Joseph Schumpeter referred to it as "Creative Destruction" - the fact that even in growing economic conditions, companies cease operating - for many reasons. Sometimes companies make unsound business decisions. In others, the owners simply retire. And although the number of Virginia wineries is growing from year to year, a couple wineries will be closing in 2011. And this doesn't include Sweely Winery Estate and Kluge Estate Winery, who's futures are uncertain because of foreclosure proceedings. Sure Trump purchased Kluge, but there is no telling if the winery will resurface.
A few years back, the very first Virginia winery we ever visited, Oakencroft, closed as the owners retired. This year, MistyRay Winery (Harrisonburg) and White Fences Vineyard & Winery (Irvington), are closing for similar reasons. MistyRay will close on June 30thso that Phil can dedicate more time for golfing. At White Fences, Bill & Susan Westbrook are closing as soon as the entire inventory is liquidated. No more Meteor. So here's your last chance to grab these wines and we wish the owners a long & healthy retirement.
Showing posts with label Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard. Show all posts
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Keeping up the Kluge winery
Here's the latest happenings going on at Kluge via c-ville.com.
By BRENDAN FITZGERALD
Mere weeks before the auction that will convey Patricia Kluge’s wine empire to the highest bidders, 20 former employees of the Kluge Estate Winery & Vineyard continue to maintain the foreclosed property’s vines and facilities. The workers, says winery employee Tim Rausse, are touching up everything from a 34,000-square-foot carriage house to an unglamorous “modular office” before the auction. The hum of a pressure washer is audible; Rausse explains that an employee is cleaning the winery production building.
By BRENDAN FITZGERALD
Mere weeks before the auction that will convey Patricia Kluge’s wine empire to the highest bidders, 20 former employees of the Kluge Estate Winery & Vineyard continue to maintain the foreclosed property’s vines and facilities. The workers, says winery employee Tim Rausse, are touching up everything from a 34,000-square-foot carriage house to an unglamorous “modular office” before the auction. The hum of a pressure washer is audible; Rausse explains that an employee is cleaning the winery production building.
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The Kluge Estate Winery & Vineyard, divided into six tracts totaling roughly 900 acres, will be sold at absolute auction on April 7—an event that may attract business tycoon and potential bidder Donald Trump, reportedly a friend of the Kluge family. |
When a winery doesn’t make bank, then the bank takes back the winery. However, after Farm Credit of the Virginias foreclosed on the Kluge operation, the subject of a $34.8 million lien, a December foreclosure auction failed to attract a sufficient bid. The bank bought the winery back for $19 million and plans to offer the business and property in six separate tracts, totaling more than 900 acres, at an April 7 absolute auction. The farm and winery equipment will be auctioned the following day.
Gregory Brun, former director of winery and vineyard operations at Kluge Estate, now serves as Chief Operating Officer for Grand Cru Properties, a limited liability company launched by Farm Credit to manage the property until its sale. “Right now, Farm Credit is not making wine,” says Brun. However, he says, the current staff is “doing what needs to be done at the winery.”
Monday, November 15, 2010
The Rise & Fall of Kluge Estate Winery
A sad situation in Virginia wine country via Wines & Vines.
Charlottesville, Va. -- There’s an old joke that the best way to make a small fortune in the wine industry is to start with a large one. Sometimes even having a pocket full of dollars doesn’t guarantee that a winery will make a go of it. That certainly proved to be true in the case of the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard in Charlottesville, Va.
Patricia Kluge and her husband, William J. Moses, started the winery in 1999, intent on establishing a world-class vineyard and making the winery one of the largest and most influential in Virginia. Located south of Charlottesville not far from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Kluge’s estate included 2,000 acres and a 45-room English-style “manor house” known as Albemarle House. Approximately 200 acres were planted in vineyards; the couple built an elaborate tasting room known as the Farm Shop and Kluge hired the internationally-known “Flying Winemaker,” Michel Rolland as the consulting winemaker.
