Someone has to do it. One of the requirements in a particular enology course is to taste 30 different white wines.
“Personally, I am a dry red kind of guy. Even though you have to spit out most of the wine in those situations, I learned to appreciate white wine more after that,” says Brian Kincaid, the first African American to earn an associate’s degree in applied science in enology from Kent State University (KSU).
Enology is the study of the chemistry and biology of the winemaking process and applying that knowledge to creating wine. KSU Ashtabula offers classes, professional certificates and degree programs in enology and viticulture. Kincaid received his degree in December 2023.
Kincaid grew up in Cleveland and dreamed about becoming a scientist, recalling, “I always wanted a telescope and a microscope.” But, he says, a lack of role models and demographics threw up roadblocks.
That was before Kincaid met the late Mansfield Frazier, owner of the Vineyards and Winery at Chateau Hough, who sparked his interest in agriculture. Frazier told Kincaid he could either choose peppers or wine to begin a career.
“Mansfield said grapes were a generational thing, and I liked that. Once you got started, you could pass it on forever. People used to make wine for their families on their farms and never thought about selling it to others. After Mansfield passed away a few years ago, things at Chateau Hough stalled out a bit. But his wife is now currently in charge, and we are still taking very good care of the grapes,” says Kincaid, a partner and independent winemaking contractor for the Cleveland neighborhood winery.
Kincaid is also the beer and wine manager for Meijer Fairfax Market on Cleveland’s East Side. The recognition of his degree among customers has made Kincaid somewhat of a local celebrity and something he was not expecting. But he often enjoys fielding questions from “wine snobs, wine connoisseurs and regular wine drinkers like you and me,” he says. Most importantly, Kincaid is on a mission to convince people that the price of a wine doesn’t always determine its quality.
He also fields a variety of questions, including those about ice wine, a type of dessert wine made from grapes that are frozen while on the vine.
“Ice wine is seasonal and always good when I visit a winery and it is part of a flight. But I couldn’t sit down and drink glass after glass. It’s super, super sweet like syrup on ice cream,” says Kincaid. “Ice wine also has a gimmick behind it and it always comes in skinny bottles so people think it’s really special.”
Kincaid, however, knows the value of marketing and packaging. He has been experimenting with making a type of Australian chardonnay that already has his friends and family raving about the taste. Initially he thought of naming the wine “The Enologist.” But that will most likely change once he meets with a branding team before he hopes to launch his product later this year.
“I look at the shelves of wine where I work and see so many wines that are named after people or families. That’s an idea…” he muses.
