Washington Wine Series 1: JJ Williams and Shae Frichette

JJ Williams, Kiona Vineyards
JJ Williams is General Manager at Kiona Vineyards & Winery on Red Mountain. Williams is the third generation at Kiona, where his grandparents John and Ann Williams planted the first grapevines on the mountain in 1975. Williams grew up on Red Mountain and started working in the family business at age 14. He says he spent his childhood “stacking and unstacking ladders, balancing shovels on my outstretched palm, and wondering why we couldn’t have cable television like ‘normal’ kids.” Today Kiona is one of the largest growers on Red Mountain, farming more than 270 acres and working with 60 plus top Pacific Northwest wineries. https://kionawine.com/ Shae Frichette, Frichette Winery
Shae Frichette is Co-owner and Assistant Winemaker at FrichetteWinery, a limited production winery and tasting room in the Red Mountain AVA in Washington State, USA. Shae completed Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Level 2, and Introductory Course and Exam to Court of Master Sommeliers.Sheisthe2015ATHENA Young Professional Award recipient,2015 Entrepreneurial Award recipient, 2015 Young Professional Award recipient, Mid-Columbia Ag Hall of Fame–Rising Star in ducted and graduate of Leadership Tri-Cities Class XX. Shae introduced Sashay Wines in 2017, a label for Frichette focusing on approachable red sand off dry rosés. The Sashay wines included Rosé of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Shae is currently Past Chair of the Board of the Tri-Cities Regional Chamber of Commerce and has served on the Board of Directors for the Red Mountain AVA Alliance,Visit Tri-Citiesand Advisory Board for UW Foster School of Business. She isa mentor with eMERGE, aSTEM based leadership program for girls. She is an active volunteer with the American Heart Association hosting an annual fundraising and awareness event and also founded the Benton City Giving Garden Project where more than a dozen wineries grow food and provide financial donations to the local food bank. As a community advocate, Shae volunteers by sharing wine and wine education forever a dozennon-profits in the Tri-Cities area each year. Prior to starting Frichette Winery, Shae lead the Organizational DevelopmentFunctionforStanley Black & Decker-HHI where she designed Leadership Development Programs for associates in four countries. Today, Shae is the head winemaker for Sashay and assistant winemaker for the Frichette Wines. She’s active in speaking at conferences and events on topics such as networking, providing stellar service and teambuilding. https://www.frichettewinery.com/ The Wine Concierge Club
https://thewineconcierge.co/
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