Walla Walla Wine Country

Walla Walla is Washington wine country at its most aspirational — a small, historic city surrounded by some of America's finest Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Merlot vineyards, with a downtown that has been transformed by wine tourism into a destination of restaurants, boutique hotels, and over 100 winery tasting rooms. It is the address where Washington wine went from regional to international, where Robert Parker gave 100 points, and where Burgundian dynasties planted flags.

The Walla Walla Valley AVA spans both Washington and Oregon, but the Washington side — particularly the valley floor around the city and the Blue Mountain foothills to the east — holds the highest concentration of acclaimed producers. The valley's warm days, cold nights, low rainfall, and diverse soils (alluvial gravel, loess, basalt, and the famous rocky cobblestones of Cayuse's vineyards) create conditions for wines of unusual depth and distinctiveness.

The downtown Main Street has evolved into one of America's finest wine town destinations — tasting rooms in converted storefronts, restaurants that rival any in Seattle, boutique hotels in historic buildings, and an annual calendar of wine events that draws serious collectors from around the world. The International Walla Walla Wine Weekend each May is the most important gathering in Washington wine.