I visited walla walla last year. It was a blast. Every place we visited had reasonable tasting fees, good wine, and knowledgeable/friendly staff.
Rotie Cellars: my personal favorite from the trip. Unique earthy/funky flavors in Rhône blends. Minimal oak, lighter weight.
Va Piano: I liked their Bordeaux blends. They also had the best Sauvignon blanc we tried in walla walla (which was a surprise that any place here had it)
Long shadows: very good Bordeaux blends, Syrah blends, and other blends (cab+syrah, Sangiovese+ cab). This was the longest tasting at 2+ hours and was very informative. I would recommend getting the charcuterie if you do this one.
Valdemar: this a Spanish wine company that recently started to expand to Washington. I booked them mainly because they had tapas and I was pleasantly surprised by how well they executed Washington style wines. They also had 10+year aged Rioja and options for both Spanish wine flights and Washington wine flights. The food was good too
Grosgrain: they have some interesting grape varieties. I think the focus is on whites and the reds tend to be lighter.
Gard and Bergevin lane- I had to visit these two since they have been on casemates. Both good stops.
Gramercy: good wines. Short tasting
Woodward canyon: I booked it because I was driving in from pasco. The Washington state old vines cab Sauvignon was worth the stop
Also, most places would waive the tasting fee or provide some sort of discount with a bottle purchase.
What type of wine or tasting experience do you prefer?
I spent a week there but it was 20 years ago. Good time of year to visit. I’d have to dig up a map to remember the cool places. As mentioned some are very expensive. Knew some of them from the W.W days.
But one thing I’d really recommend is visiting the local college where they have an enology program. Maybe because it was a special weekend they were open for tours and tasting, and you could buy a case of mixed wine of your choice for about $100.
It’s on the East side of town (not that big a town). Also had a farmer’s market on the weekend. If you continue East past the college, you go a bit up the hill there is a nice lake and park. We had bikes with us and did some bike rides around there.
Note that other than Napa/Sonoma this is a prime area for expensive wine reputation. Not that it’s wrong, but definitely a premium. Even back then I was wrestling with a $60 Merlot (I didn’t usually even like Merlot but yes it was good.) A lot of “wineries” there are there for location premium only. There had been a severe freeze even about 20 years ago that killed many plants and had to be planted. You will usually see Columbia Valley AVA or sometimes sub-appellations, many of which are excellent. So Walla-Walla is more of a “hub” for wine producers to collaborate and market their brand based on the name.
@pmarin …but don’t mean to make that sound negative. It is the greatest hub of wine production/marketing I’d been in because it’s such a small area with so many producers. At the time was told there were 88 wine producers there. As I mentioned many grapes come from nearby but not in the valley, but that’s OK. Some produce themselves and some just contract equipment. Some are negotiants that buy surplus and blend/bottle themselves. This is old info but from my memory W.W. (Walla-Walla, not Wine.Woot) was like a wine orgy town. Have fun!
@pmarin if you are heading to the South end past town, there was Basel cellars (very nice hilltop site), then headed to Saviah which has some more affordable wines like “The Jack” and also finer stuff. Then turn back North (appropriately) to Northstar. This was the one with the excellent $60 Merlot and I don’t usually care for Merlot but priced out of my range then. I think they had the entirely gravity-based system with no pumps.
I was on the mailing list for Drew Bledsoe’s winery (retired QB) but the deal is like if you order a case for $1200, then you can get VIP status and maybe next year you can be eligible for the $2000/case reserve stuff. I assume mostly for other sports players and TV personalities. Nice work if you can get it…. Now where is my box of wine?
Thanks to all responders. We leave domani for Seattle before heading to Spring Release weekend in Walla Walla on Friday. Stoked to be heading to a new wine area.
Leonetti excellent=expensive
Mark Ryan excellent=reasonable
Result of a Crush damn good=affordable
I’m thinking you know most of the good ones
Gård Vitners!
I visited walla walla last year. It was a blast. Every place we visited had reasonable tasting fees, good wine, and knowledgeable/friendly staff.
Rotie Cellars: my personal favorite from the trip. Unique earthy/funky flavors in Rhône blends. Minimal oak, lighter weight.
Va Piano: I liked their Bordeaux blends. They also had the best Sauvignon blanc we tried in walla walla (which was a surprise that any place here had it)
Long shadows: very good Bordeaux blends, Syrah blends, and other blends (cab+syrah, Sangiovese+ cab). This was the longest tasting at 2+ hours and was very informative. I would recommend getting the charcuterie if you do this one.
Valdemar: this a Spanish wine company that recently started to expand to Washington. I booked them mainly because they had tapas and I was pleasantly surprised by how well they executed Washington style wines. They also had 10+year aged Rioja and options for both Spanish wine flights and Washington wine flights. The food was good too
Grosgrain: they have some interesting grape varieties. I think the focus is on whites and the reds tend to be lighter.
Gard and Bergevin lane- I had to visit these two since they have been on casemates. Both good stops.
Gramercy: good wines. Short tasting
Woodward canyon: I booked it because I was driving in from pasco. The Washington state old vines cab Sauvignon was worth the stop
Also, most places would waive the tasting fee or provide some sort of discount with a bottle purchase.
What type of wine or tasting experience do you prefer?
I spent a week there but it was 20 years ago. Good time of year to visit. I’d have to dig up a map to remember the cool places. As mentioned some are very expensive. Knew some of them from the W.W days.
But one thing I’d really recommend is visiting the local college where they have an enology program. Maybe because it was a special weekend they were open for tours and tasting, and you could buy a case of mixed wine of your choice for about $100.
It’s on the East side of town (not that big a town). Also had a farmer’s market on the weekend. If you continue East past the college, you go a bit up the hill there is a nice lake and park. We had bikes with us and did some bike rides around there.
Note that other than Napa/Sonoma this is a prime area for expensive wine reputation. Not that it’s wrong, but definitely a premium. Even back then I was wrestling with a $60 Merlot (I didn’t usually even like Merlot but yes it was good.) A lot of “wineries” there are there for location premium only. There had been a severe freeze even about 20 years ago that killed many plants and had to be planted. You will usually see Columbia Valley AVA or sometimes sub-appellations, many of which are excellent. So Walla-Walla is more of a “hub” for wine producers to collaborate and market their brand based on the name.
@pmarin …but don’t mean to make that sound negative. It is the greatest hub of wine production/marketing I’d been in because it’s such a small area with so many producers. At the time was told there were 88 wine producers there. As I mentioned many grapes come from nearby but not in the valley, but that’s OK. Some produce themselves and some just contract equipment. Some are negotiants that buy surplus and blend/bottle themselves. This is old info but from my memory W.W. (Walla-Walla, not Wine.Woot) was like a wine orgy town. Have fun!
@pmarin if you are heading to the South end past town, there was Basel cellars (very nice hilltop site), then headed to Saviah which has some more affordable wines like “The Jack” and also finer stuff. Then turn back North (appropriately) to Northstar. This was the one with the excellent $60 Merlot and I don’t usually care for Merlot but priced out of my range then. I think they had the entirely gravity-based system with no pumps.
I was on the mailing list for Drew Bledsoe’s winery (retired QB) but the deal is like if you order a case for $1200, then you can get VIP status and maybe next year you can be eligible for the $2000/case reserve stuff. I assume mostly for other sports players and TV personalities. Nice work if you can get it…. Now where is my box of wine?
Thanks to all responders. We leave domani for Seattle before heading to Spring Release weekend in Walla Walla on Friday. Stoked to be heading to a new wine area.