When Native Idahoan Greg Koenig became an architect, designing his own wineries and bringing volcanic soil to life through the vine was nowhere in his purview. Fortunately for Idaho wine lovers, his family background in the restaurant/hospitality industry and interest in fermentation science led him down this unexpected path to viticulture when he joined forces with his brother Andy Koenig, transforming the Idaho wine and spirits scene forever.
This passionate duo sought to bring Idaho the local, craft experience they had grown to love while finding their family roots in Austria. Koenig Winery emerged alongside the Koenig Distillery in one establishment in the late 1990’s, and a few years later, Greg brought the winery to its current location to expand their production and make way for more barrels of wine. Since inception, Koenig Winery grew from literally three barrels of cabernet in 1995 to a nearly 30,000 case production including wine they were helping make for others.
In 2019, placed his first project into the trusting hands of friends and owners of Scoria Winery, James and Sydney Nederend. While keeping close ties with his namesake and its newest winemakers, Greg’s new, small-scale wine project has afforded him the freedom to dive further into wine and add touches that he didn’t have as much liberty to do before, such painting the center of the wine barrels that beautiful wine red and studying the range of different flavor profiles produced by grapes in a single vineyard.
Tucked just behind its elder sibling, Devil’s Bedstead winery adorns a name and symbol adopted from a lesser-known mountain peak in the Pioneer Mountains reflects Greg’s childhood spent in Ketchum, Idaho. It’s familiar Italian-inspired exterior hosts wooden lattice pergolas, stonework and a grand mirrored-window entrance. An alluring fragrance of wine greets visitors who step inside the intimate atmosphere of minimalist warm earth-tones accenting concrete floors and vaulted ceilings adorned with beautiful basket-woven pendants. Framed wine labels designed with artwork from their children’s grade school and some of Greg’s original architectural drawings add personal touches to the main room while windows give glimpses into the second tasting room where visitors can sit cozied up in warm, fuzzy blankets amongst the wine barrels for a tasting of reds and whites.
One of the Koenig family members or friendly staff welcomes visitors with complimentary snacks to accompany the wine. Headlining the tasting selection, the Viognier is perfectly chilled and crisp with aromas of peach, apricot and lemon. Every subsequent wine pleases the taste buds, including reds, which have come a long way since Greg entered the Idaho wine industry, which was once comprised only of whites. He and his local wine colleagues, including Idaho wine pioneer Brad Pintler, studied wineries with similar climate and soil type in Walla Walla and found what they needed to make quality red wine, better irrigation and canopy management. After some major adjustments in the early 2000s, red wine grapes began thriving! Well, except for one…Greg put his best efforts into producing finnicky pinot noir before letting nature dictate its preferences for the thicker-skinned grapes of Cabernet, Syrah and Petit Verdot alongside white Viognier grapes that also prefer the hot, dryer regions.
Just as you would expect to taste when visiting other wine regions, Greg only uses Idaho grapes to produce his wines. Devil’s Bedstead wine is almost exclusively from the Koenig Estate vineyard and the 5-acre Fraser Vineyard, a special lot that was acquired from the Fraser family from where some of the best cabernet grapes in Idaho are grown. Because of its higher location on the slopes, Devil’s Bedsteads’s current library wine, 2017 Fraser Cabernet, is a celebration of the only known vineyard to have survived the harsh temperatures of the infamous “Smowmageddon” winter storm!
No matter the successes that may come, the one thing that has kept Greg in the Idaho wine industry so long is the sense of community. “I love the camaraderie of the business because everyone works together. The pioneers gave me a foot up and I tried to pay that forward working closely with the younger generation.” In addition to giving passing his knowledge down to other who have found a passion for wine, Kristen and Greg’s shared love for children has led to philanthropic endeavors aimed at supporting children and families in the community. Every year, Greg and Kristen Koenig also celebrate their own children with a bottle of their wine, Amelia and Alden’s Cuvees, from the first harvest on their years of birth. Both wines are culminations of some of the best grapes from the estate and are a continuation of vintages that started at Koenig Winery.
Alongside Koenig Winery, this newest addition to the wine family is a true state gem and a culmination of 25+ years of Koenig experience in the wine industry. After tasting these amazing new wines, there’s no denying that the Koenigs have given good reason for Idahoans to gloat over their wine. A visit to Devil’s Bedstead winery is the perfect way to experience local vino at its best!