Now, these are not the convenient, walk from your hotel down the street and stumble upon these locations. I actually prefer to head outside of the main downtown space and visit actual wineries where you can experience their vineyards. And honestly, I think during COVID was the best time to do this. Each location took special care and attention to setup their outdoor space, there were no crowds and the views were just incredible. Here is my must visit list of wineries. Enjoy!
Waterbrook Winery
Visit this on the way into or out of town since it's actually a bit outside of everything else. If you plan it right, you can catch a late lunch/early dinner or an early lunch on the way home. The property is beautiful and they have plenty of outdoor seating. We actually had to cancel our reservation there this time because we were going to arrive too late, but we've been for a tasting and their wine is awesome and affordable. They also have a shop full of the cutest wine and picnic supplies, so you'll want to plan some time to look around here.
COVID adjustments: Reservation is required. No tastings, but flights are available. They serve food. Disposable cups, plates and flatware in use.
Garrison Creek Cellars
This is by far our absolute favorite when we go! Here you actually get to see the barrel room and taste directly from the barrel (your host will choose which wine they think would be good), you get to see the library collection and they even provide a light snack!
Kai has helped us both times we've visited and this time he made it extra special for us. Knowing we were celebrating 10 years of marriage, he brought us our favorite, Cabernet Sauvignon, in 3 different years in addition to our normal tasting. Of course we bought a bottle from 2010 (the year we got married)!
In addition to all of the amazing wine we had here, we really enjoyed the light breeze outside where they sat us under a shade umbrella. The tables were high top which was a nice change and we enjoyed our crackers, cheese and raisins while laughing and taking pictures of each other. It's just truly one of my favorite places in Walla Walla and it means so much to us to visit here. I can't wait for our next trip!
COVID adjustments: Reservation is required. Limited outdoor seating for reservations. Must call at entrance to Les Collines (their vineyard) and then call the shuttle to escort your car up.
Aluve
The owners have the absolute sweetest story about how their winery became theirs and how they came up with their name and logo. A little teaser for you (because it's so much more meaningful to experience it from them in person), they were both in the Navy. One of the most unique things about their wines was their Chardonnay. I'm normally not a fan, but there's was just so yummy. They have seating outside with a wonderful view of their vineyard. They even sent us a thank you card after we joined their wine club!
Balboa Winery
No joke, this winery got it's name from Ricky Balboa. We really enjoyed it here. The outdoor seating area seemed fairly new (or they just took really great care of it) and we enjoyed chatting with the servers.
They went a little off the menu and poured us other wines and spent time educating us which we appreciated.
They had the most unique selection of wines we tasted the whole trip but that made it so exciting! We picked up a few bottles here to take back as gifts and to drink for ourselves. Pretty sure we just bought wine at every stop.
Walla Walla Vintners
I love the atmosphere here. You walk out towards their vineyard and sit in these anorak chairs and enjoy the view, wine and your company. This time, because of COVID, they come out to you to pour your next tasting so you don't even have to get up. We joined their wine club. We love that you can customize 3 bottles twice a year so you can get what you want!
This is a Walla Walla staple and a must visit while in town. The service is great and they even let us sample a few other options before selecting bottles to purchase! If you're visiting during the summer, make this the first stop on your list so it doesn't get to hot while sitting out in the sun!
Long Shadows
This continues to be one of our favorite wineries in both Walla Walla and in Woodinville. They have a few really unique bottles of wine that we love! They were actually closed this time due to COVID, but we will visit on our next trip!
The Incubators (SMACK Wines and ita wines)
This was a surprise addition to our schedule as Kai at Garrison Creek told us to go here because his wife had just recently opened ita wines. THIS PLACE IS SO CUTE!!
We only had enough time to visit two of these little gems, but they were both so great! We cannot wait to go back and visit both of these ladies. They both accepted us as walk ups and this was definitely the "wing it" portion of our trip during the late afternoon that I had open for us which totally paid off!
We wish they hadn't been close to closing time as we arrived and look forward to coming back to see the rest.
First we went to SMAK Wines which specializes in Rose wine! She creates them based off the seasons so you don't have to wait for summer to drink Rose. We actually ended up buying a few bottles here!
We loved each of them for different reasons and you could totally tell why she did what she did for each season.
Her building and décor were so girly and cute that I couldn't help but obsess. Lots of marble and pinks made me happy! You could tell she really cared about her entire presentation and brand.
The second one we visited was ita wines. The owner's name is Kelsey and she is Kai's wife from Garrison Creek.
She was SO much fun to chat with and told us all about how her winery became hers and what her upcoming harvest season was going to look like for some reds!
We aren't normally white wine drinkers, but she had some really good choices and we ended up buying bottles here too!
We can't wait to go back and see her again. She was so sweet to send us a thank you note!
Okay to Miss:
Not that I have anything bad to say about the following wineries, they just weren't as impressive as the list above, so if you're planning out your time and aren't sure where to make cuts, go ahead and skip these.
Mark Ryan: The wine is one of our favs, but there's just nothing special at the location and the service is not always the best. The guy pouring our tasting hadn't even had half the wines which we thought seemed a little weird. If you live in Western Washington, just go to the one in Woodinville and you'll have the exact same experience (actually probably better).
Seven Hills: We actually only liked one of their wines. Although they do have a nice setup and take very good care of you, we just weren't a fan of the assortment.
Tranche Cellars: Although the location is nice and the view is pretty, we didn't get that feeling when drinking their wines. It seemed like pretty basic wine that you would buy in a grocery store. There's nothing wrong with that, just not what we were looking for and we visited on a whim.
Is there a winery you love that didn't make my list? Leave me a comment below and tell me about it so I can check it out next time! Cheers!
XOXO,
Rachel
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