The winery’s first release was the limited edition Kluge Estate 2000 New World Red, priced at a breathtaking $495 per bottle. Only 289 bottles of the wine were produced, each one signed by Kluge and then-winemaker Gabriele Rausse. At that time, most wine in Virginia was sold for less than $50 per bottle, and the release of a first wine from a new winery at such an exalted price created a lot of publicity for Kluge Estate. Later releases of Kluge Estate New World Red were priced considerably lower, the 2001 at $58 per bottle and the 2005 at $25. Wines & Vines’ most recent data show an annual production of 40,000 cases.
In 2007 Kluge and Moses went to Farm Credit of the Virginias and secured a loan for $34.785 million, ostensibly to expand the winery into both national and international markets. In October 2010, Farm Credit foreclosed on this loan and listed the assets of the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard to be auctioned off, including:
• 907 acres in southern Albemarle County (including 164 acres in vineyard)
• The Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard Farm Shop and tasting room
• Offices and production buildings
• Six employee houses
• A 34,000 square-foot former carriage museum.
Read more at Wines & Vines.
Charlottesville, Va. -- There’s an old joke that the best way to make a small fortune in the wine industry is to start with a large one. Sometimes even having a pocket full of dollars doesn’t guarantee that a winery will make a go of it. That certainly proved to be true in the case of the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard in Charlottesville, Va.
Patricia Kluge and her husband, William J. Moses, started the winery in 1999, intent on establishing a world-class vineyard and making the winery one of the largest and most influential in Virginia. Located south of Charlottesville not far from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Kluge’s estate included 2,000 acres and a 45-room English-style “manor house” known as Albemarle House. Approximately 200 acres were planted in vineyards; the couple built an elaborate tasting room known as the Farm Shop and Kluge hired the internationally-known “Flying Winemaker,” Michel Rolland as the consulting winemaker.
The winery’s first release was the limited edition Kluge Estate 2000 New World Red, priced at a breathtaking $495 per bottle. Only 289 bottles of the wine were produced, each one signed by Kluge and then-winemaker Gabriele Rausse. At that time, most wine in Virginia was sold for less than $50 per bottle, and the release of a first wine from a new winery at such an exalted price created a lot of publicity for Kluge Estate. Later releases of Kluge Estate New World Red were priced considerably lower, the 2001 at $58 per bottle and the 2005 at $25. Wines & Vines’ most recent data show an annual production of 40,000 cases.
In 2007 Kluge and Moses went to Farm Credit of the Virginias and secured a loan for $34.785 million, ostensibly to expand the winery into both national and international markets. In October 2010, Farm Credit foreclosed on this loan and listed the assets of the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard to be auctioned off, including:
• 907 acres in southern Albemarle County (including 164 acres in vineyard)
• The Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard Farm Shop and tasting room
• Offices and production buildings
• Six employee houses
• A 34,000 square-foot former carriage museum.
Read more at Wines & Vines.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Discover Virginia Wine (The Monticello Wine Trail)
Monday October 25th, we were privileged to participate in the inaugural Virginia wide Taste Live twitter event, Discover Virginia Wine (The Monticello Wine Trail) tasting. Our good friend Dezel from @myvinespot and My Vine Spot organized and moderated the event. He invited me to participate at his house along with several other wine bloggers, all who have a better palate for wine then me: @grapevine4wine from The GrapeVine; @Alleigh from A Glass After Work; @SuzieLin from Runningwinegirl's Blog; and @elizabethdehoff from Crushworthy Wines. I learned from just listening to their commentary. Participants tweeted from all corners of the county, from the great northwest, to New York, south to Florida and regions in between. In Charlottesville, CBS 19 also broadcast the event after visiting some of the participating wines. And finally, throughout the evening, the great Virginian wine grape - Viognier - trending on twitter. Which is ironic in that at our table, the Keswick Vineyards 2009 Viognier was the least popular wine.The tasting involved five wines from central Virginia. We started with theKluge Estate 2007 SP Rose, which I thought slightly off-dry; but my tasting partners corrected as completely dry. The sparkling wine is made in the traditional méthode Champenoise using estate grown 95% Chardonnay (95%) and Pinot Noir (5%) and aged on the lees for 21-24 months. The result is a complex wine, alot going on - plenty of sour cherry; I may have mistook fruit flavors for sweetness, but in general this is a nice sparkler. The only issue is the price; is it worth $25-$30; we shall see.
