The place where you can taste the most wine in an area so small you can get around on foot is Walla Walla, Washington.
Using Walla Walla's Main Street as a base, you can visit more than 30 tasting rooms plus a patisserie, a candy store with hand-decorated chocolates, a vintage music shop, wine shop, cafes and boutiques, enough to keep you busy for days.
The historic Marcus Whitman Hotel alone houses four tasting rooms. This is the one for TERO Estates, which produces small lots from estate vineyards.
The wine being poured is the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon from Windrow Vineyards in Oregon. (The Walla Walla Valley crosses the state border and about one-third of it is in Oregon. As at TERO, it is common for winemakers in Washington to work with grapes from Oregon, and vice versa.)
Mansion Creek Cellars, Locati Cellars and Lodmell Cellars also have tasting rooms in the hotel, which was founded in 1927.
Known for old time charm, Main Street is a delightful place to walk. Besides wine, it offers beverages for kids, coffee lovers and critters such as this dog, whose owner is getting him a drink from one of the street's decorative green water fountains. The Walla Walla River rushes through town just beyond the fence.
But back to wine. Judith Shulman is owner/manager of DAMA Wines, which is run exclusively by women. She poured the glass of DAMA's 2018 Cabernet Franc Rosé that is in the foreground.
This is DAMA's 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon. The pretty label looks like a dress to me.
Bontzu Cellars (above) focuses on Rhone and Bordeaux varietals. Stopping in for a tasting, I tried the 2017 Viognier, The Shoemaker, which is a super Tuscan red blend, and the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon.
Only 55 cases of the Cab were made, and only eight are left. Total case production of all Bontzu wines is about 1,200.
Otis Kenyon is another place to stop.
Or try Canoe Ridge.
If you love wine barrels, this shop has plenty of them.
You can also visit a producing winery in the heart of downtown. Seven Hills Winery is located in what was a woodworking mill, dating back to 1904. The winery itself was founded in 1988 by Casey McClellan. The McClellan estate vineyard is just over the border in Oregon.
Associate winemaker Bobby Richards explained that Seven Hills focuses on Bordeaux varietals, primarily Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The area is too warm and dry for Pinot Noir, he said.
Richards selected these three Merlots for tasting. They are, from left, the 1998, 2016 and the 2017, which will be bottled in July. Merlot is the second most common grape in the Walla Walla Valley, after Cabernet Sauvignon.
Richards said that Washington is second in number of wineries to California, but total wine production is much less. Seven Hills Winery's current case production is 10,000, but other wineries, such as Bontzu, are smaller producers.
We also tasted the 2018 Sauvignon Blanc and a tank sample of the basic blend of the 2018 reserve Sauvignon Blanc, which is not yet finished. The reserve includes a small amount of Muscadelle, the other Sauvignon is blended with Semillon.
Richards also brought out a 2017 Grenache from the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, named Rocks because the soil is so full of them. Rocks is a sub AVA of the Walla Walla Valley AVA, he explained.
Along with the wines we tasted cheeses that included a Brie-style Cardabelle from Monteillet Fromagerie, which makes farmstead artisanal cheeses in the Walla Walla Valley, and two from Cow Girl Creamery in San Francisco.
These wine barrels are in the production area, adjacent to Seven Hills' tasting room.
The winery recently completed this area for group gatherings.
The Seven Hills Winery tasting room (above) is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m and offers tours with tastes of four wines, including a barrel sample, at 10 a.m. Tours of limited release wines, accompanied by small bites, take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 11 a.m.
For more information about Walla Walla wines, go to the website of the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance.
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