Avennia

Avennia's site traces the winery to 2009, when Marty Taucher asked Chris Peterson to review his draft winery business plan. Taucher had been brought on that year as a crush intern at DeLille Cellars, where he met Peterson, and the site says the two laid the foundation for what is now Avennia. The conversation continued at North Seattle's Fiddlers Inn, which the site names as the place where the vision for Avennia was born. Decanter dates the founding to 2010. The site describes the business as a winemaking partnership and states its core principles as a commitment to signature vineyards and natural processes in the cellar.

• 2009: Taucher asked Peterson to review his draft winery business plan
• Taucher met Peterson in 2009 as a crush intern at DeLille Cellars
• Vision for Avennia born at North Seattle's Fiddlers Inn, per the site
• Founded in 2010, per Decanter

As of September 2026, Avennia's site lists Marty Taucher as Managing Director and Chris Peterson as Winemaker/Partner; an event listing on the site calls Taucher Avennia's managing partner. Taucher, a native Oregonian, graduated from Oregon State in 1977 and joined Microsoft in 1984, where he led the Public Relations and Event Marketing teams for a decade and spent his last five years as Director of Marketing and Brand Strategy for a consumer and online product group. Peterson spent seven years at DeLille Cellars. He graduated from the University of Washington, majoring in the Comparative History of Ideas, and was the first graduate of Walla Walla Community College's Enology and Viticulture program. John Sigmar runs day-to-day production operations at the winery, and Dick Boushey manages the Avennia Estate vineyard.

• Marty Taucher: Managing Director
• Chris Peterson: Winemaker/Partner
• John Sigmar: runs day-to-day production operations
• Dick Boushey: manages the Avennia Estate vineyard

Avennia's vineyard page dates the Avennia Estate to August 2021, calling it one of the oldest vineyards on Red Mountain, and the site refers to it as its estate vineyards. An estate event page on the site says the vineyard was formerly known as Tapteil and was planted in 1985 by Larry and Jane Pearson. Cabernet Sauvignon Clone 8 is the dominant planting, with small blocks of Merlot and Cabernet Franc; Avennia has added six more plantings, bringing the total to nearly 26 acres. The site lists soils as a mix of Scooteney coarse-loamy soil, Warden very fine sandy loam, and Missoula flood deposits at 750 to 850 feet. Estate fruit plays the leading role in Avennia's vineyard-specific wines and also goes into Gravura. The site names three partner vineyards: Red Willow in the Yakima Valley AVA, owned and managed by Mike and John Sauer; Boushey in the Yakima Valley AVA, owned and managed by Dick Boushey; and Sagemoor in the White Bluffs AVA, listed under Allan Bros. Inc. and Victor Perez, with Cabernet Sauvignon planted in 1972 and 1973. The winery says it chooses not only vineyards but favorite blocks within them, with an emphasis on older vines and moderate climates.

• Avennia Estate (Red Mountain AVA): formerly Tapteil, planted 1985, nearly 26 acres, 750 to 850 feet
• Red Willow (Yakima Valley AVA): Mike and John Sauer
• Boushey (Yakima Valley AVA): Dick Boushey
• Sagemoor (White Bluffs AVA): Cabernet Sauvignon planted 1972 and 1973

