Ken Volk doesn’t know this yet, but in a way, he is a major inspiration for this site. The president and director of winemaking for Kenneth Volk Vineyards, Volk has a long history of experimenting with grape varieties that no one else has even heard of, let alone tasted.
Some years back, when Volk was still at Wild Horse, the Paso Robles winery where he made a name for himself, there was this little red called blaufrankisch. Most folks were a little wary of it. We dove right in and discovered what a joy trying something really new and different can be. Ever since then, finding those odd ball grapes has been one of our passions. And when this site came together, it seemed only natural to name it after that passion.
Volk sold Wild Horse in 2003 and the next year bought the facility he has now in the Santa Maria Valley. His first wines under his namesake label rolled out in 2006.
Mike’s first experience with the Kenneth Volk product occurred as the last stop on the bus tour from hell. Anne was working. The weather was beyond miserably hot. The wines at the other wineries were all over-oaked. And the rest of the winemaking club was cranky, to say the least. But Volk not only took the time to talk to the group, the wines (13 different bottles) were a revelation. Pinots, cabs, chards, maybe even a negrette or a tempranillo or something like that. Mike didn’t take notes that day. But it was an impressive tasting both in terms of the scope and the really good flavor. When the wine tastes that good at the end of the day, you know you’ve got something special.
We also recently spoke with Volk at the Family Winemakers event in Del Mar, California, and yes, he will be producing some blaufrankisch starting as early as this year.
“I’ve got an acre and a half of blaufranckisch, which I’ll be getting a crop off of this year,” he said. “It was a graft that I did last year, so I expect it to… I’ll probably get two tons of it this year.”
But we’ll still have to wait another couple years or so before anything gets bottled and/or released.
But what drives his interest in different… Okay, odd ball grapes?
“There’s so many interesting grape varieties out there that have interesting flavors and unfortunately, the industry is dominated by a handful of them,” Volk said. “Every year I try to do a new variety I’ve never done before.”
And we’ll be featuring his negrette and his verdelho over the next few days. You can find out more about Volk and his winery at his website, volkwines.com.