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Our History
Our history began decades ago and through time our story has weaved through foundation, growth, determination and a vision. We invite you to learn about how our iconic winery was founded and who leads our wine program into the future.
1968
The Koenig Family immigrated from Austria to the United States and settled in Ketchum, Idaho where they were in the hotel business for many years.
1995
Greg Koenig and his brother, Andy grew up visiting their grandparents who were farmers in the Treasure Valley. Greg went on to study architecture at the University of Notre Dame and his brother, Andy graduated from University of Idaho with a degree in Agriculture. Both of the brothers spent part of their childhood in Austria learning and observing traditional winemaking and distilling techniques. The brothers eventually founded Koenig Distillery and Winery together in 1995.
1999
Together, the Koenig brothers opened their first Distillery and Winery building located off Plum Rd. Production of both wines and spirits happened under one roof. Their goal was to produce fine wines and spirits using traditional European methods and locally grown fruit. Through their travels abroad and time spent with family in Sunny Slope, they saw huge potential here to grow and source locally grown fruit to use in their wine and distilling program. Since the beginning, Koenig has always used Idaho fruit for the winemaking program. We stay true to this ideology today.
2009
Greg’s winemaking production had officially outgrown the the quaint Distillery & Winery building on Plum Rd. He and his wife Kristen purchased the current 10-acre Estate, and built a 12,000 square foot production facility on Hoskins Rd. Now, his crush pad and winemaking facility was large enough for growth of Koenig wine production and new custom crush clients. Now, he and his brother were operating at separate facilities.
2015
Greg Koenig had more room to focus on his iconic brand and take on a new custom crush client, SCORIA. This marked the beginning of an important partnership between Koenig and SCORIA. Greg wanted to source fruit from the new SCORIA plantings to add to his portfolio of wines. The soil and farming heritage SCORIA offered promising wines for the future. In 2016, the first harvest came from the SCORIA vineyard of Malbec and Petit Verdot of which Greg contracted as much as he could.
2016
After many designs and years of waiting, our new Tasting Room was finally built and opened in the fall of 2016. The Koenig brothers were now officially operating independently of each other.
2019
Greg and Kristen Koenig sell their beloved winery to James & Sydney Nederend of SCORIA, the next generation Idaho winemakers and vintners.