Seth Kitzke of Kitzke Cellars in the new Candy Mountain AVA
Kitzke Cellars is the only winery in Washington’s new Candy Mountain AVA near Richland. Inspired by a love of farming and their neighbor’s vines, Vickie and Paul Kitzke planted a small vineyard of red grape varieties on Candy Mountain in 2000. In 2005, they produced their first vintage of Kitzke Cellars wines, and eventually turned their two-car garage into a tasting room. Their son Seth spent his teenage years working in the vineyard, but was also a semi-professional snowboarder travelling the world. When winemakers dropped by the house to chat, Seth was more likely to be found outside skateboarding than listening to the ins and outs of winemaking. His priorities changed after college and marriage, when he pursued wine studies at the Northwest Wine Academy and worked with various winemakers, including Charlie Hoppes, Brian Carter and Charles Smith. In 2015, he became head winemaker and viticulturalist for Kitze Cellars.
Seth is a rising star in the WA wine industry—a true winegrower who is involved 100% with everything from the vines in the ground to the wines in the bottle. His wines are terroir driven to the point that he uses only natural yeasts in his winemaking. He adopts other traditional winemaking methods such as field blending in the years when it’s possible. He’s partial to Cabernet Franc because that’s a grape variety that really thrives on Candy Mountain. But he also does several unusual wines for Washington, including Nebbiolo, a superb Super Tuscan, and a not-to-miss field-blended Bordeaux blend. Listen to this interview to learn more about field blending, native yeasts, Nebbiolo, the new Candy Mountain AVA, and much more.
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