Acclaimed Winemaker Alan Kinne Returns To Virginia

March 11, 2010 - PRLog -- MIDDLEBURG, Va.--He's back.

Alan Kinne -- who began making wine in Virginia in 1979, when there were just 6 wineries in the state, then ventured West to craft award-winning Pinot Noir in Oregon and Zinfandel in California -- is returning to his Old Dominion roots. Kinne, one of the most respected winemakers in the country, has agreed to become winemaker at Chrysalis Vineyards. He begins work tomorrow at the winery.

“We are fortunate to have Alan Kinne back in Virginia,” says Gordon W. Murchie, former executive director of the Virginia Wineries Association and president emeritus of the Vinifera Wine Growers Association and the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association.

From the late 80s to the late 90s, Kinne had a huge hand in driving Virginia's wine scene. He was a consultant for many wineries in the state, among them Horton Vineyards, Oasis Vineyards, Ingleside Plantation Vineyards, Piedmont Vineyards, Lake Anna Winery, Valhalla Vineyards, and Chrysalis Vineyards, and was widely in demand before heading out west to pursue a number of big opportunities.

Of his decision to leave behind more established scenes in both California and Oregon and come east to Virginia, Kinne says, "The time was right. I felt things had become stagnant out there. It's not what it was, I'm afraid to say. One of the main things you have in Virginia is heritage and history. You can't drive around without getting the entire historical perspective imbued in you, and of course that's tremendously exciting to anyone with an appreciation for the past and tradition of our country.

“And now you have a wine scene that is really emerging, with good and sometimes great wines being made here now. A lot of the things that are on the edge of taking off -- a lot of those things I laid the groundwork for years ago. So that's a thrill to see. And I really feel I can help guide the direction of this thing over the next ten years,” says Kinne.

Chrysalis Vineyards owner Jennifer McCloud is overjoyed about her hire. "I can't tell you what this means to me, and to all of us here. Alan is one of the great winemakers in this country, and the fact that he would choose Virginia over much more celebrated winemaking regions says so much about the moment we're in right now as a state. This is the tipping point for Virginia wine. Alan knows that, and pretty soon the rest of the country and world will know, too."

The announcement comes two months before the publication of a book, The Wild Vine, by Todd Kliman, food and wine editor at Washingtonian magazine, that chronicles the stranger-than-fiction saga of the Norton grape, Chrysalis Vineyard's flagship varietal, and explores the unheralded efforts of Virginia winemakers to make distinctive wines apart from the influence of California.

"I can't think of a more exciting time for Chrysalis Vineyards specifically, or for the Virginia wine industry," says McCloud.

Her sentiments are echoed by industry experts. “Having a notable winemaker of Alan Kinne’s reputation re-locate from the west coast to the east coast is a significant milestone for our industry,” says Annette Boyd, marketing director for the Virginia Wine Board. “Virginia wine was already on the map, but Kinne and Chrysalis will take our industry to new heights of excellence.”

Kinne is a great champion for the wine industry in Virginia, notes Bruce Zoeklein, state enologist professor and head of the Enology Grape Chemistry Group at Virginia Tech University. “The thing about winemaking that is relatively unique – is it is an art and a science. The art part comes from experience and observation. Alan has a lot of experience and very good empirical observation.”

Kinne and McCloud share more than admiration for one another. They share a history.

McCloud first turned to Kinne -- the man who produced the first modern-era Nortons in Virginia, in the early '90s, at Horton Vineyards, not to mention the historic 1993 Horton Viognier, universally acclaimed as the finest Viognier ever made in America -- to teach her the ins and outs of winemaking when she met Kinne at a wine conference in 1995. She founded Chrysalis Vineyards in 1998. Kinne not only made the first bottles of wine that carried the Chrysalis Vineyards label, but he also managed McCloud's vineyards their first year.

The pair undertook three separate trips to Spain to research the varietals that thrive in the Spanish climate. Those trips helped to lay the foundation for Chrysalis Vineyards, a winery that seeks to work with and not against the terroir of its estate on the edges of Virginia horse country -- a mission that requires a winemaker to be open to experimenting with lesser-known grapes.

Their friendship has thrived in the intervening years, despite a continent between them. Kinne calls McCloud a "visionary," and cites her hands-on commitment to making great wines of character and depth as "a breath of fresh air" after working in bigger, more established operations.

"It's not often you get a chance to work with someone who 'gets it.' Jenni gets it," says Kinne. "She has a philosophy that is unique and really interesting. I've been in this business for 30 years, and no one -- not in California, not in Oregon, and not in Virginia -- can match her passion and intensity to make great and distinctive wine."

In addition to bringing the winemaker aboard, McCloud has also hired his wife, Kelda Kinne, who will become director of hospitality, a job that includes overseeing the wine club, the tasting room and arranging and managing events at the winery.

Kelda Kinne brings over two decades of experience in the food and wine industry to her new post. Her resume includes stints at Zaca Mesa Winery, near Santa Barbara, Calif., where she grew the wine club from 300 to 2,500 members in three years; Vina Robles and Martin & Weyrich Winery, both in Paso Robles; and Alexana Winery, in Oregon, owned by the Revana Family Vineyard in Napa, an ultra premium producer of Cabernet Sauvignon.

"Getting to work with my wife, after all those years of working apart and being apart," jokes Kinne, "That's just the icing on a very, very great piece of cake. I can't wait to get started. It's great to come home."

More information about Chrysalis Vineyards can be found at www.chrysaliswine.com.

Media contact: To arrange media interviews with Alan and Kelda Kinne or Jennifer McCloud, contact Ami Neiberger-Miller, 703.887.4877, ami@steppingstoneLLC.com.