Kiona Vineyards

John Williams and Jim Holmes met at General Electric in 1961 and both went on to work as engineers at the Hanford nuclear site in eastern Washington. In 1972 the two friends, along with their wives Ann Williams and Patricia Holmes, bought 80 acres of scrubby south-facing hillside above the Yakima River near Benton City. A few months after the purchase they came across Walter Clore's WSU horticulture research on the viticultural potential of the Columbia Valley, and the project shifted from speculative land purchase to vineyard development. The site had no roads, no water, no wells, no power. The four founders spent the next three years drilling a well, running electricity to the hillside, and clearing the land before putting roughly 10 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, and Chardonnay in the ground in 1975. Those first plantings were the first commercial vineyard on what would later be recognized as Red Mountain. Kiona became Red Mountain's first winery five years later, with its first vintage in 1980, a full 21 years before the area received its official AVA designation in 2001.

• John Williams and Jim Holmes met at General Electric in 1961; both worked as engineers at Hanford
• 1972: Williams and Holmes families bought 80-acre hillside above the Yakima River near Benton City
• Three years of infrastructure work (well-drilling, electricity, clearing) before first plantings in 1975: Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Chardonnay
• First winery on Red Mountain, first vintage in 1980; 21 years before the official AVA designation in 2001

The Williams-Holmes partnership ran for about 20 years across both the Kiona winery and the surrounding Red Mountain vineyards. The neighboring Ciel du Cheval Vineyard, which several of their Hanford coworkers had planted immediately adjacent to Kiona Estate after years of listening to Williams and Holmes talk about Red Mountain's potential, was part of the partners' joint holdings. In 1994 the founders decided to formally split those holdings while they were still able to do so on amicable terms. The Williams family retained Kiona Vineyards and the Holmes family retained Ciel du Cheval. The two operations have run as fully independent businesses ever since: the Williams family owns and operates Kiona Vineyards (winery plus estate vineyards), while Jim Holmes owns and operates Ciel du Cheval Vineyard as a separate vineyard-only operation that grows and sells fruit to dozens of Washington wineries (Andrew Will, Quilceda Creek, Cadence, Mark Ryan, Avennia, and many others) but does not bottle wine under its own label. The two families remain friends and were jointly honored with Lifetime Achievement awards from the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers.

• Ciel du Cheval Vineyard, planted by Hanford coworkers immediately adjacent to Kiona Estate, was part of the partners' joint holdings
• 1994 amicable split: Williams family retained Kiona; Holmes family retained Ciel du Cheval
• Two operations fully independent since 1994: Kiona Vineyards (Williams, winery plus estate) and Ciel du Cheval Vineyard (Holmes, vineyard-only grower-supplier; does not bottle under its own label)
• Williams and Holmes jointly honored with Lifetime Achievement awards from the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers

Kiona has remained a single-family operation across three generations of the Williams family. Founder John Williams (born 1937) and Ann Williams handed primary operational responsibility to their son Scott Williams (born 1958), who spent decades as head winemaker and has been the public face of Kiona for most of the producer's modern history. Scott and his wife Vicky Williams built out the estate from the original 1975 planting to its current 272-acre footprint and oversaw most of the bottling decisions that define the contemporary Kiona portfolio. In 2019 Scott handed the head winemaker role to his son Tyler Williams. Tyler and his brother JJ Williams, who serves as general manager, are the third Williams generation on Red Mountain. Tyler earned a biology degree from Gonzaga University, made wine internationally for several years, and returned to Washington for a master's in wine science from WSU's Viticulture and Enology program before stepping into the head winemaker role. Scott and Vicky remain actively involved in the broader operation alongside Tyler, giving the estate multi-generation continuity rather than a clean generational handoff.

• First generation: John (born 1937) and Ann Williams; co-founded Kiona in 1972/1975 alongside the Holmes family
• Second generation: Scott Williams (born 1958, John's son) and Vicky Williams; decades as head winemaker; built estate from 10 acres to 272 acres
• Third generation: Tyler Williams (head winemaker since 2019, after Gonzaga biology degree and WSU master's in wine science) and his brother JJ Williams (general manager)
• Scott and Vicky remain actively involved alongside Tyler; multi-generation overlap rather than clean handoff

Kiona now farms 272 acres across five Red Mountain estate vineyards: Kiona Estate (the original 1975 site), Heart of the Hill, Ranch at the End of the Road, Sunset Bench, and Artz. Heart of the Hill is the largest at 148.5 planted acres and the source of the producer's flagship Cabernet Sauvignon, which is dominated by Clone 2 (the inaugural vintage was 100 percent Clone 2). Heart of the Hill is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, with the balance in Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Carmenere, Petite Sirah, and Mourvedre. The Heart of the Hill Cabernet bottling sits at the top of the lineup and is made in small quantities (the 2016 inaugural was about 138 cases). The Estate Old Block Cabernet is the other flagship: it is sourced exclusively from the original 1975 Cabernet plantings at Kiona Estate, which still produce fruit today and are among the oldest Cabernet vines on Red Mountain. Both flagships sit above the broader portfolio of estate-bottled Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, Malbec, Chardonnay, Riesling, Old Vine Chenin Blanc, Chenin Blanc Ice Wine, and the producer's signature Lemberger (the Central European red variety known as Blaufrankisch in Austria), which Kiona has produced continuously from the original 1975 planting and remains one of the only Washington producers bottling.

• Five estate vineyards across 272 acres on Red Mountain: Kiona Estate (1975 original), Heart of the Hill, Ranch at the End of the Road, Sunset Bench, Artz
• Heart of the Hill: 148.5 acres, predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon (Clone 2-dominant); source of the flagship Heart of the Hill Cabernet Sauvignon
• Estate Old Block Cabernet: sourced exclusively from the original 1975 Cabernet plantings; among the oldest Cabernet vines on Red Mountain still in production
• Signature Lemberger (Blaufrankisch) bottled continuously from the original 1975 planting; Kiona is one of very few Washington producers working with the variety

Kiona's 1975 plantings predated every subsequent Red Mountain producer. Quilceda Creek was founded in 1978 (initially in Snohomish County, with Red Mountain operations developing later), Hedges Family Estate followed in 1987, Cadence in 1998, and the broader cohort of Red Mountain producers emerged through the 1990s and 2000s. The 2001 Red Mountain AVA designation, which formalized the boundaries of what is now widely regarded as one of the premier Cabernet Sauvignon zones in the Pacific Northwest, drew heavily on the documented planting history that Kiona established starting in 1975. Beyond its own bottlings, Kiona has supplied fruit to a generation of Washington wineries and the producer remains a working grower-supplier alongside its own estate program. The combination of founding-era plantings, multi-generation family ownership, broad portfolio (value Riesling and Lemberger through flagship Cabernet from among the oldest Red Mountain vines), and continued grower-supplier relationships gives Kiona a structural role in Washington's wine narrative that few producers anywhere in the state can match.

• Kiona 1975 plantings predated every subsequent Red Mountain producer: Quilceda Creek 1978 (Snohomish initially), Hedges 1987, Cadence 1998
• 2001 Red Mountain AVA designation drew on the documented planting history Kiona established starting in 1975
• Continuing dual role: estate winery plus grower-supplier to many Washington wineries
• Structural role in Washington wine narrative: founding plantings, multi-generation continuity, broad portfolio from value Riesling and Lemberger to flagship Cabernet from among the oldest Red Mountain vines