Kiona Estate Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

I am writing this from a hotel in Richland. Drove down from Seattle yesterday, took the long way through Yakima, ended up on Red Mountain by late afternoon. First stop was Kiona. Always is. The Williams family planted here in 1975 when everyone told them eastern Washington was too hot, too dry, too windy to grow serious grapes. They were wrong about all three. Kiona is now the oldest winery on Red Mountain and they still sell fruit to half the cult labels in the state. The Estate Cab is the one I keep coming back to. The 2021 is dense. Black cherry, cassis, a mineral edge that tastes like the basalt the vines are rooted in, tobacco on the finish. Tannins are firm and structured, the kind that tells you this is going somewhere in five years. I put a case in a Bee Cave cellar last month and the client has already asked me to order another. At $32-38 this does what $80 Napa Cab does. Red Mountain is still the best-kept secret in American wine. Kiona is the reason.