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Westside District

Woodward Canyon Winery

One of Washington’s founding wineries, Woodward Canyon has made its name over the past four decades with age-worthy cabernet sauvignons and Bordeaux-style blends. Just as notable? The best-in-class chardonnay. In 2021, the winery celebrated its 40th anniversary and is currently transitioning to second generation ownership.

L’Ecole No 41

Founded in 1983, family owned L’Ecole No. 41 produces a wide range of Columbia Valley and Walla Walla Valley designated bottles, all bearing a picture of their headquarters, a former schoolhouse. While the red wines get much of the attention—and they deserve it—the whites are easily their equals. If you can’t make it to the winery, a second location pours flights and glasses in the Marcus Whitman Hotel downtown.

Waterbrook Winery

Whether you want a six-pack of rosé cans or an exclusive cabernet for $46, Waterbrook’s wines—along with those at sister tasting rooms Canoe Ridge and Browne Family—span the price spectrum, delivering quality at each level. 

Long Shadows Vintners

This project from former Chateau Ste. Michelle CEO Allen Shoup brings renowned winemakers from around the world to make one release each from Washington fruit. Napa Valley’s Rand Dunn crafts the outrageously good Feather cabernet sauvignon. Bordeaux’s Michel Rolland offers an unrestrained take on merlot with Pedestal. Whoever’s at the helm, the lineup doesn’t miss. 

Reininger Winery

There’s something to be said for knowing a place. Tracy Tucker’s family goes back five generations in Walla Walla Valley. She and her husband Chuck Reininger founded the winery in 1997, one of the first to focus exclusively on Walla Walla Valley fruit, then added a second label, Helix, that homes in on Columbia Valley. 

 

Downtown District

House of Bones/Proper Wines

Two side projects from Rôtie Cellars’ owner/winemaker Sean Boyd share an airy space downtown. House of Bones is a chardonnay-focused project in partnership with co-winemaker Kevin Masterman. Meanwhile, Proper focuses exclusively on a single vineyard in the Rocks District. 

Gramercy Cellars

Master sommelier Greg Harrington left behind a restaurant career to come to Walla Walla and make wines that “taste like dirt” (read: earthy). But you can still sense that restaurant background in his lower oak, lower alcohol wines—clearly meant for the dinner table. These are some of the best wines in the state, with distinctly high acidity. 

Foundry Vineyards

Walla Walla is known for wine and (a little more quietly) its large foundry, dedicated to creating large-scale sculptures from local and international artists. Mark and Patty Anderson, who started the Foundry, brought this same vision to their winery, which includes a sculpture garden as well as exhibitions—all paired with wines made from fruit sourced throughout the state. 

The Walls

This winery offers both Rocks District savory reds and cutting-edge Red Mountain wines, with grape varieties that digress from cabernet norms. Taste, for instance, the touriga naçional and souzão based Stanley Groovy. 

Corliss

Corliss makes a commitment few wineries in Washington can match: Vintages see extended time in the barrel and in the bottle before release. These are cult wines, made in a rich, luxurious style. They’re ready to drink when released, but are built for the long haul. (See also: sister winery Tranche in the Eastside District.) Note: Corliss is not currently open to the public.

Seven Hills Winery

Since 1988, Seven Hills has focused on making wines more reserved than the Washington norm. It’s now owned by California giant Crimson Wine Group. Longtime assistant winemaker Bobby Richards recently took over from founders Casey and Vicky McClellan, and continues to produce some of the state’s best and longest lived Bordeaux-style wines. 

Elephant Seven

Don’t be fooled by the whimsical label—an elephant floating away with a snout full of red balloons. Elephant Seven produces serious wines driven by fruit purity and simplicity. Several hail from Yellow Bird Vineyard, a site that highlights some excellent grenache and syrah in a part of Walla Walla known for cabernets. 

Forgeron Cellars

You can get various Forgeron wines from the Yakima Valley, Walla Walla Valley, and larger Columbia Valley. But it’s always hung its hat on understated chardonnay and syrah, with the latter coming from the ever-excellent Boushey Vineyard. 

Spring Valley Vineyard

Part of the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates family, this winery deftly explores an area of the valley northeast of downtown, where few else have planted. The wines, all reds, except a rosé and a viognier, find something special there, like the mixture of red fruit and savory herb displayed in the exceptional, merlot-heavy Uriah. 

Lawrelin Wine Cellars

This side project from longtime Washington winemaker Kendall Mix is genuinely singular, releasing wines that already have 10 to 15 years aging in the bottle. The winery takes care of all patient cellaring: You just get glorious cabernets and syrahs in their prime. 

Kontos Cellars

Second-generation winemaker and sixth-generation Walla Wallan Cameron Kontos and his brother Chris make power-packed red wines, with generous fruit and plentiful oak spicing. 

Time and Direction Wines

Winemaker Steve Wells left the East Coast and moved to Walla Walla Valley to make wine. He made the right choice, never getting in the way of his wines’ ample fruit intensity and balance. A number of the Time and Direction bottles focus on fruit from the Royal Slope, an area of the Columbia Valley that is quickly becoming one of Washington’s top syrah locations.

