Winemaker Notes
Brilliant and appealing notes of ripe peach and fresh picked apricot on a warm sunny day. Honeysuckle and a touch of tangerine envelope the senses, crushed slate, wisteria, and a gifted white rose entangle, enchant, and linger.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
With a kiss of reduction in its white peach, honeyed flowers, and subtle tangerine notes, the 2023 Viognier Art Den Hoed hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a round, lush mouthfeel, and a clean, light, graceful, incredibly drinkable style. It's a beautiful, incredibly classy Viognier that I'd happily put side by side with anything from the Northern Rhône.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Viognier Art Den Hoed Vineyard was fermented and aged in used oak and concrete. It’s bursting with pure scents of peach, apricot, white pepper and tropical flowers. The full-bodied palate is mouth-coating and richly flavored with layer after layer of spicy, honeyed fruit. It’s balanced by fireworks of fresh acidity and has a long, energetic finish.
-
James Suckling
Fragrant and clean expression of viognier with apricots, apple blossoms and guava on the nose. Medium-bodied with distinct varietal oiliness, but it has excellent freshness and a refreshing flower-petal astringency.
-
Vinous
The 2023 Viognier Art Den Hoed opens with a decidedly green-tinged bouquet of lime zest and green apples, complemented by savory herbs. A pleasant inner sweetness and oily textures spread across the palate, offset by brisk acidity and candied citrus tones that swirl throughout. It finishes incredibly long and spicy, leaving the mouth watering with a lingering minty freshness.
Located at the base of the Blue Mountains in Walla Walla Washington, K Vintners opened its doors to the public on December 3rd, 2001. The property at 820 Mill Creek Road where the winery sits was homesteaded in 1853 with the adjacent farmhouse built in 1872. The winery grounds with Titus Creek flowing through the lawn and the old pioneer planted trees, is a little slice of heartland Americana. The Winemaker: He loves to drink wine! Charles Smith, proprietor and winemaker, comes to Walla Walla after 11 years in Scandanavia. Originally from northern California, he has been involved with wine personally and professionally his whole life. And did we forget to mention... he loves to drink wine! The Vineyards: K Vintners is producing wines from 2 distinctive viticultural zones: Wahluke Slope and Walla Walla Valley. Each of these areas are unique and awesome for Syrah and the Field Blends produced. In April '02 two seperate blocks of vineyards were planted to Syrah adjacent to the winery in the rocky dry creek beds that run through K Vintners property.
Full-figured and charmingly floral, Viognier is one of the most important white grapes of the northern Rhône where it is used both to produce single varietal wines and as an important blending grape. Look for great New World examples from California, Oregon, Washington and cooler parts of Australia. Somm Secret—Viognier plays a surprisingly important role in the red wines of Côte Rôtie in the northern Rhône. About 5% Viognier is typically co-fermented with the Syrah in order to stabilize the color, and as an added benefit, add a subtle perfume.
As the first recognized wine-growing region in the Pacific Northwest, Yakima Valley is centrally located within Washington’s vast Columbia Valley. The region also includes Washington’s oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines, Otis Vineyard, planted in 1957, and Harrison Hill Vineyard, planted in 1963. Yakima Valley contains three smaller sub-regions: Rattlesnake Hills, Red Mountain, and Snipes Mountain and is ideal for both red and white wine production. In fact, Yakima Valley is Washington’s most diverse region, boasting more than 40 different grape varieties over about one hundred miles.
The cooler parts of the valley are home to almost half of the Chardonnay and Riesling produced in the state! Both are made in a wide range of styles depending on the conditions of the vineyard site.
But its warmer locations yield a large proportion of Washington’s best Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The finest Yakima Valley reds are jam-packed full of red cherry, currant, raspberry or blackberry fruit, as well as cocoa, herb, spice and savory notes, and exhibit a supple texture, great body, focus and length.