Winemaker Profile:

Kunde Estate Winery & Vineyards

TIM BELL

by Millie Howie
If you want to see something impressive, step into the hospitality center at
Kunde Estate Winery & Vineyards and ask to look at the list of wines which
make up the shipments to club members for the year. On the impressive list of
24 wines all but nine were made by winemaker Tim Bell exclusively for the tasting
room and for members of the INK (I Need Kunde) Wine Club. For example, no
other winery presents a special wine called Chardonnay Nu – Nu meaning naked
in French. Tim explains Nu also means unadorned, which is very descriptive of
this crisp 2006 Chardonnay, fermented in stainless steel and made with no oak
influence and no malolactic fermentation.
Also just introduced is Dunfillan Cuvee, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and
Syrah, for red wine members, and the newest vintage of Viognier which will reach
white wine club members in September. One thing all the Kunde Estate white
wines have in common, except for the Reserve wines, is that they are finished with
a screw cap which consumers are finding easy to open and to prevent cork taint.
One of Tim’s greatest joys lies in making wines from estate-grown vineyards
where he and vineyard manager Steve Thomas can watch each crop develop.
“There’s so much going on in the vineyard,” Tim remarks. “And it is so great to
have all the technology and tools available to help us tend the grapes and craft the
wines.”
Although Tim was born in Iowa and his parents grew up on farms, their agricultural
interest was in dairy cattle, corn and pigs. Tim’s interest in wine began in
the retail trade when he took a job with the Liquor Barn beverage chain after graduating
from high school. “As I explored the subject of wine,” he explains, “I found
it fascinating and endlessly detailed, and though I did not quit my ‘daytime job’ I
did enroll at the University of California at Davis to learn more.”
Tim graduated from UC Davis in June 1994 with a degree in fermentation
science and worked as an enologist for the next two years at Arroyo Seco Winery
in San Martin, then winemaker at Freemark Abbey. In 2006 he heard that Kunde
Estate Winery was seeking a winemaker and he joined the family winery that
spring.
Away from the vineyards, Tim improves his skills as a member of the Napa
Valley College Sports Fencing group and spends a good bit of time on the road
working with distributors and sales personnel across the county. Usually, with so
much going on, Tim may be found at the winery, in the vineyard or checking
things in the caves at Kunde Estate Winery & Vineyards, 9825 Highway 12 in
Kenwood.

Related Information

• Kunde Estate Winery & Vineyards