http://smithberrywinery.com/ 

As the Extensions Specialist in Enology at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Tom Cottrell consults and aids numerous wineries within the Commonwealth to ensure that the Bluegrass State produces good, consistent wines. He began his wine career in Napa Valley, founding Cuvaison in 1970 and then co-founding Pine Ridge Winery in 1979.

 In 1982, Cottrell became Cornell University’s first Associate Professor of Enology. He is a member of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture, serving as Secretary of the Eastern Section in the 1980’s and, more recently, as Director. In addition to Kentucky wineries, Dr. Cottrell continues to consult wineries in the Finger Lakes, on Long Island, in Pennsylvania and other parts of the East, Midwest and South.

 For anyone who makes wine, wants to make wine or is just a curious oenophile who’s ever wondered how such a delicious libation came to be, click on the link at the bottom of the page. Dr. Cottrell has provided a list of selected books covering a wide range of topics all about the winemaking process.

 Dr. Tom Cottrell’s Selected Books on Wine