The Wine

To celebrate the brash decision these two pioneers of Washington wine made 40 years ago, we have put together a release that tells this story. Four decades of tradition can be found in this wine. 

Our Old Block Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is exactly what it sounds like; Cabernet Sauvignon from that original 1975 planting, the one that started it all. As vines mature, they tend to produce softer, more elegant wines with smooth, velvety tannins and nuanced flavors. Typically this material would find its way into either our Estate Red Mountain Reserve and/or Cabernet Sauvignon blends, but we decided to keep 12 barrels from the stellar 2012 vintage separate for this limited bottling.

2012 VINTAGE SOLD OUT. 2013 coming fall 2017. 

93 Points, Editor's Choice, Wine Enthusiast

My Grandfather John Williams and his business partner Jim Holmes planted the first vineyard (our very own Kiona Estate vineyard) on Red Mountain together in 1975. This wine honors their story.

From the beginning we knew we wanted to blend the wine vertically, which is why you’ll notice there is no vintage on the label. Some of the more intriguing wines we have released over the last few years have been vertical blends, and we wanted to explore that further. Instead of a vintage, these wines will carry version numbers. This is Version I.

Estate Red Mountain Pioneer Red contains components from 2014 (70%), 2013 (28%), and 2012 (2%). Most wines in the world are blended horizontally, which is to say the components all come from the same vintage. This is, in my opinion, largely done because of tradition and historical precedent. But beyond that, blending within a vintage is largely an artificial constraint. I would go so far as to say that when you are emphasizing PLACE, which is what we are doing here, vertical blending allows you to blend a wine that tells a more complete story.

89 Points, Wine Enthusiast

We have just 2.55 acres of Malbec planted at our estate Heart of the Hill vineyard on Red Mountain. The varietal thrives here, producing wines of uncommon depth and complexity, usually with a softer, rounder profile than many of its Bordeaux-varietal cousins. Although not grown in sufficient quantities for a wider release, we have found that keeping a few top-notch barrels for the tasting room and wine club is a popular decision.

Malbec has recently been “discovered” by the wine-drinking public as a superb stand-alone grape for fruit-forward, dark, approachable wines with lots of depth. This certainly holds true on Red Mountain, where plantings are relatively young but are already exhibiting a lot of character.

We are the first to admit that Gewürztraminer is an oddity for Red Mountain. But you can’t argue with the results! The majority of this block was planted in 1978, making it one of the oldest on Red Mountain. Its location at Ranch at the End of the Road vineyard is one the highest in elevation in the AVA, resulting in great exposure and excellent air drainage.

Getting nerdy is what we do best, and this wine certainly qualifies. Every year this block surprises us. Sometimes it’s great for off-dry wine. Sometimes it’s great for sweet late harvest. In 2014, the sweet spot was smack-dab in the middle of the sweetness spectrum, coming in at 2.6% residual sugar. It’s got super-awesome varietal typicity married with trademark Red Mountain flavor density and minerality. Niche of a niche, and ever-so-tasty.

Best of the Best, Platinum, Wine Press Northwest

We made rosé for most of the 80’s and 90’s. We love rosé. Then people stopped buying rosé, so we had to stop making it.

Well, rosé is cool again, and we are relieved. Because we make kick-ass rosé.

The trick with making kick-ass rosé is to pick it early. We like to use Sangiovese, a grape known for fantastic red fruit characteristic and bright acidity; fantastic attributes for rosé. We picked the grapes for this rosé way before the grapes for our Estate Red Mountain Sangiovese (a traditional red wine), were ready. Once we brought it in, we pressed it right away, allowing essentially zero skin-time. This is one pretty bottle of wine.

We have made Ice Wine for more than 30 years. But the margin we have to work with each year is becoming narrower due to climate change. That’s why we have (for several years) been R&Ding an alternative way to arrive at a similar end result: super-concentrated Chenin Blanc juice that we can ferment into premium dessert wine.

This is the same Chenin Blanc block in the same Kiona Estate vineyard that we use for the Ice Wine. The difference is that we adjust the canopy on the west side of the row so as to maximize exposure to the late fall afternoon sun. This process effectively raisins the grapes on the vine, resulting in the removal of water and the concentration of sugar and flavor components.

The goal was a 1-1 quality peer with the Ice Wine, Fortunate Sun certainly is that. It's a spectacular wine and we are excited to offer it as a companion to Ice Wine. It’s actually about 4% sweeter than the 2014 Ice Wine was, so it’s certainly no slouch. It was picked 1 to 2 months before we typically pick Ice Wine, but yields were very similar.

90 Points, Wine Enthusiast

Carmenère produces deeply-colored wines with somewhat gentler tannins than its stouter Bordeaux cousins Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. It is intensely aromatic and has a unique flavor profile. We have found it particularly useful for adjusting color and weight during the blending process. Our flagship *LINK: 2013 Estate Red Mountain Reserve* wine features a Carmenère component, so this relatively new addition to our repertoire has progressed to the upper echelons of our quality spectrum in short order. We grow just under 5 acres at our Heart of the Hill estate vineyard.