Kay Simon (wine)

Chinook is a Washington winery located in the Yakima Valley AVA. Founded in 1983 by the wife and husband team of Kay Simon and Clay Mackey, Chinook was one of the pioneering wineries that established Prosser, Washington as a major wine producing region in Washington state. Kay Simon, who began her career after graduating in 1976 from University of California-Davis in California's San Joaquin Valley and at Chateau Ste. Michelle, was one of the first female winemaker in Washington State. Chinook wines are widely regarded for their quality and help spread recognition for Washington wines. They are considered by wine experts such as Paul Gregutt to be "the classic expression of Yakima Valley fruit". Chinook's work with Cabernet franc, in particular, has garnered the statewide acclaim with the dry Cabernet franc rosé often described in wine reviews as a "Washington Chinon".

The winery is named after the Chinook wind that blows through the Pacific Northwest rather than the Chinook salmon that is also common to the region.

Chinook was founded in 1983 in the Yakima Valley by the wife-husband team of Kay Simon and Clay Mackey who met while both were working at Chateau Ste. Michelle with Simon as a winemaker and Mackey as a viticulturalist. They opened their winery at a time that the Washington wine industry began developing in leaps and bound and Chinook was part of a wave of small "mom and pop" wineries that opened in the 1980s. That same year, the Yakima Valley AVA was established as the first American Viticultural Area in Washington State. Chinook released their first wines from the 1983 harvest, a Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc in August, 1984. In November of that year they released a sparkling Riesling that they also served at their wedding reception.

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