How many Kiger women does it take for John to crush grapes for The Odyssey?

There are two types of Kiger Family Vineyard wines

We make non-commercial (not-for sale) wines at home from a small portion (<5%) of our estate-grown syrah and cabernet sauvignon grapes.

But most of our grape crop is sold to a winery;
Robert Biale Vineyards has been buying KFV grapes since our first harvest in 2004. 

Dave and Bob, two of the principals at Biale. Read more about their KFV wines below.

making wine with the grapes we grow here gives us a closer connection to and understanding of how our farming practices lead to fine wines.

The Odyssey: This handcrafted, custom blend of our estate-grown syrah and cabernet sauvignon is our pride and joy. The name reflects our heartfelt feelings and experience with the wine we’ve been making since 2005. We harvested the grapes for the 2011 vintage on October 20. We yielded about 41 gallons of juice, a blend of 1/2 cabernet, 1/4 syrah and 1/4 grenache. The 2010 vintage remains in barrel, to be bottled in Spring 2012.

Syrah Rosé: We crushed and pressed 218 pounds of syrah on October 14, enough for 11 gallons of our fifth vintage of delightfully dry rosé. Instead of bottles, we’ve moved to stainless steel kegs for storage and on-demand dispensing.

Verjus: We collect the grapes that would normally be left on the ground during the practice known as green-thinning, a crop-reduction activity to promote optimal ripening of the grapes left on the vine. It gets crushed, pressed and stabilized to prevent fermentation.

we make these wines to enjoy with friends and family and to keep our senses sharp! 

we don’t sell these wines, so if you want to enjoy them, you’ll have to come for a visit or taste them “virtually” through the photo galleries: GO TO winemaking Photo galleries

KFV is still primarily a wine growing operation. We sell all of our grapes (minus the small amount we keep for homewinemaking) to Robert Biale Vineyards, where they make and market commercial wines (available in stores and restaurants.)

These are the currently available Robert Biale wines that are made from Kiger grapes: (1) 2007 Kiger Family Vineyard Syrah, the very first vineyard-designate bottling with our name on it!!!! and (2) The Hill Climber, a 2007 vintage Rhone-style blend of Kiger Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre.

Call Jayme at Robert Biale Vineyards for more information and to order. (707) 257-7555. Tell him we sent you! You can also look for Robert Biale Vineyards wines in "better" wine shops and restaurants; the best way to get them is to join the Biale buying/mailing list or call us and ask for help!

Also, in 2005 through 2007, winemaker Gary Miller, of Miller Wine Works, purchased several tons of our syrah grapes. There may be a few remaining cases of the wine from our 2006 grape, a vineyard-designate bottle with the label below.

The 2007 is in an extended barrel aging program and should be bottled shortly. If you want to buy some Miller-made KFV syrah -- or maybe some of his excellent pinot noir or grenache, give Gary a call or visit the Miller Wine Works website.