Walla Walla wineries to visit ?

Hello, we will be visiting Walla Walla in early August for a couple days and want to visit some quality wineries. Sadly it seems Leonetti and Cayuse cannot be visited. We are mostly interested in tasting reds (especially syrah), we don’t really need a tour of the production process or a pretty view necessarily. We want to visit wineries where we can taste at least some of their best wines, not interested in spending time tasting all of their everyday or “value” wines. So far we are considering: K, Reynvaan, Sleight of Hand, Saviah, Maison Bleue, Spring Valley, Elephant Seven, Valdemar Estates. Any opinions on those or any other suggestions please ?

On those, and given your stated interest, I would definitely do Reynvaan, Maison Bleue, and Elephant Seven. I have always found Sleight of Hand to be very fruit forward, but to be fair I have not tried them in a number of years.

Two others I would recommend: Delmas (which might not be available); and Time & Direction (they are doing some really great Syrahs).

Oh and I would also consider Rotie – they are making great Syrah and other Rhone blends.

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These are some of my suggestions assuming you want to stay near Walla Walla. A couple of them are just across the border in Oregon. Several require appointments.
Gramercy Cellars
Corliss
Saviah
Reynvaan
Figgins
Elephant Seven
Tranche Estate
Garrison Creek Cellars
Mark Ryan Winery
Abeja
Doubleback (Drew Bledsoe)
Force Majeure
Zerba Cellars

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Walla Walla takes a bit of planning and strategy to taste wines. There are three or four different “areas” that are several miles apart. When I visit this area, I’ll plan to spend blocks of time in each area, verse spending a lot of time driving around. Make a few appointments for the smaller wineries, and fill in spare time with walk-ins.

Generally speaking, there’s downtown, the airport area, South, West, and a smattering of wineries in between.

A couple of others not mentioned that I enjoy are Long Shadows (west) and Tero Estates (downtown). Woodward Canyon is always a good visit too.

Last time we were in the area, we tried like hell to visit with the E7 folks, but they had some pretty odd hours and we never did hook up. We had a great time visiting Time and Direction about a month after he opened the tasting room.

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If you go out to the airport, visit Buty and Dowsett. Some of the more balanced wines coming out of the area, IMO.

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This is a really good point about sticking to different areas. You can probably find a good map or guide online – here are two that came up on google:

http://wallawallawineguide.com/content/

The only caveat is if you only have one day, and know there are certain wineries you must visit, then moving around a lot makes sense. But you don’t want to find yourself tasting one place, driving 30 minutes to taste at another place, then driving back to where you started for your third tasting.

The two areas that are good for mostly walking around are downtown – which has a lot of storefront tasting rooms; and the airport area – you may still want to drive there, as it is larger area but it is almost like its own subdivision, so driving is quite easy.

Thanks all for the recommendations - we’ll be visiting late June, so this is very helpful. Anyone going soon should definitely check if their favorite destinations are currently open for visits. Buty’s website for example states that they’re doing pickup only for the time being.

After visiting Tranche last weekend, I’d have to say this is an absolute must for me each visit from now on. Gorgeous grounds, superbly crafted wines in the $25-$50 range, live music, and the place to see and be seen on an early Friday evening! We were getting a few exasperated looks from others but that’s what happens after 4 mags of Rose!

Tranche is nice for the tourism aspect - great views, nice Friday evening drinks - but wouldn’t get too excited about the wines
Long Shadows is interesting - best winemakers from around the world (e.g. John Duval, who does they Syrah, was head winemaker at Penfolds) doing custom winemaking of different varietals - but is definitely a large production place, and felt a bit sterile.
Dusted Valley was nice - some good wines, and good service
Sleight of Hands was good - both wine, and slightly off-beat attitude.
Elephant Seven is great - good pricing for Yellow Bird, which has become a go-to easy-drinking wine in our house
Charles Smith, when we visited, was doing tastings from the yard of their original Phil Lane site, rather than their tasting room in town, which we found great. The wines are good, though they probably want to tone down the sell.
Rasa Vineyards make fantastic wines, but by appointment only. Was recommended by staff at other wineries. Reminds me of going to wineries in Australia 20 years ago when it was meeting a staff member in a shed.

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We did this trip a few years ago and out of a dozen or so visits our favorite two were Rasa and Garrison Creek.

Good to hear! We haven’t had the chance to try Garrison Creek yet but have an appointment this upcoming Sunday.

If you love Syrah, you must visit The Rocks District wineries: Saviah, Force Majeure, Rasa, Rotie, Devison, Sleight of Hands, K Vitners, Watermill, Canvasback and a few that I can’t remember. To get around to the wineries, I recommend Freddy G for car service. If you tell him which wineries you want to visit, he will make the reservations and plan the itinerary. He will also go into town to get lunch for you. Super nice guy with a great staff. https://freddygs.com/