Morell Family Wines

Aryn Morell built an outsized imprint in Washington, previously overseeing winemaking for several top-tier producers. Here, with his own brand, he creates everything from a shockingly good sauvignon blanc to a knockout malbec-dominant blend. Other Morell labels  —Alleromb, Morell-Peña, the Royal Bull—are all worth checking out.

Charles Smith Wines

Charles Smith built an empire making top quality wines across the price spectrum for his various brands, including K Vintners, Substance, Sixto, and Casa Smith. The winery's Walla Walla tasting room is a converted auto repair shop and brings the vibe that has made the winery so successful.

 

Southside District

Caprio Cellars

Caprio Cellars checks all the wine country boxes. Sweeping views of Walla Walla Valley? Check. Plentiful outdoor spaces to take in such views? Check. Delicious wine to go with it? An emphatic, estate-planted check.

Devison Vintners

Peter Devison has long made some of  the state’s best whites, along with attention-getting reds at Tsillan Cellars, Efeste, and Cadaretta. Now at his own winery founded with his wife Kelsey, he takes things to a new level. The Devison offerings include a best-in-state rosé and sauvignon blanc as well as reds that show depth and intensity. 

Valdemar Estates

Established by a family with a 130-year winemaking history in Spain, Valdemar offers a visitor experience few in the valley can match, with expansive views of the Blue Mountains, exceptional Spanish tapas, outdoor seating, and water features. In July 2021, the winery announced itself as Washington’s (and perhaps the country's) first “100% inclusive and accessible” tasting room, complete with tasting cards for low-vision visitors, braille menus, QR codes that lead to signed and spoken wine descriptions.

Amavi Cellars

A sibling to nearby Pepper Bridge Winery, Amavi offers outdoor seating, sweeping views of the Blue Mountains, and cabernet sauvignon, syrah, and sémillon, many of which you can pick up for $25–$33. 

Saviah Cellars

Don’t tell affable owner and winemaker Richard Funk nice guys finish last. In his 20 years in business, Funk has moved Saviah to the head of the pack, with a broad selection of well-priced wines, especially elegant syrahs and Bordeaux-style blends. The winery’s the Jack label, with wines from $15–$25, provides an unbeatable value. 

Sleight of Hand

People might come to Sleight of Hand for co-owner, winemaker, and audiophile Trey Busch’s extensive vinyl and rock poster collection, now displayed in a recently remodeled tasting room. But they stay for the wines, such as the Psychedelic Syrah (as black olivey as a good tapenade) and the white peach and lime filled Magician Riesling.

Canvasback Winery

The Washington label for Napa Valley luxury brand Duckhorn Vineyards, Canvasback emphasizes cabernet sauvignon from its Red Mountain vineyard. But it also makes limited amounts of syrah and cabernet from Walla Walla Valley as well as a fine counterpoint to those rich reds: a bone-dry, lip-smacking, high-acid riesling. 

Va Piano Vineyards

Set in the middle of its estate vineyard and surrounded by undulating hills, Va Piano is wine country as you imagine it: captivating vistas and commanding wines. 

Pepper Bridge Winery

Majestic views of the Blue Mountains? Yup. Refined, structured, ageable red wines from estate vineyards, such as highly regarded Pepper Bridge and Seven Hills? Absolutely. 

Northstar Winery

While this winery, part of the Chateau Ste. Michelle family, now serves red and white wines from throughout the state, the reason for its founding remains its draw: Inside its tasting room, looking onto the Blue Mountains, you’ll find a showcase for Washington merlot’s potential in the Columbia and Walla Walla valleys. 

Tertulia Cellars

Tertulia has long made intriguing Rocks District wines. But its Elevation Vineyard wines take things to, yes, another level. This higher elevation site has a long growing season, which creates lower alcohol wines with a whole lot of acid and tannin structure. 

Dusted Valley Vintners

Want to easily check out what’s going on across the Walla Walla and Columbia valleys? At Dusted Valley, brothers-in-law Chad Johnson and Cory Braunel source fruit from all over, including estate sites Stoney Vine and Southwind, with a focus on Bordeaux and Rhône-style reds. For a casual, value-priced entry point, see its Boomtown label. 

Rasa Vineyards

Brothers Billo and Pinto Naravane left behind tech jobs to make wine. Billo, who serves as winemaker, followed up degrees from MIT and Stanford University with an MS in viticulture and enology from Stanford and an elite degree from the Institute of Masters of Wine. This is not an academic footnote: The wines are ecstatically meticulous. If you want to take tasting notes, bring graph paper. 

Doubleback Winery

This winery, founded by local boy turned star NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe and his wife, Maura, occupies a reconstructed barn-style building. That may sound like a rural-chic vanity project, but Doubleback uses estate vineyards to put out exceptional cabernet sauvignon. Sister winery Bledsoe Family Wines in downtown Walla Walla offers more range, from syrah to chardonnay.

