{"id":1056,"date":"2020-05-18T17:54:24","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T17:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/?p=1056"},"modified":"2021-12-22T23:07:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T23:07:54","slug":"not-your-average-table-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/not-your-average-table-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"Not your average table wine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The sound of several tons of grapes pouring from a truck onto a crush pad is remarkably similar to that of red wine splashing into a glass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both sounds are familiar to Keith Kenison, \u201990, and his employees at the 14 Hands<\/a> winery in Prosser, Washington, where they process about 500 tons of grapes every day during harvest. Kenison is the head winemaker at the facility, which makes all of the reds for Washington\u2019s second largest winery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since he started shoveling grape skins out of the bottom of fermenting tanks in 1992, he\u2019s had hands-on experience at every level of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a degree in viticulture, but I\u2019ve spent many years at Ste. Michelle Wine Estates University,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After five years as a cellar worker, he became a quality assurance technician, and then an enologist in the wine lab. He crafted whites for Columbia Crest for a few years, then 14 Hands selected him when it opened in 2005. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, he oversees almost two dozen employees developing everything from reserves and one-of-a-kind seasonal wines to the No. 1 selling red wine in Portland and Seattle \u2014 Hot to Trot Red Blend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through it all, he\u2019s stayed connected to his rural roots. Born and raised in Heppner, Oregon, Kenison studied psychology at EOSC and earned enough scholarships to graduate debt-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was the first person in my family to get a bachelor\u2019s degree,\u201d he said. \u201cI wondered if it was really worth it sometimes, but I couldn\u2019t have gotten this job without one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His practical, customer-first approach means that every decision, from when to pick the fruit to which barrels to bottle together, is made based on taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNumbers and chemistry support our decision-making, but they aren\u2019t driving it,\u201d Kenison said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wine analysis lab, technicians watch the sugar level drop, indicating yeast is growing. They also look for decreasing malic acid, the compound that gives Granny Smith Apples their tartness, as it becomes lactic acid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n