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Fall 2025 Wine Club Release - The Wines

Heart racing selections

By: JJ

Bottom Line Up Front

  • This page details the wine selections for the Fall 2025 Release
  • For logistical information on the Fall 2025 release, go here
Tyler Williams - Pour

At Kiona, we think it's important to offer two kinds of products in the portfolio:

  • Wines you've heard of, produced in a classical style
  • Wines you probably haven't heard of, with some leeway to experiment with style


Assuming that we need to earn the trust and respect of every guest that walks through the front door, it's imperative that we build a rapport with that first "wines you've heard of" category. If a guest can come in and enjoy a wine that they have experience with, that's a touchpoint in the relationship between visitor and producer that we can both agree on:

"This is a wine that I'm familiar with, and the Kiona-grown bottling I just tried is a compelling version of that wine/style/grape."


Now imagine a guest walks into the winery and sees that there are only offerings from the second "wines you probably haven't heard of" category. There's no reference point with which to gauge the products. A (hypothetical) lineup of Orange Gewürztraminer, sparkling Carmenère, and carbonic Lemberger, for example, might not land the same way if presented without a familiar wine/style with which to orient the taster. Even if they are delicious, a lineup of "weird" wine from top to bottom would be a head-spinning experience.

That's why—in our tasting room and in our releases—we aim to offer compelling versions of wines you've heard of, and some things you probably haven't. Once we build that trust around the familiar, we can grab the drinker by the hand and swan dive into the unknown together:

"This is a wine I haven't heard of before, but I know I can trust Kiona because their traditional wines are delicious."

Naturally, the Fall 2025 release features wines from both categories, and longtime members may be inclined to go back through prior releases to find that we've held this philosophy for a long time - decades!


2022 Estate Bottled Red Mountain Heart of the Hill Cabernet Sauvignon - Wine Page - All Clubs


We already knew that Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon was special before we planted our first block at Heart of the Hill vineyard in 2006.


We just didn't know how special.


In the intervening 20 years, Heart of the Hill propelled our reputation, and indeed the reputation of the entire Red Mountain region, into the stratosphere. The list of Heart of the Hill winery clients reads like a literal "Best Wineries in the Pacific Northwest" feature, including (but not limited to) Betz Family Winery, Fidélitas, Avennia, Syncline, Northstar, Passing Time, and Upchurch. At 148.5 planted acres, Heart of the Hill represents 54% of our vineyard plantings - it's larger than the other four vineyards combined. The site is mostly planted to Cabernet Sauvignon (>80%), with the balance dedicated to Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Carmenère, Petite Sirah, and Mourvèdre. We do not vineyard-designate with reckless abandon. A vineyard-designated wine must fulfill two requirements:

- Represent the vineyard in the best possible light
- Offer a compelling, distinctive departure from our multi-vineyard blends

This 2022 bottling checks both boxes emphatically; it's a true showcase that deserves to sit atop our portfolio. The blend includes Merlot (12%) and Petit Verdot (6%) components, spent 24 months in 49% new French oak, and was aged for 9+ months in the bottle before release.

2022 Estate Bottled Red Mountain Lemberger - Wine Page - All Clubs


From Paul Gregutt's review, which we think sums our tradition with Lemberger nicely:

"Lemberger has been a staple at Kiona over many decades, and arguably no one in America does it as well. Despite the rustic tendencies of the grape, Kiona does a more stylish, sculpted version, at times almost like a Claret."


The 2022 Lemberger is the first to carry the Sustainable WA designation, as all of our estate vineyards were certified for that vintage - the first year of the program.


One thing we like to point out about Lemberger (the grape) is that it's almost entirely found in cooler growing regions: New York, Germany, Austria, etc. We're growing Lemberger in a place that can fully ripen Cabernet Sauvignon - the same cannot be said of those other regions. That makes our planting here on Red Mountain a one-of-one expression of the grape. Tyler and the winemaking team eschews new oak in favor of stylish, gentle neutral oak barrels, a decision that emphasizes fruit, freshness, and verve.


We've offered the Lemberger (a red wine!) chilled in the tasting room all summer; it's been extremely popular. This is arguably the most versatile wine in our lineup - it's just as tasty serve chilled on the patio as it is dressed up for the main course.


