Vineyards

Located in higher elevations, Quintessence is the largest contiguous vineyard on Red Mountain. Established in 2010, the vineyard is managed by Marshall Edwards (Grower of the Year), who previously worked at Ste. Michelle and Canoe Ridge Estate in Horse Heaven Hills. Dry weather combined with rich volcanic soils and controlled irrigation produces near perfect conditions for the development of premium wine grapes.

Grape varietals obtained: Cabernet Sauvignon

We started working with Marshall Edwards via Quintessence.   Marshall also manages Shaw Stanton so we knew the fruit was going to be epic.  We pull exclusively Petit Verdot from this vineyard located on Red Mountain.  It is a site with fine sand loam and silt loam soils that are perfect for growing world class Petit Verdot.  Located about 700 feet above sea level it has all the right elements: great soil, heat, sunshine and a little wind.

We met Dick and Luanne Boushey through some friends in the Washington wine industry. He is one of the best viticulturists in the industry. His vineyard site near Grandview, WA is pristine and beautiful after years of meticulous growing. Because we live several hours away, we do not get to walk Boushey Vineyards as much as Sawtooth or Skyline – which are only 45 minutes away. We typically visit after bud break, around veraison (when the fruit starts to turn from a green color to purple in red grapes), and as many times as we are able, prior to picking. Dick walks his vineyards every day and sends us regular reports on vine and fruit conditions. You can find out more about Dick Boushey in this article at Great Northwest Wine.

Grape varietals obtained: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc and Grenache Blanc

Milo May is an award-winning grower who is originally from Boise. When he was looking for a Boise-based winery to produce wine from his fruit, we were more than happy and lucky to take on the challenge.  His family’s growing site overlooks the Columbia river and gorge south of Prosser and is all managed beautifully by hand. We worked with him for the first time for the 2016 harvest.

Grape varietals obtained: Cabernet Sauvignon

Ciel was established in 1975 and for nearly 39 years has been providing grapes to some of the finest wineries. Ciel has a reputation for growing red wines grapes that have intense character and dense but supple tannins. The vineyard mission is to grow grapes that are the best reflection of the unique terroir and give a sense of place. 

Grape varietals obtained: Syrah

Jay and Shelly Hawkins purchased the Wool Ridge Sheep Ranch in 2015 and partnered with Greg and Andy Koenig to establish the 32 acre vineyard with nine red grape varietals planted in the spring of 2016.  Jay and Shelly, who both recently retired from long careers in high tech and health care respectively, are native Idahoans whose families have deep roots in farming.  

The vineyard site is one of the warmest vineyard sites in Idaho and has a south-facing aspect with great air drainage due to the tremendous slope of the property. The vineyard will benefit from one of the longest growing seasons in the area. The soil profile of the site is ideal for high quality grapes with a sand-loam-chalk structure that has tremendous drainage capabilities.  The site is located on the “Chalk Hills” in the Sunnyslope region.

In addition to French Creek Vineyards, Damon LaLonde is also the vineyard manager at Scooteney Flats – and has been since first planting of the vineyard in 2007.  The vineyard is named for the Scooteney soil that comprises 95 percent of the soil on site. 

​The vineyard is located on the lower elevations of Red Mountain, famous for a winning combination of latitude, temperature swings and high velocity winds.  These factors result in small grape clusters that concentrate intense flavors in the fruit. Damon continues to employ strict growing regiments to provide consistently high quality fruit.

Dave Daniel worked for a larger producer for years. When he was ready to slow down, he didn’t want to quit grape growing.

The vineyard was planted in 1998 and required ground-up retraining after freeze damage in January 2013. The vines recovered splendidly and produced an excellent 2014 vintage. Gravelly silt loam soil and a southern facing slope is an ideal combination to produce delicious Merlot grapes. “Since we are not a large vineyard we focus on raising quality fruit that gets a lot of personal attention. We are thrilled to be partnering with Telaya. We share Telaya’s values of the importance of family and your passion to produce world class wine from high quality Idaho grapes.”

Dave manages the vineyard. His wife Angie, and their kids Matthew and Liz help with their support and labor.

Sydney Nederend grew up in a family of farmers. As Sydney came into her own and started thinking about what she wanted to do as a career she kept coming back to several of her passions: wine, growing a crop and marketing products. With the help and blessing of her parents and support from her husband the whole family planted their first ten acres of fruit in 2014.

In 2015 they started off the season cutting everything back to the roots to try to get all of the vines up on the fruiting wire in one season. They were successful and planted another 10 acres that spring of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. In 2019 Sydney, and her husband James, went all into the wine business and purchased more vineyards and a whole other wine label from Greg Koenig. They now manage a fresh young brand in the SCORIA label, and also own the well established Koenig Vineyards label.