When Dinah Bird purchased Baker-Bird Winery 10 years ago, her husband, Marty Westerfield, gave her this advice: “Just don’t make bad wine.” After winning numerous awards year after year, it is obvious the judges agree that Baker-Bird produces exceptional wines.
The hillside winery in Bracken County, with its spirits-making history dating back to the late 1700s, paired with Bird, who studied winemaking at the University of California, Davis, makes for a winning combo.
The winery appears on the National Register of Historic Places. The original owner was a German immigrant, born Johannes Becker. He sailed to the Colonies in 1761 and fought in the American Revolution under the name John Baker. A whiskey distiller, Baker moved from Pennsylvania to Augusta in 1797 and planted a vineyard. His grandson, Abraham Baker Jr., constructed the limestone winery building, with the country’s largest wine cellar below it, in the 1850s. The first floor originally was the pressing room and now is used as the tasting room. Underneath is a massive, hand-dug, 90-foot-long wine cellar, built to hold 5,300 barrels. With exposed stone walls, the cellar measures 40 feet wide and 40 feet tall at the center of the arched ceiling. This cathedral-like room remains cool throughout the summer.
Although it soon will be available again as a venue for private parties and receptions, the wine cellar has a history that is not so festive. During the Battle of Augusta in 1862, the city was invaded by the Confederate Army, and more than 50 buildings were burned. As local men were called to duty, the women and children hid in the giant cellar, where the walls are 3 feet thick.
With a nod of appreciation to the Baker family, Bird named her new winery with a combination of both of their names, and in doing so, she received quite a bit of history from the Baker descendants. She learned of the Bakers’ German heritage and the fact that the family paid $10 for its first winemaking license. “Germans are usually associated with beer making, but they really know how to make wine,” Bird said.
During the Bakers’ ownership, there were many wineries in the area. Bird said that, in the 1860s, half the wine consumed in the United States was produced in Augusta. But as the mid-1800s passed, vineyards struggled to find labor, and the fickle weather in Kentucky did not help with grape growing. So, the farmers turned to tobacco and focused on that for the next century or so.
Now, more than 150 years since wine was last produced in this location, Bird sources grapes from Kentucky farmers. She knows the growers and spends time at the farms, watching the grapes and paying close attention to the harvest.
“My goal has always been to make wines that reflect Kentucky,” she said. “Grapes that can grow here in our climate and earth.”
In 2018, Bird found some 200-year-old recipes for bourbon accredited to John Baker. So, it seemed natural to purchase a 50-gallon still and begin distilling Kentucky’s signature drink, too. Today, B. Bird Distillery sits right across the yard from the winery.
Ten years into what Bird still considers her side business, this investment banker by day produces 500 cases of wine, six barrels of bourbon, and one barrel of brandy per year.
Bird has a staff of 17 and welcomes guests to tour the grounds, learn the fascinating history, and, of course, enjoy the wine and spirits.