Sestina Cabernet Sauvignon is Avennia's Left Bank Bordeaux-style blend, named for a poem form; the 2023 is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc from Red Willow, Dionysus, Bacchus, and DuBrul, aged 21 months in 60% new French oak. Valery, a Right Bank Bordeaux-style blend named for the patron saint of wine in the Saint-Émilion region, pairs old-vine Merlot from a stony block in Boushey Vineyard with Cabernet Franc from Champoux Vineyard; the 2023 is 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. Gravura is a Bordeaux-style blend emphasizing Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, its name a play on an artisan printing technique and on the Graves region. Arnaut is a 100% Syrah from Boushey Vineyard, named after the Provençal troubadour Arnaut Daniel, who invented the sestina poem form. Justine is a Southern Rhône-style blend; the 2024 is 60% Grenache, 26% Mourvèdre, and 14% Syrah. From Red Mountain come Avennia Estate Red Wine (52% Cabernet Franc and 48% Cabernet Sauvignon in 2023), Avennia Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon that blends estate fruit with other sites in the AVA. The white and rosé wines are Oliane (100% Sauvignon Blanc), La Perle (a white Rhône-style blend, 72% Roussanne and 28% Marsanne in 2024), and L'Egerie, a rosé of 70% Grenache and 30% Mourvèdre named after the French word for Muse. The trade page also lists Parapine Grenache, and the Drink/Hold chart lists special releases including Le Corbeau. Avennia's shop also sells Lydian wines, which the site says were established in 2019 by the team behind Avennia: a Cabernet Sauvignon, a GSM, and Sb|S, a blend of 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Sémillon.

• Sestina Cabernet Sauvignon: Left Bank Bordeaux-style blend (2023: 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc)
• Valery: Right Bank Bordeaux-style blend of Boushey Merlot and Champoux Cabernet Franc
• Arnaut: Boushey Vineyard Syrah; Justine: Southern Rhône-style blend led by Grenache in 2024
• Whites and rosé: Oliane (Sauvignon Blanc), La Perle (Roussanne and Marsanne), L'Egerie (Grenache and Mourvèdre rosé)
• Red Mountain: Avennia Estate Red Wine, Avennia Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon

Avennia sums up its cellar approach as "Talk less, say more," saying on its site that its "minimalist approach in the cellar results in wines of elegance, complexity, and balance." The winery says it chose grape varieties used in Bordeaux and the Rhône because "their similar latitude to Washington makes them a natural fit to excel here," and cites the naturalist vigneron methods of the Old World as its inspiration. Per the site, the wines are fermented with native yeast and bottled unfined, and blending trials are used extensively. Avennia states its picking philosophy as "pick the fruit when it is barely, yet definitively, ripe," and says its blending can combine different blocks, new and older oak, large and small barrels, or wine aged in concrete. Avennia writes that "the highest compliment in a wine is to be balanced and harmonious." Decanter's Brooke Herron described Peterson's approach as minimalist and Old World-style, focused on judicious blending.

• Avennia's stated approach: "Talk less, say more"
• Native-yeast fermentation and unfined bottling, per the site
• Extensive blending trials across varieties, blocks, oak ages, barrel sizes, and concrete
• Decanter: minimalist, Old World-style winemaking focused on judicious blending

Avennia's site lists two tasting rooms: Woodinville, at 14480 147th Pl. NE, Ste. E20, and the Avennia Estate on Red Mountain in Benton City. The Avennia Estate Guesthouse, a two-bedroom house at the top of Red Mountain, sits amid the estate vineyards steps from the estate tasting room. The wine club has four levels (Début, Petit, Demi, and Grand) and two releases per year, one in the fall and one in the spring.

• Tasting rooms in Woodinville and at Avennia Estate on Red Mountain (Benton City)
• Estate Guesthouse on Red Mountain, 2 bedrooms
• Club: Début, Petit, Demi, and Grand levels; fall and spring releases

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.avennia.com/our-story/, https://www.avennia.com/vineyards/, https://www.avennia.com/winemaking/, https://www.avennia.com/visit-us/, https://www.avennia.com/estate-guesthouse/, https://www.avennia.com/membership/, https://www.avennia.com/trade, https://www.avennia.com/our_teams/john-sigmar/, https://www.avennia.com/events/avennia-estate-summer-celebration/, plus Avennia product pages for the 2024 Arnaut, 2024 Justine, 2024 Oliane, 2024 La Perle, 2025 L'Egerie, 2023 Sestina Cabernet Sauvignon, 2023 Valery, 2023 Avennia Estate Red Wine, and 2023 and 2024 Lydian wines, and Avennia tech sheets and Drink/Hold chart hosted at avennia.com. Secondary source: Decanter, "Washington's Woodinville wineries and top bottles to buy" (Brooke Herron, 2022). Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs. Last verified 2026-09-23.