Since producing the first commercial Lemberger in the United States way back in 1980, we've noticed a few cyclical changes in Lemberger awareness and demand. In those early days of Washington wine, Lemberger was much more prominent and there were several producers in the region making one. As of about 2005, there were only 3-4 producers making the wine in meaningful quantities, and even fewer in the ~2018 range. Now, in the post-COVID wine world, we've seen a resurgence in interest for the grape - we've fielded many more calls from wineries wanting to purchase our fruit for their own versions (a request we usually have to politely decline).

2022 Estate Bottled Red Mountain Malbec - Wine Page - All Clubs


We employ a Bayesian philosophy here at Kiona - we're eager to incorporate new observations and learnings in our process.


Enter the 2022 Estate Bottled Red Mountain Malbec.


One of our recent commercial and critical darlings over the last ~5 years was the Estate Bottled Red Mountain Fortuna, a South American-inspired cuvée featuring approximately equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, and Malbec.


Five years and three iterations of blending Fortuna proved to us that our Heart of the Hill Carmenère (11%) and Kiona Estate Old Block Cabernet Sauvignon (3%) belonged in the blend with Malbec.


This is, for all intents and purposes, a Malbec-dominant version of Fortuna. Not that our Malbec needed a makeover - the 2021 version was one of VinePair's "16 Best Malbecs of 2025" after all. But we are not ones to rest on our laurels, and we're very excited to share this new darling with you.

2023 Columbia Valley Old Vine Chenin Blanc - Wine Page - 'Mixed Reds & Whites' Only


Kiona Vineyards became Kiona Vineyards and Winery when we launched our winery with two wines in the 1980 vintage - Lemberger (detailed above) and Chenin Blanc. For as long as we've been a winery, these two wines have been a part of our tradition.


My brother (and Kiona's winemaker) Tyler Williams has an affinity for this grape, and it shows. Before getting his Master's in Wine Science, he spent nearly a decade making wine around the globe. Two stops along the way were of particular importance as far as our Chenin Blanc is concerned - Sicily, where the takeaway was that white wines deserved layering and texture, and South Africa, where the takeaway was that our Columbia Valley version needed to be a touch drier.


Compared to "pre-Tyler" iterations of this wine (2018 and older), the 2023 features a "Goldilocks" sugar and acid ratio - at 5.2 g/L residual sugar, it's not quite bone dry, but not overtly sweet - juuuust right. We also employ a mixture of fermentation vessels and methods in the blend - 13% of the volume fermented in clay amphora, 9% in new French oak, and 17% in a mixture of older barrels. The interplay adds depth and complexity.


A fairly unique approach to this Chenin Blanc's mid-palate texture and richness is the addition of both Viognier (8%) and Roussanne (2%) components. These are not traditionally found in Chenin Blanc but we've found them to be uniquely suited to the house style we're going for.


Chenin Blanc has the versatility to be the perfect porch wine - drink it with an ice cube. It also totally belongs at your next white tablecloth dinner, paired with fresh seafood or fancy salad. You decide!

2021 Estate Bottled Red Mountain 50th Anniversary Cabernet Sauvignon - Wine Page - 'Premier Reds' Only


When we planted Cabernet Sauvignon here in 1975, the region was considered a dusty, desolate backwater suitable only for jackrabbits and summer stargazing. Now, fifty years later, Red Mountain is regarded as one of the finest wine regions in the world.


This wine is a celebration of our 50 years on Red Mountain, and the people who have helped us along the way.


We owe a debt of gratitude to our grandparents, John and Ann Williams, for taking a chance on an overlooked piece of land on the edge of town. Their moxie, gumption, and perseverance continue to shape the Red Mountain AVA to this day, five decades later.


Our parents, Scott and Vicky Williams, committed their careers to an uncertain future in a fledgling industry. Without their hard work and vision, there is no Kiona.


We’re honored to have employees who make us better, who have dedicated their lives to this craft, and have done the heavy lifting to put this tiny postage stamp of a wine region on the world stage where it belongs.


Last but not least, there’s you: we owe everything to the fine people who purchase our wine. Thank you.

Remember, each release is 100% customizable. Please refer to this page for dates and details of this release.


Cheers!