Tahoe Ridge Winery's tasting room and bistro opens in Minden

Just as the grapes are readying on the vine, the time is ripe for change for Tahoe Ridge Winery.

After six years in historic downtown Genoa, owners Rick and Kathy Halbardier have signed a nine-year lease on a new location along Highway 395 in Minden. The new store, called Tahoe Ridge Winery, Marketplace & Bistro, is opening this week.

The 4,500 square-foot space, which sits kitty-corner to the Carson Valley Inn, has been remodeled to host an 800-square-foot commercial kitchen for bistro service, event catering and as a hub for cooking classes and wine and food pairings. The Halbardiers also hired Howard Jachens, formerly of David Walley's Hot Springs & Spa, as the winery's executive chef and director of food and beverage.

"We've been in Genoa for six years," Rick Halbardier said. "It's time to move to the next level, and we wanted to get to the food and wine component and the integration of that."

About 40,000 people per year visited the 1,900-square-foot tasting room in Genoa, which accommodates up to 80 people in the back garden area and wine bar, and even fewer in the winter months.

"It's very difficult to manage the amount of people through a facility that size," Halbardier said. "It's time to take it up a notch."

The new location seats 75 inside and 25 on the outside patio, with another 50 spaces at the walk-up wine bar.

The new marketplace will still feature Tahoe Ridge wines, deli foods and wine accessories, jewelry, books and clothing.

Halbardier said the down economy gave them the chance to take advantage of lower lease rates, as well as the opportunity to stimulate local construction.

"It was really a win-win in a lot of aspects," Halbardier said.

The move to Minden replaces a $20 million winery project near Genoa that would have included a cooking school, guest cottages, a wine production facility and a circa-1853 barn as the tasting room. The plans were put on hold in 2005 for lack of funding. The project will likely shut down completely, Halbardier said.

Earlier this year, the winery's board of directors and investors contemplated whether to downsize the project or go in another direction. They decided to move into a larger facility with more traffic and exposure. The Halbardiers looked at spaces in Carson City, but decided to stay in the Minden/Gardnerville area and true to the company's roots in the Carson Valley.

The Halbardiers founded Churchill Winery in 1990, planting the first research vineyard in the state. They later changed their name to Tahoe Ridge Vineyards, and in 2001, produced the first commercial wines from Nevada-grown grapes.

Today, Tahoe Ridge is the largest grower and producer of wine in the state, producing more than 150,000 bottles of wine annually from both its Nevada and California vineyards, Halbardier said.

The wine production facility is housed in a leased space at the Minden-Tahoe Airport, which they also rent out for weddings and special events.

Their wines include sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, semillon, white and red table wines, barbera, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, petite sirah, zinfandel, muscat canelli and a port-style red wine. The wines are a blend of up to 35 percent Nevada-grown grapes; next year, Halbardier's goal is to push that up to 42 percent.

"As a company we're growing fast, so we're not bringing grapes on enough in Nevada in order to keep those production levels up," he said.

Three Tahoe Ridge wines from the Buffalo Creek Vineyard in Gardnerville were honored at the 2009 International Cold Climate Wine Competition held in Minneapolis in August. The 2008 St. Croix grabbed the gold, the 2008 Frontenac was awarded the silver medal, while the 2008 La Crosse won the bronze medal.

Tahoe Ridge also specializes in interspecific wine grapes, developed by researchers at Cornell University and the University of Minnesota and adapted to the Northern Nevada climate. There are more than 15,000 interspecific vines planted in the Carson, Smith, Washoe and Mason valley areas.

"This stuff is really exciting," Halbardier said. "We've been working for 10 years to develop these. It's really where the future of Nevada wine growing is going."

For more information, visit www.tahoeridge.com.