Grosgrain Vineyards

In a state known for its decadent reds, Matt and Kelly Austin’s winery champions “underdog” varieties in a reserved style: a lemberger pet-nat, a particularly vigorous albariño. The reds are light and nimble. In just a few short years, Grosgrain has expanded the idea of what Washington wine can be. The stylish tasting room includes outdoor seating by one of the winery’s estate vineyards.

 

Oregon District

Force Majeure Vineyards

After spending its first few years in Woodinville, this project, working with estate fruit from Red Mountain and in Walla Walla, recently set up in the Rocks District in an old schoolhouse. These are opulent, topshelf wines with plenty of tannins holding it all together.

Rôtie Cellars

The wines here pay homage to the Rhône Valley. Try the savory, syrah dominant Northern Red. If the winery stopped there, it’d easily be among the top of the Washington class, but Rotie also kicks out thrilling white wine blends—and a stunning grenache blanc. A new Rocks District tasting room hovers above its estate vineyard. 

Cayuse Vineyards

When Christophe Baron planted his first vineyard on a cobblestone riverbed in 1997, he created a series of vineyard-designated, earthy, savory wines—singular to this region and truly among the best in the world. Alas, the winery is not open to the public and is mailing list only, though you can find occasional bottles in Walla Walla shops and in the secondary market—expect a profiteer’s markup. 

 

Airport District

Devium Wine

Keith Johnson, production winemaker at Sleight of Hand Cellars, started Devium out of a self-described “rebellious streak,” saying “If ​​I don’t push the boundaries, who is going to do it?” The results undoubtedly explore new terrain, from a pet-nat malbec to riesling grown at 3,000 feet above sea level to a red wine with no sulfur added. These are Washington wines on the cutting edge. 

Dunham Cellars

Founded in 1995, Dunham has come far, and is now known for its omnipresent Three Legged Red Wine, named after a winery dog. Bottles come at a variety of price points from the Trutina Red Blend to high-end Lewis Vineyard offerings—all worth it. 

Buty Winery

Over the years, Buty has dedicated itself largely to savory red blends from estate vineyards in Walla Walla Valley, Horse Heaven Hills, and Columbia Valley. Not to be missed though is the winery’s ode to Bordeaux blanc—a sémillon, sauv blanc, and muscadelle white. 

Prospice Wines

Owners and winemakers Jay Krutulis and Matt Reilly left behind law and architecture careers respectively to study winemaking at Walla Walla Community College. They found kinship there and decided to start a winery together. Prospice, which debuted in 2019, is one of the most exciting entrants on the Washington wine stage in the last decade. These wines—syrahs, a cabernet sauvignon, a viognier—smack with finesse.

Itä Wines

Itä is one of five wineries in Walla Walla’s “incubator” buildings, facilities the city built to help newer producers find their footing. Owner and winemaker Kelsey Albro Itämeri focuses on grapes from the foothills of the Blue Mountains, where she is currently planting an estate vineyard. Check out the winery’s thrilling merlot and syrah from Les Collines vineyard, further proof Itä is a producer to watch.

 

Eastside District

Leonetti Cellar

Try the one that started it all in the valley in 1977. These are cellar-worthy wines, especially the revered cabernet sauvignon. While Leonetti is not open to the public, a careful eye will find bottles in Walla Walla and Seattle restaurants. 

Tranche Estate

Located in its estate Blue Mountain Vineyard, Tranche’s winery presents grapevined and mountainous vistas. Luckily, what’s in the glass doesn’t disappoint either: consistently delicious Bordeaux- and Rhône-style wines. 

College Cellars of Walla Walla

College Cellars is the teaching winery for Walla Walla Community College’s viticulture and enology program, where budding winegrowers and winemakers learn their skills. In the glass that means wild experimentation and innovation—like a white wine released about a month after bottling. 

Abeja

Abeja has one of Walla Walla Valley’s most charming locations, on a century-old restored farmstead. The wines match—venerated grapes, like cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay, vinted with energy.

Walla Walla Vintners

This valley stalwart in the obscenely scenic Upper Mill Creek area changed ownership in 2017 but has continued doing its thing. While luscious, ripe Bordeaux- and Rhône- style reds remain the focal points, a mouthwatering rosé and the winery’s first-ever white wine, a sauvignon blanc, offer a nice swerve. 

àMaurice Cellars

This winery’s setting in the Upper Mill Creek area is among the prettiest in the valley. Winemaker Anna Schafer has made her name on viognier and malbec, but the whole lineup is a delight. 

Figgins

Chris Figgins’s parents founded the first winery in the valley, Leonetti Cellar. His own, Figgins, takes an old-world approach—focusing on a single vineyard per bottling. The two red wines offer dense flavors and firm, brawny tannins, while the riesling pays tribute to the first wine the family made. 

Reynvaan Family Vineyards

This cult winery works only with fruit from its estate vineyards in the Rocks District and in the relatively unexplored foothills of the Blue Mountains. The wines capture that area so singularly (black pepper!) that fans will know them with a whiff. Mailing list only but well worth seeking out.  

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Methods: To compile this list, Sean P. Sullivan selected wineries based on the overall quality of their wines, focusing on those that are local to that area, versus satellite tasting rooms for a winery located elsewhere.