Why I fell in love with Walla Walla

Completely refreshed after a cold glass of rosé on the patio of Deuux soldiers Estate Vineyard & Winery, I returned to my electric bike to continue my walk with visits from Laerre through the Southside Wine District in Walla Walla, Washington. While I pedaled through lush vineyards on the background of the blue mountains, I dipped in the landscape and I appreciated the unique access that I obtained.

But wait a minute. I Really Do not appreciate cycling. Like, at all. I prefer to do almost anything else. Was I so in love with Walla Walla that I really found happiness by bicycle?

The answer was a resounding yes. Walla Walla had charmed me so much that I could even tolerate the bike just to do everything.

An escape from grapes

Known as Washington State Capital Capital, the Walla Walla valley is home to more than 130 vineyards with nearly 3,000 acres of planted vineyards. It would take you much more from a trip to experience them all, but it just gives you many reasons for return visits.

Red wine grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec represent 95% of the plantations of the Walla Walla valley, but white wine lovers can also find good sips here. And you don’t need to be a wine expert to feel comfortable. (I am certainly not.) The tasting rooms and the vineyards welcome beginners and maintain the prices accessible to please both relaxed wine drinkers and real oenophiles.

Wine country weekends: These wine regions are the best in the United States

Echolands Winery is a real astonishing of a place, with a magnificent tasting room with windows from the floor to the ceiling overlooking the green hills and the blue mountains in the distance. He pays wines like his Grenache Walla Walla and Echolands Cabernet Franc for a tasting fee of $ 20 per person (which is lifted with a purchase of two bottles).

“We are trying to make fresh, brilliant, expressive, lower on alcohol, lower on oak extract, and higher on the fruit and more on earthy tones,” explains Brian Rudin, winemaker and managing director of Echoland. “We really focus on many high altitude plantations and expressions of the wine that are on the brighter side, fresher and happier.”

You can taste wines in many vineyards themselves and in tasting rooms sprinkled throughout the city center of Walla Walla. The elegant Wine Collective file, founded in 2021 by Tim Lenihan and the former NFL player, Sidney Rice, is a good option in the city center, offering wines like its flagship file Viognier and Syrah.

SIP and savor: How to plan the perfect wine tasting trip to Napa and Sonoma

And there are many cellars in the region which are also suitable for families. Dunham Cellars, Slice, Waterbrook Winery, Patterson Cellars and Dusted Valley are only some of the local places where families are welcome.

Beyond the bottle

Wine can be what attracts people first to Walla Walla, but there are so many things to do here, especially if you travel with children. The old alpacas hommesteads are an essential place, where you can feed the soft creatures of a cup or by hand (a really delicious experience) and learn how the owner Elaine Vandiver uses their fiber and their natural plants based on plants to create hats, scarves and other colorful items.

The grapes are not the only cultures cultivated in the valley, and Frog Hollow Farm has cultivated plants and heritage products for more than 20 years. The farm is open to the public, with a well -stocked farm store, a children’s playground and resident animals that visitors love to greet. And its products appear on many local restaurant menus.

“To be such a small town, the names of the farms that always appear on the menus reflect the culture that these people really support the small farms,” ​​explains co -owner Amy Dietrich. “It’s a large community.”

Visit the U-Pick fields in Blue Mountain Lavender Farm during the summer flowering season, where you can also find family activities such as weekly tale. Or take a picnic and head to the Whitman College Outdoor Walk sculpture, where you can make a self-guided tour of 21 sculptures on the campus. If children still have energy to burn, Pioneer Park includes a playground, sports fields and a free aviary among its acres filled with garden and trees.

The Fort Walla Walla museum plunges into the past of the region via artifacts housed in five exhibition halls and a historic pioneer colony of 17 constructions. Do not miss the emblematic display of the museum of a team of 33 mules harvesting wheat – these mules were made by the same company which made carousel horses for Disneyland.

“In order to really immerse yourself in a place, I think you have to know the story,” explains Groover Snell, director of operations at the Fort Walla museum. “Walla Walla is called the cradle of North West history. It was the largest city in Washington territory… and it was a major hub. Most of the first of Washington and Northwest Pacific history occurred to Walla Walla. ”

The national historical site of Whitman Mission deals with some of the difficult elements of pioneering life in the region, including its impact on indigenous peoples. And the site is located where the wagons have traveled along a part of the Oregon path.

Walla Walla is about four hours away from Seattle, Portland and Boisse and has a regional airport. The Finch is an excellent hotel option for a family trip or just adults, offering elegant common rooms and spaces as well as a location that is easily accessible on foot from the lively city center of Walla Walla, where there is a lot to see and do. Luxury Marcus Whitman Hotel Downtown is a good choice for an adult getaway.

“We are just a great small town that has a lot to offer – and is poured in world class wine,” explains Guy Glaeser, executive director of Visit Walla Walla.

More Familyvacationist: