Winemaker/Consultant Alan Kinne Returns to Virginia at Chrysalis

Those who have followed the Virginia wine industry since the 1980s or 90s should remember Alan Kinne, who was the original winemaker at Horton Vineyards and helped launch Chrysalis Vineyards in Middleburg. Before leaving the state for a 12-year hiatus in 1999, he even launched his own label of chardonnay, made at Chrysalis.
A year ago last March he returned to Virginia as the full-time winemaker for Chrysalis, and since the end of harvest he’s also been in charge of vineyard management there. In addition, he will be doing consulting both in the vineyard and winery for other clients as time allows. I interviewed Alan in January about what he had done and learned on the West Coast and his plans now that he’s back in Virginia.

VWG: Remind us about your start in the Eastern wine industry

AK: “I Started out in Michigan (graduated from the U. of MI); I went back home for a summer, but got a job at Tabor Hill [in the SW of the state] in 1977, enjoyed it, and decided to stay in the wine business for a couple of years. Thirty years later, the rest is history. Then I moved to Virginia in 1979, worked at Shenandoah Vineyards, was the first full-time winemaker at Pindar on Long Island, then worked with Joachim Hollerith at Prince Michel/Rapidan, started a consulting business in 1990 and consulted in Virginia and all the way from Finger Lakes to Georgia.

“In Virginia, we have a more moderate climate where the reds go better with foods; a bridge between the European and West Coast style.” – Alan Kinne

I left in 1999 for Paso Robles, made wine there for 10 vintages, then for two more in Oregon at Northwest Wine (a custom crush operation) in the Willamette Valley. Working at Martin & Weyrich in Paso Robles, I made 100,000 cases annually, mostly Italian (top-selling wine was a moscato). I also worked at York Mountain also in Paso (owned by the same company). I think I’ve made wine from 60-70 different varieties of grapes.”

VWG: What were some of your key achievements before leaving California?
 
AK: “For Martin & Weyrich, it was maintaining high quality for a high volume of production; I went from producing 25,000 to 100,000 cases. With York Mountain, it was making super high-end, high quality super-premium wines that were well received by the critics. I talked the owner of Martin & Weyrich into putting in 3-4 acres of albariño in the Edna Valley; it became such a big hit that Tangent winery took cuttings, and it’s one of the hottest varieties in the country; all from cuttings taken from our vineyard. In Oregon, the custom crush facility ranged from “inexpensive” (under $30 retail pinot noir) to clients making super high-end pinots.

When I left VA in 1999, I thought I was pretty smart, but even though it’s technically easier to make wine on the West Coast, I still had a lot to learn. That’s the key to staying fresh in this business; you need to learn something new all the time.”

VWG: What were the most valuable things you learned making wine there?
 
AK: “The old saying that ‘wine is made in the vineyard’ really is true. What I found out on the West Coast was that when I left here in 1999, the main concern in the East was survivability of the vineyard, then fruit quality. In California, it was more focused on finding the right spot to match with grape variety;

survivability wasn’t much of an issue. You can fine-tune site selection very well.
In Oregon, the biggest thing I learned there were techniques of flavor and color extraction, what you do and knowing what not to do. Pinot noir is such a touchy, finicky grape that if you overdo the extraction, you’ll mess up the wine. So now you’ve gone from vineyard survivability to the fine-tuning of extraction techniques. We tasted every wine that was fermenting every day as it was fermenting, so we’d stay ahead of what was happening. We had 150 lots of pinot fermenting; that degree of detail and managing extraction is critical for our fruit and our reds in the East.

“That’s the key to staying fresh in this business; you need to learn something new all the time.”

I think whites are a bit easier to make here in the East. When we started chilling white grapes 20 years ago it seemed radical, but it was pro-active instead of reactive so we could improve quality from the start. We’re still developing techniques for managing extraction with red wines in the East.

Really, really stringent record keeping is another thing I learned was important out West. I’m now a stickler for meticulous record keeping. I use a computer program (IVIS or Innovative Viticultural Information Systems); if you have a couple hundred lots of pinot noir for dozens of clients, you need to track everything confidently. That’s as important as having the right press or temperature-controlled tanks. I even record what I don’t do, so I’ll know. I’ve seen that on the West Coast, the degree of record keeping is reflective of their professionalism.”.