The Kansas Grape Growers and Winemakers Association has rolled out a new website for consumers called Kansas Wineries. The website has a state map with 26 wineries and links and addresses for all 26 wineries. Inclusion on the new website if open to all dues paying members of the KGGWA. The Kansas Wineries website is the state’s first website exclusively for wine tourists.
Mark Ganchiff
Mark Ganchiff is the publisher of Midwest Wine Press, the leading source of news on the growing wine industry in the central United States. Mark has been a wine judge at the 2012 and 2014 INDY International Wine Competition, the 2014 Cold Climate Wine Competition, the 2013 Mid-American Wine Competition, the 2012 Illinois State Fair Wine Competition and the 2013 Michigan Wine Competition. He also enjoys speaking at wine events including the Cold Climate Wine Conference, the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association Annual Meeting, the Midwest Grape and Wine Conference and the Wisconsin Fruit and Vegetable Conference. Mark's articles about regional wine have appeared in Vineyard & Winery Management, WineMaker and several regional magazines. Mark is a Level One Sommelier in the Court of Master Sommeliers. He lives in Louisville, but also has a residence in Chicago.
I am a fan of locally produced wines and read with interest the listing of Kansas wineries on the KGGWA web site. In fact, I read it a couple of times as I was surprised to not find at least three, nationally respected US wineries that happen to be located in Kansas.
Among the missing are: Davenport Winery, Holy Field Winery and White Tail Winery. This omission is significant in that all three of them produce, year-after-year, a full line up of great tasting, award winning wines across the four major flavor categories of red and white wines and sweet to dry wines. Two of the wineries omitted have won multiple Jefferson Cup awards…a very “big deal.”
Jefferson Cup awards are significant in that Doug Frost conducts the Jefferson Cup Invitational Competition of American Wines, drawing entries from California to NY, Minnesota to Texas and everything in between.
Here…”http://www.examiner.com/article/2013-jefferson-cup-invitational-wine-competition-winners-announced” is an article by a judge that breaks down the significance and lists for 2013 the 25 wines selected to receive the award from almost 700 entries.
Three of those 25 Jefferson Cup awards went to Kansas wineries, two of which were omitted from the KGGWA list.
Fred,
Thanks for your comment and listing the quality wineries that are not on the new Kansas website. As mentioned in the article, a winery has to be an association member to be on the website.