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WTN: Pioneering Kiona Vineyards on Red Mountain

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WTN: Pioneering Kiona Vineyards on Red Mountain

by Jenise » Tue Apr 13, 2021 3:40 pm

Back in the '60's, two engineers, Jim Holmes and John Williams, working in the Yakima area had their desks pushed together and the new friendship revealed a shared interest in wine from which eventually hatched a plan to try growing grapes on the edge of town. The area they chose is now known as Red Mountain. The estate remains family owned to this day and their vineyards--Kiona estate, Heart of the Hill, Ranch at the End of the Road, Sunset Bench and Artz grow almost every grape known in North America, including all the whites (though Red Mountain production is overall 97% red).

I was excited to be able to taste at the winery which is owned and run by John Williams' descendants. Like everyone in this state, we've long been familiar with a wine Kiona's famous for, a Lemberger (aka blaufrankisch), but the breadth and depth of what they do doesn't show up often in retail in my little corner of the state. What I've had though has always been both extremely good and impressively reasonable in price, and that prompted me to select them as one of three Red Mountain wineries to visit one afternoon last week..

We were there the first day they opened, on a limited basis, post-Pandemic. And not only did we taste there, we booked an overnight stay for our little Sprinter RV, so after the winery closed we grilled ourselves some steaks and watched the sun set to the west behind the vineyards--with a bottle of their Old Block red. Pretty magical.

Here are the wines we tasted (not in the order served):

2019 Kiona Cuvée Artemisia Red Mountain White Blend
At the winery. Here's a white wine for the "I only drink red" people: mostly roussanne with minor amounts of viognier and chenin blanc with combined ferments in both clay amphorae and oak barrel (29% new). Nicely in check at 13.6% alc; fairly robust, great Texture and delightfully dry. Skip the fish and save this for lamb chops, you won't miss the red stuff.

2020 Kiona Chenin Blanc Columbia Valley
At the winery. Afraid of smoke taint in this wildfire vintage, skin contact was minimalized achieving a transparent wine with a beguiling orange blossom nose. The result, while too delicate to be considered classic chenin, is a charming super-fresh wine. I'll be serving this with sushi later today.

2016 Kiona Red Mountain Reserve Red Bordeaux Blend
14.8% abv but suprisingly doesn't show the heat. A Bordeaux blend of 53% cabernet with 28% merlot, 11% PV and 3% ea carmenere, cab franc and malbec. A suave intersection of fruit and structure.

2017 Kiona Malbec Red Mountain
From just 2.5 acres in Kiona's Heart of the Hill vineyard. Dry, elegant and almost creamy from some malo, too very savory and earthy, lacking that floral component typical of Argentine versions. IOW, typical Red Mountain.

2015 Kiona Cabernet Sauvignon Old Block Red Mountain
This is the original block planted in 1975 by Kiona's founders back when cabernet sauvignon--can you imagine--wasn't considered a viable grape in Washington state. Tasting this side by side with the other estate cabernets would be a teachable moment for new wine lovers who do not yet appreciate the difference that vine age makes. The leathery complexity and earthy layers tell a compelling story. Outstanding! Loved it, bought it.

2018 Kiona Chenin Blanc Ice Wine Red Mountain
Kiona planted four acres of a chenin in a low spot in their vineyards hoping for opportunities to make ice wine. November 9, 2018, gave them just such a chance--these grapes actually froze in the vineyard. The way the planet's heating up, this is a rare thing I didn't think I'd see again in this state. And of course, this isn't just wine, IT'S NECTAR, with an intensity that's impossible to adequately relay to someone who's never experienced true ice wine. In this: orange blossom, passion fruit, pineapple, oro blanco, mango and lime leaf. Incredible.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Well...

by TomHill » Tue Apr 13, 2021 4:03 pm

Well, Jenise....would you believe I followed them from the very start???
Back in the mid-'70's, JimHolmes, when he worked for GE at Hanford, would occasional come to LosAlamos
for technical discussions. One of the members of my tasting group met him & invited Jim to come to our tasting
that week. On several subsequent visits to LosAlamos, he brought his wines & tasted them with our group.
From those tastings, I developed a love of Lemberger afore I even knew Burgenland Blaufrankisch.
Their Lemberger shows a remarkable resemblence to Burgenland Blaufrankisch.
Tom
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Re: WTN: Pioneering Kiona Vineyards on Red Mountain

by Jenise » Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:16 pm

I am not at all surprised, Tom. Great story.

I've served their wines at the big neighborhood wine tastings I do, but this was my first chance to experience a line-up and get a sense of the winery as a whole. Very, very impressed, as I expected to be.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: WTN: Pioneering Kiona Vineyards on Red Mountain

by John S » Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:56 pm

I agree they can make some nice wines occasionally, but given the vine age and how other producers often make better wines from their fruit than Kiona, overall I've been a bit disappointed when visiting them (although it has been about 3-4 years now). But the chenin dry and sweet have always been nice - interesting that in 2018 they managed to make a real ice wine, as usually they freeze the grapes themselves.

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