Winemaker Notes
2024 was quite a year for grapes in Washington State. An early and unusually harsh freeze hit vineyards hard at the end of the 2023 growing season. The Walla Walla Valley was particularly affected, with nearly 100% bud damage to our estate vineyards. Other parts of the state looked bleak at first, but vines are resilient—plants want to grow, and Mother Nature nurtured those not completely decimated by the freeze. Surprisingly, quality remained high despite the challenges. While atypical and lower in yield, the 2024 harvest produced wines of remarkable complexity, focus, and intensity – beautifully expressive and fascinating in character.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2024 Viognier Art Den Hoed is a great representation of the variety in the state in the right hands. It’s creamy, luscious, and yet also completely fresh and full of verve. Light-bodied, it shows snappy layers of apple, pear, and honeycomb, with 6-8 years of aging potential to boot, if not more.
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Vinous
The 2024 Viognier Art Den Hoed is savory and perfumed, with nuances of fresh ginger and sour melon creating its pure bouquet. It opens with a balanced inner sweetness and vividly ripe melon tones elevated by a tinge of confectionery spice. Subtly tropical yet beautifully balanced, it leaves a distinctly salty flourish to linger.
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.