Features

Holy-Field: Michelle Meyer’s world of winemaking

Written by Maddie Ross. Posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

The Winery

Handpicked grapes are immediately pressed. Father and daughter ferment, age and bottle the wine in Holy-Field’s cellars. “The tedious work is making sure the grapes are as good as they can be. Once they get in [the cellar] I can’t do anything but make sure I don’t screw them up,” Meyer said.

First, the grapes are processed in a crusher/destemmer. The resulting “must” or juice is strained to eliminate solids and then transferred to stainless steel fermenting vats. There the Meyers add yeast. The process takes 10 to 30 days.

When fermentation is complete, the aging process begins. Different types of wines are aged for various time periods and in different containers. Holy-Field uses stainless steel aging barrels for all of their wines except their dry reds. These are aged for 12-16 months in American Oak barrels.

“The average wine drinker can’t tell the difference between American and French oak,” Meyer explained, “but the French barrels cost more than three times as much. Using American, we don’t have to price our wines as high as you do when you use the French oak.”

Holy-Field’s Wines, Food and Entertainment

The Meyers report that their harvest annually produces about 7,000 gallons of wine from 10 varieties of grapes. Their wines are classified as Native American and French Hybrid varieties. Although grown locally, all French Hybrid vines in the United States were created at Cornell University.

The winery currently bottles five whites, six reds, a blush, a white dessert wine, a port, a raspberry wine and a blackberry wine. Their Seyval, a delicate crisp white wine, won two gold awards from the Kansas Grape Growers and Winemakers Wine Competition. Their Cynthiana is a dry red wine that is only available in limited quantities. It won the prestigious Jefferson Cup, which is a competition that honors the best wines out of every winemaking region in America.

Les and Michelle Meyer host events year-round at the winery where they serve their own food and wine combinations. On select weekend nights, they have live entertainment accompanied by dinner from their kitchen.

Their most popular events are murder mystery dinner theatre shows, Mayfest, the summertime music series and Oktoberfest. Meals dinners range from outdoor barbecues and snacks, to full Italian dinners.

For a complete listing of Holy-Field’s wines and events, visit their website at www.holyfieldwinery.com.