Out of the blue it looks like I am going to be in Walla Walla for a couple days in a couple weeks.
What are some recommendations you cats have?
Although I am from Portland and know Oregon wine pretty well, there is a black hole in my brain with our neighbors to he North.
The folks I’m going with are wine geeks and we don’t need the “winery experience” or “great views” or “a nice place to have a picnic” we want the good stuff even if the tasting room is in some warehouse in an alley. (Nothing against “great views,” just not at all a priority.)
Our tastes are pretty varied. Pretty versatile and open to exploring.
No. 1 reccomendation for good wine: K Vintners/Charles Smith. For dinner, Saffron. (Have heard good things about Passatempo too.)
If you change you mind about the view: Pepper Bridge Winery, outside deck. And if you change your mind about the experience/facilities: Corliss.
Charles Smith, Pepper Bridge and Woodward Canyon were all excellent. It wasn’t open yet, but I’m sure Trey Busch’s Sleight of Hand is a good stop. (Had a great visit with him at Basel Cellars when we were there.)
We also had a great meal at Whitehouse Crawford, which had a bunch of Cayuse on its wine list.
The Walls, very cool people. Great wines. Great winery setup. Breakfast at the Maple Counter Cafe- huge portions, but really tasty! Nice cocktails and small plates at Passatempo Taverna
No view, great folks and superb wine: Gramercy. I had visited Rotie and Kerloo in SoDo; but would recommend their wines any day, so worth a stop in Walla Walla. Room with a view, agree, Pepper Bridge. Down the street from Pepper bridge, Va Piano and sleight of Hand. I forget where Saviah was; but great folks and wine. If I remember, back to back to each other, or very close, Woodward Canyon and L’Ecole. Wish we had time to visit the Walls and Mark Ryan and K/Charles Smith, they are definitely on the next trip. So much good wine, so little time. Doubleback was closed when we were there but this Bledsoe fan will hopefully get out to their new digs soon. I recommend Abeja for a wonderful, higher end inn experience. their wines are tasty, too. Can’t wait to get get back to WA. Hope you all have a great trip.
Been there twice. Highly recommend staying at Abeja Vineyards. 5 Star accommodations and very nice wines. Each room is in a separate standalone building on the premises. For wine I echo the others but would add both Rasa and Doubleback (call both to reserve in advance) along with Va Piano and Gramercy.
Plenty of muscular, polished wines in Washington State - I found many lacking soul and drinkability, but there are also some really excellent wines there.
My best tip for refined wines is àMaurice where Anna Schafer makes some balanced wines that are a pleasure to drink.
I had some very good wines at L’Ecole No41 as well, and some of Woodward Canyon’s and Gramercy’s wines were good too.
Not all (maybe even few) will agree with me, but I wanted to offer my opinion too.
I get the comment about lacking soul - at least as it relates to most (definitely not all) cabernets. However, WA Syrah (actually Oregon as in the Rocks AVA) is very soulful and very unique. I do find a lot of drinkable wines in the <$20 category coming out of WA though IMHO. Many good suggestions above - I would second Rasa (kind of pricey though), K Vintners, Two Vintners, Gramercy, Doubleback, Figgins and Seven Hills. Cheers!
Here is our list of stops for our trip in a couple weeks (we go out at least twice a year) that you’d be able to get in to (meaning, not Cayuse):
Sleight of Hand
Dusted Valley
Gramercy
Maison Bleue
Kerloo
Ardor
Rotie
Pepper Bridge and L’Ecole are great as well, just not on our personal list for a “must stop”. I’d also echo The Walls as a newer winery worth checking out.
You have heard many good choices but for one you won’t have heard of but will find the wines outstanding, try Solemn Cellars. We were told about them last trip and their Syrah and both Cabernets were very good. I believe that their Syrah already sold out though…
Thanks everybody for the suggestions.
Our trip was very last minute and quick but we did get 5 places in.
Rotie, Gramercy we all loved, great stuff, great people. Bought a bunch.
Charles Smith/Sixto/K was very good too, a lot of variation there, liked some better than others. Lots of oak on some of them which was a bit of palette shock to my Oregon taste buds.
Sleight of Hand. Well…not a good experience at all, got there 40 minutes before closing and they were not pleased–at first they ignored us, then shoved us through a tasting, super itty bitty pours, no talking about the wines. It got so uncomfortable my wife just left and played with the dog outside. Wines were okay, probably tainted by the fact they didn’t want us there, although I did like and bought the Psychedelic Syrah. It was from The Rocks, I am definitely on board with the hype of the Rocks wines. Funk!
On the last day, after spending lots of time at Rotie and Gramercy, we popped by Northstar, mostly to sit in the vineyards, wind down and chill. Wines not bad at all. Nice folks and their Rocks syrah was quite nice.
Ate at Brasserie Four and Saffron, both really good.
So for a day and a half trip we got some good stuff in. I’m hoping to get back later this summer and spend more quality time and check out some of the other places we missed.
As other people have mentioned above. I highly recommend Gramercy Cellars, Doubleback, Mark Ryan and Rotie. For dinner and a change of pace, Brasserie Four is great. They have a large selection of French wines to go with the food.