<br/>Avennia & Lydian Wines | Washington State

Old World instincts. Washington fruit. Two labels with the same principle: let the vineyard do the work.

Avennia

You know those origin stories where two people meet at the right moment and everything clicks? That's more or less exactly how Avennia began. In 2009, Marty Taucher asked winemaker Chris Peterson to look over a draft business plan for a new winery. The conversation moved to Fiddler's Inn in North Seattle, and by the end of the night, they had the outline of a partnership. Chris had spent seven years at DeLille Cellars making some of Washington's most celebrated wines and was ready for something new. Marty had spent nearly three decades at Microsoft running PR and brand strategy, while quietly building a serious wine collection and doing a crush internship at DeLille (which is where the two first met). They came at wine from completely different directions, and it turned out that was exactly the right foundation for a winery.

By the end of 2010, they had sourced 16 tons of fruit, built relationships with the state's best growers, and made their first wines. Those released in 2012 to real acclaim. More than a decade later, the same instincts guide everything: find exceptional vineyards, work closely with the people farming them, and trust the fruit.

Chris has spent serious time in Bordeaux, the Rhône, Tuscany, and Sicily, building relationships with growers and winemakers whose thinking informs his own. Native yeast fermentations, no fining, blending trials that continue until the balance is right. Fruit gets picked when it's barely, but definitively, ripe. Washington sits at the same latitude as Bordeaux and the Rhône, and the varietals that thrive there are the varieties that belong in Washington. Avenia wines carry Old World structure and restraint while being completely, unmistakably Washington.

The Vineyards

Boushey Vineyard — Yakima Valley AVA

Dick Boushey was the first grower Chris and Marty called, and he remains central to what Avennia does. Arnaut, the Syrah they've made every vintage since 2010, comes from two of Dick's oldest blocks — Grand Côte (1994), pure and focused with deep blackberry and mineral backbone, and Factory Road (1996), richer and more savory, with cured meat, orange peel, and iron.

Upland Vineyard / Newhouse Family — Snipes Mountain AVA Grenache from 1999 vines on steep, south-facing fractured basalt. Chris first sourced from this site in 2013 — pure red fruit, savory herb, crushed rock. It goes into L'Egerie Rosé alongside Mourvèdre from Kiona.

Kiona Heart of the Hill — Red Mountain AVA A warm, west-facing site farmed by Scott Williams, whose family planted the original Kiona vineyard. The Mourvèdre from this block brings structure and depth — it's the backbone of the rosé and a big part of why L'Egerie drinks so well with a few years on it.

Sagemoor & WeatherEye Vineyards — Columbia Valley Two of Washington's most respected sites, and the source for both La Perle and Gravura. The fruit here has the kind of concentration and precision that makes blending feel more like listening than deciding.

Lydian Wines

Lydian is Avennia's second label, made by Chris from many of the same fruit sources with the same attention. The name comes from the Lydian mode — a musical scale that's joyful on its own and becomes something more in the right hands. The idea behind Lydian is straightforward: Washington grows exceptional fruit, and that fruit doesn't have to be reserved for $60 bottles. Same vineyards, same winemaking philosophy, friendlier price.

Avennia and Lydian wines are available through K&N Wine Company. Contact us for wholesale pricing and availability.