September 2026 - Red Mountain, WA

Kiona Vineyards

The below excerpt is borrowed from our April 2022 feature on Columbia Valley.

  If you ever feel entirely overwhelmed and out of touch with Washington wine, even though it’s practically in your own backyard… Well, you’re not alone. The Columbia Valley AVA, which is the primary appellation for 99% of Washington Wine, is a massive Appellation. 11 million acres large, to be exact. That’s over 3x the size of OR’s Willamette Valley or CA’s North Coast (Napa/Sonoma/Mendocino), both massive regions in their own right. Not only is it huge, but the Columbia Valley meanders into two states (just a bit is in Oregon) and has several sub-AVA’s that do so as well (Walla Walla is partly in Oregon and Lewis-Clark Valley is mostly in Idaho). Speaking of sub-regions, there’s a lot. Seventeen of them. There’s even subregions of sub-regions. (Red Mountain, Rattlesnake Hills, Snipes Mountain are all within Yakima Valley).

While some of these are important delineations of terroir, like Walla Walla or Yakima Valley, a select few are mere marketing projects by Big Wine to help further sell sub-brands they’ve developed. Take ‘The Burn of Columbia Valley’ for example (yes, this is a real AVA). This was developed by the VP of Vineyards of the massive Chateau Ste. Michelle and the head of viticulture for Mercer Ranches. Guess who owns and farms most vineyards in ‘The Burn’ AVA? Mercer Ranches. Guess who produces the most popular wine coming from these grapes? Chateau Ste. Michelle. Guess what it is? Cabernet Sauvignon… with a flaming Phoenix on the label… called Borne of Fire. A marketing executive’s dream come true, yours for only $14.99.

This is just one of many examples of how larger producers manage to control the narrative of terroir in the US, which is doubly ironic because their products are inarguably the least representative of terroir. And while this seems like a wild rant from an anti-corporatist wine nerd at a small shop in NE Portland (it very much is), it’s an important part of the discussion about WA wine. By volume, Chateau Ste. Michelle produces 60% of all Washington wine. That’s an insane amount of market share for one company. And while you may not think you’re drinking their corporate juice, they do a good job disguising it. 14 Hands? Erath? Patz & Hall? Stag’s Leap? Yep, all Chateau Ste. Michelle.  But I digress. Let’s actually talk about the parts of the Columbia Valley that matter. To start, here’s a map.

As you may know from many past writeups, the Missoula Floods are a massive geological feature of this area. As you can see on the map above, the Columbia Valley basically outlines the area where the floods took place 20,000 years ago, laying down a layer of loess on top of the pre-existing Basalt bedrock. These soils are low-water holding, nutrient poor, and easily penetrable for vine roots. Climate varies depending on which part of the huge region you’re in, but generally speaking, one can expect it to be relatively dry with sunshine nearly year round (~9 inches of rain with 200 days of sun - not quite Portland!). Cooler nights create high diurnal swings (hot days to cold nights) - which is a key factor in locking in acidity and letting grapes rest overnight. This, coupled with high elevation and even more sunshine hours during the growing season (due to the latitude) has the capability of producing wines that are capable of being relatively fruit-forward with ample levels of ripeness, medium to high alcohol and firm tannins. And even though that style of wine is certainly what is probable, there are a number of growers and producers trying to do the opposite - make the vines struggle by farming them denser, irrigating less (or not at all), and finding cooler pockets to preserve acidity. These are the people we still, 4 ½ years later, want to highlight.

Kiona Vineyards & Winery

One of these producers is Kiona Vineyards, located in the Red Mountain AVA. Kiona was founded in 1975 by John Williams and Jim Holmes. The duo were neither winemakers nor viticulturists, but rather engineers at General Electric. In the late 1960’s, they had read a Washington State University viability report on viticulture in the area and began scoping for land. They found and purchased their future vineyard in 1972. At the time it was hardly more than a sandy patch of sagebrush - no water, no electricity, no crops. They drilled a well and started clearing land. John’s son, Scott Williams, was in high school at the time, and he would drive out after school to help rip out sagebrush bushes using a tractor. In 1975, both families + Scott’s high school buddies planted the first vines on the property - Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Riesling. Two years later, they planted another three varieties - Lemberger, Chenin Blanc, and Merlot. This brought their total acreage under vine to just over 15. By 1978, they were picking their first harvest, which they sold to another winery. Two years later, they were making wine under their own label. 

Over the next decade and a half, the small family winery kept growing - the Williams’ purchased homes in the neighborhood (including a tasting room in John and Ann’s basement), more and more vineyards were planted, and the wines started receiving accolades and writeups from Boston to Albuquerque. By the early 1990s, Scott and Vicki’s sons - JJ and Tyler - had begun helping around the property. In 1994, the Williams family bought out the Holmes’ shares of Kiona. The Holmes family, in turn, bought the Williams’ out of Ciel du Cheval, their sister project that had been started with colleagues from GE. Jim and John still remain close friends to this day.

Through this early era of Kiona’s history, the Washington wine industry grew up alongside them. In 1983, Yakima Valley, WA’s first AVA, was established with only four founding members - Kiona, Hinzerling Winery, Yakima River Winery, and Tucker Cellars. At the time, there were only 40 commercial wineries in Washington State - today there are over 1000. Later, in 2001, Red Mountain AVA was founded in the area around Kiona’s original vineyard sites. Nearly a quarter-century after their original planting, the founders’ wild ideas were confirmed by stating the area had a specific terroir worth singling out. 

Today, three generations of WIlliams’ continue to work at Kiona. Scott manages the vineyards and oversees winemaking. Tyler works day-to-day as head winemaker. JJ is general manager - directing sales and front of house operations. John, Ann, and Vicki continue to do-it-all around the vineyards, winery, and tasting room. The area under vine has grown to 272 acres, yet Kiona continues to make precise and focused wines. The family remains fiercely independent; they have always been 100% self funded and have turned down any and all efforts for buyouts, private investment, or corporate partnerships. Still somewhat of a dusty backroad winery, Kiona represents the multi-generational American wine story as well as - or better than - any major, flashy name in Napa or Willamette Valley. They do so humbly and professionally. Our winemaking history may be shorter than Europe’s, however people like John Williams and Jim Holmes prove that it can be just as storied.

Kiona Vineyards, Riesling, Columbia Valley 2024

Riesling was among the first vines that Kiona planted back in 1975. They gave half the vineyard space to Cabernet Sauvignon and split the other half between Chardonnay and Riesling, based on market preferences at the time. It turns out their intuition was correct, as Riesling has remained one of Washington State’s most planted white grapes. 

Fruit for this bottling comes from Kiona Estate Vineyard and purchased fruit from Olsen Vineyard, in Yakima Valley. This Riesling is made in what I consider a traditional style to Washington State - medium to high acid, textural and rich, and with a touch of Residual Sugar. It would pair wonderfully with spicy food or even be a nice, varietally correct, accompaniment to some Octoberfest foods.

Kiona Vineyards, Estate Lemberger, Red Mountain 2022

Lemberger, or Blaufränkisch as it is called in Austria, came to the United States by way of Germany. Kiona were the first to plant the grape in Washington State, and remain one of its biggest advocates. This wine is sourced entirely from the family’s estate vineyards in Red Mountain AVA - some of which are the original plantings from 1976.

Climactically, this area is much warmer than where the variety is usually planted, resulting in a rounder more fruit-forward profile. A touch of neutral oak adds softness, resulting in a fruity and approachable wine. Pair with a late-Summer BBQ meal or an early-Autumn stew and you’ll be happy.