Agate Ridge Vineyard & Winery

Happiness for Kim Kinderman was watching Alabama recede in her rearview mirror. Needing a life change, Kim packed up her car (including her dog, Winnie) and came west.

She managed to find a 126-acre farm off Highway 62 in Eagle Point, complete with a 100-year-old farmhouse, stunning views and plenty of land for a vineyard. Fortunately for Kim, her father and brother, Don and Greg Kinderman, joined her as resident handymen, vine pruners and builders of their new winery and barrel room. However, planting 30 acres of grapes — and 100 acres of deer fence — wasn’t something the guys had anticipated. Yet they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Today, they produce a full slate of red and white wines, which are sold at the winery as well as other notable locations such as nearby Harry & David and the Rogue Creamery. . Visitors to the winery can sample a red line-up of syrah, cabernet sauvignon, petite sirah, zinfandel, pinot noir, and red blends. For whites, the Kindermans offer viognier, pinot gris, sauvignon blanc and a roussanne/Marsanne white blend. Their goal is to steadily ramp up production to no more than 6,000 cases annually.

A visit inside the old-farmhouse tasting room is well worth the trip, but if weather permits, get a glass of Agate Ridge wine and retreat to the outside picnic area. There you will discover wonderful vistas of the surrounding vineyard, Lower and Upper Table Rock, and Mount McLaughlin in the distance.

This family possesses a can-do attitude. When told the weather was too warm for pinot noir, they planted 2 acres of pinot in the vineyard. Now, their pinot noir sells in Portland-area wine shops. When I asked Kim why the vineyard rows are 9 feet apart, she responded that was the size needed for the tractor to get through. When they needed outdoor furniture, Don built the picnic tables. The family has also gone “green” — part of their electricity comes from their wind machine. Given the Kindermans’ willingness to take on life’s challenges, I am sure that if the wind died and the tractor failed to start, they’d still produce and enter their pinot noir in some prestigious wine-tasting competition. And win.

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  Agate Ridge Vineyard & Winery was featured in WineTrails of Oregon as part of the Bear Creek Valley WineTrail on page !