The aforementioned Keswick Vineyards 2009 Viognier followed and received mixed reviews. Some enjoyed it; others didn't - the presence of oak probably contributed to that outcome. I, along with Dezel, were the contrarians and enjoyed the wine, although I don't think its as good as many offered in the state. Keswick's winemaker, Stephen Barnard, crafts many wonderful wines, this just didn't seem to be his best.
Since our visit to Jefferson Vineyards over two years ago, we have been extremely impressed with Andy Reagan's wines. Normally we prefer his reds, but tonight we sampled his 2009 Reserve Chardonnay. The grapes were sourced from a few different vineyards, 30% were estate grown - harvested from 25 year old vines. The wine starts with a toasty nose, followed by a slight oak flavor ending with nice acidity in the tail. Not only did we think it was a fine wine, but it recently received a Gold Medal at the 2010 LodiWine Awards. Nicely done.
The next wine was a real surprise; the Afton Mountains 2009 Gewürztraminer. We didn't taste this wine on our recent visit to the winery, but it was a hit during the evening - surprising in that an off dry wine was praised by several wine "experts". Gewürztraminer can be translated into "Spice Traminer"or "Perfumed Traminer" so its not a surprise that this wine had a little spice flavor. About a third of the wine was aged in barrels that previously housed their eiswine style dessert wine. I think the acidity makes this wine - it tones down the sweetness and allows the fruit flavors to dominate.
We then moved on to reds, starting with Kirsty Harmon's Blenheim Vineyards 2009 Seven Oaks Merlot. Since becoming winemaker a couple years back - she is finally able to release her own vintages. Now, the first thing to know about this wine is don't fear the screw-cap as Blenheim is one of two Virginia wineries to use that enclosure device on all wines - red and whites. The second is this grapes are 100% Merlot harvested from the Seven Oaks Vineyard near Crozet. After fermentation, 50% of the wine is aged in stainless steel, the other half for 9 months in new French barrels. This is another nicely done wine; complex, but fruit forward and a smooth tail. Maybe Merlot is a Virginia grape.
The final wine for the evening was the Mountfair Vineyards 2008 Wooloomooloo. We had just visited Mountfair and were well aware of this wine. It is primarily Petit Verdot (60%), with Merlot (30%) and Cabernet Franc (10%) added to make this an interesting Bordeaux style wine. The wine is then aged 2 years before bottled and released. And "Wooloomooloo" - that's evidently a spirit that roams the Blue Ridge Mountains. Like any wine composed of Petit Verdot; this wine has some tannins - but the other grapes must contribute enough structure and fruit to tone these down. Regular readers know how much we prefer blends so its no surprise that this is one of my favorite wines tasted this year from Virginia.
Thanks Dezel, the participating wineries, and Taste Live for an entertaining evening.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Discover Virginia Wine (The Monticello Wine Trail)
I've checked in at Dezel's place getting ready for the Discover Virginia Wine (The Monticello Wine Trail) Taste Live tasting. The handles: these handles on twitter: #WW #ttl #vawine @keswickvineyard @benatmountfair @MfVvinotweets @th_jefferson @KlugeEstate @BlenheimWines @AftonMountain @vawine. The wines:
a) Kluge Estate 2007 SP Rosé
b) Afton Mountains 2009 Gewürztraminer
c) Keswick Vineyards 2009 Viognier
d) Jefferson Vineyards 2009 Reserve Chardonnay
e) Blenheim Vineyards 2009 Merlot
f) Mountfair Vineyards 2008 Wooloomooloo
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