I am looking for anyone growing the Kiowa blackberry. I want to see if real growers support the boast of this strain and where they obtained it. i am looking for a large heavy yielding blackberry for wine making. any help would be great.

The University of Arkansas has a very successful blackberry breeding program and I believe Kiowa is one of their cultivars. Google their program and you'll find info on their cultivars and where to buy plants. Their cultivars are easy to pick out of a list, because they named many of them after Native American tribes. Apache and Navajo are two examples. I wish I knew which ones we grew (thornless) when I was a kid, but we had amazing, HUGE berries.

Kiowa is a thorny strain. The fruit said to be the largest in the world.up to three inches long

I found two places that sell tc plants,but don't know about tc brambles

I have what was labeled Kiowa when I purchased it.  From one plant to many in 3 years, it just finished its berry season here in 8b.

This year we have had an unusual amount of rain, and very little sun, and mine are planted in part sun to begin with.  But the harvest was decent, about 50 cups of pretty sour tasting fruit.  Not bad just not as sweet as I remember.  They made excellent cobblers.  Largest berries here were the size of a quarter, but most were smaller.  I only fertilized with barn waste.  Maybe Calcium Nitrate would produce larger berries, IDK.

My wife and I were just talking about how this Kiowa would make a great wine.  I trialed many thornless a few years ago, but we were in a drought, none succeeded when the Kiowa seemed to thrive.  

Petals from the Past has 1 gallon containers for $9.  Really nice and professional nursery 20 miles from my house.

I got this variety 2 years ago. You should have seen the drug can you grow bramble from cuttings easy.

I grow many strains of blackberries. I have not grown Kiowa. Many fellow gardeners have though. It is a large, and very good berry. It is prone to leaf spot, and white druplet disease.  I was thinking of making wine, but with my elderberries. I can't really comment on what other blackberries would make good wine? I can give you some reviews of others. Triple Crown is a fairly large fruit, is extremely prolific, and one guy I know who sells blackberries from a home stand grows Triple Crown. I'm a blackberry snob, and looking to grow the best tasting. I don't have to be concerned with production. I find the raspberry-blackberry hybrids the very best in taste.  I like Boysen although wyeberry tastes like Boysen but is a bigger berry.
The new cultivars New Berry and Colombia Star are good tasting but take some time to produce well. Once established out produce all other raspberry-blackberry hybrids. Back to blackberries Natchez produces the largest berry I have seen, the taste to me is not that good though. Marion is the best tasting blackberry I grow. Production is low. Besides those mentioned I also have Siskiyou, Chester, Darrow, Tayberry, Treasure Island, Black Diamond, Prime Ark Freedom,and Navaho.  Some are small still so not much comments. Siskiyou is good tasting and productive. Black Diamond is not working here well, it needs a warmer environment. Chester is just OK, but produces like Triple Crown. Probably the hardiest and toughest of them all. A consistent high producer. Tayberry is another awesome raspberry-blackberry hybrid that tastes to me more like raspberries. Not very hardy either, but with protection works here. Navaho is very similar to Triple Crown but more upright, and not as heavy a producer.

I have grown Kiowa for the past 3 years.  Bought as tissue-culture plant from WellSpring Nursery (Ebay) along with Natchez.  Kiowa is extremely hardy in zone 7b/8a.  It produces heavily and berries are large - but sour compare to Natchez and Navajo.  The plant grows prolific and shoots up sucker like mad.  I grew few more plants just from cuttings and if you are into propagation - you can make hundreds in 2 years just from one plant.  It is thorny so not so easy to go around a pick fruits without spilling some blood.  One off-side as I mentioned is the sourness.   So, this year - I will pulling it off and put more Natchez because this one is also vigorous and fruits well.

I make wine and planted this for wine. Made a pretty good batch. Would rather have elderberry wine again. That was the best I have made so far. Have to see how these next three batches go to see if I got a new winner though

What characteristics are favorable in a blackberry used for wine as opposed to eating fresh? I thought the Ouachita had a better flavor than the Kiowa which I found to be more bland than a couple other varieties. Also, garden_whisperer, is that elderberry wine made with an improved variety or a native? I tried some elderberry jelly that was fantastic and was looking for a good improved variety or two.