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online and ordered 1,177 grape vines , which is what I figured out that I needed to fill up the hill . I naively thought , how hard can it be ? I thought if I have to , I ’ ll hire somebody to make the wine and the first couple of years
“ Afterwards I called Debbie and said , guess what we are doing ?” he added .
The next spring the vines arrived and the Pattersons , along with a couple of Bill ’ s sons , laid out the rows and hand planted the 1,177 Chambourcin , Norton , Cayuga White and Traminette grape vines and just like that , Cave Hill Vineyard & Winery was born .
It took three years to get their first harvest that they used to learn how to blend different types of grapes to produce the various wines they wanted to sell .
In 2008 at the Patterson ’ s wedding , guest got to sample the first fruits of their labor .
“ We just started playing with it and really made a lot of bad wine at the beginning as we tried to perfect it . We served our first wine at our wedding ,” Bill said . “ We might have deluded ourselves into thinking it was good back then . We finally figured out how to make it where it tasted good .”
The vineyard produced a few hundred gallons of wine each year the first few years .
Now the Patterson ’ s are producing 600 to 800 cases of wine each year .
Cave Hill Vineyard & Winery now sells ten different wines :
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• Diamond Wine , A fruity white wine featuring the Diamond grape
• Naked Lady . A sweet blend of Cayuga White and Traminette , a fruity white wine that is just sweet enough
• MakeAlady Blush . A sweet Rose wine with a delightfully tangy and fresh taste
• 2020 Blues . A blueberry wine that tries to make the year 2020 better than it really was
• Black & Blue . A blend of blueberry and blackberry wine that offers a very berry taste
• Family Tradition Blackberry Wine . A sweet blackberry wine , not too sweet , that maintains the taste of the fruit
• Kentucky Mullet . Made mostly with the Norton grape with a touch of blackberry . A true business in the front and party in the back type of wine
• Sweet Chambourcin . A slightly sweet red wine made from the Chambourcin grapes with a pleasing finish
• Chambourcin Reserve . A dry , red wine with a smooth finish that features a taste of the Chambourcin grape . Lightly oaked
• Pinot Noir . A deliciously fruity dry Pinot that has a very light kiss of oak
The Patterson ’ s began selling Cave Hill wines in
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Bill and Debbie Patterson |
Photo by Bob Flynn |