Walla Walla’s Spring Wine Weekend Guide

written by James Sinks

In between discovering things, Galileo mused once that “wine is sunlight, held together by water.” That centuries-ago wisdom still holds true today—particularly for the constellation of bold vintages bottled each year in the sun-splashed Walla Walla Valley, the vineyard mecca along the southern border of Eastern Washington.

To welcome back those trellis-warming rays and an annual pilgrimage of thirsty vinophiles, Walla Walla unfurls an early-season welcome mat. The first Friday through Sunday each May, Spring Release Weekend is the premier celebration of Washington State’s top-flight wine-making valley, now home to 125 wineries and named the nation’s top wine region in 2022 by USA Today.

Expect ritzy winemaker dinners, art shows, exclusive tastings, tours including treks through the basalt-bored barrel cave at Figgins Winery and—at several places—limited-volume vintages that sell out within weeks.

“There isn’t a nicer of time of year to experience the Walla Walla Valley, with the wheat fields bright green and everything blooming, and, of course, the real stars are the wines,” said Ryan Rogel, assistant tasting room manager at L’Ecole No. 41, in a vintage schoolhouse where you can still ride the teeter-totter out back.

L’Ecole No. 41 winery in a historic schoolhouse.
(photo: Visit Walla Walla)

L’Ecole—renowned for its merlots—plans to release both a small-batch malbec and a cabernet, Rogel said.

Long an Indigenous tribal gathering place, Walla Walla is named after the people who called the valley home. Four hours by car from Portland, en route you’ll squeeze through the Wallula Gap, a pinch point on the Columbia River that’s largely responsible for the region’s agricultural abundance, because massive ice age Missoula Floods backed up at those narrows and flooded the valley with tons of rich silt.

Spring Release Weekend began as a collaboration in the 1980s among early wineries in the valley, which first earned recognition as an American Viticulture Area in 1984.

One of those founding operations, Leonetti Cellar, would open only for a few days so members could pick up their allocations, said Jordan Small, whose family’s Woodward Canyon Winery also is among the local pioneers. “Because so many of these good wine-buying customers were in town for the weekend, many other wineries started also offering special tasting experiences, food pairings and other fun activities,” she said.

It started as a small success, and matured into a big success, said Small, Woodward Canyon’s co-owner and general manager. This year, Woodward is debuting its 2022 Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon.

In the city of Walla Walla, you’ll find roughly 33,300 people, three colleges, the recently renovated Marcus Whitman Hotel and a bustling stretch surrounding Main Street where tasting rooms bump elbows with restaurants and entertainment venues.

If you stay at The FINCH, a hip motel rehab, borrow cruisers to corkscrew around town. Exit your bikes at Pursued By Bear, in a 1920s-era mercantile on Palouse Street. A play on a line from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, the winery was launched by actor and Yakima native Kyle MacLachlan, whose career includes a stint at Ashland’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival before numerous feature films and a starring role in the cult Twin Peaks television series.

Also downtown you’ll find football star Drew Bledsoe’s Family Winery (which also has a tasting room in Bend), and campy life advice on labels at Browne Family Vineyards. Do Epic Shit? You know it.

In the nearby airport district, several wineries got off the ground in old airplane hangars—and several smaller incubator spots opened in 2020 for students from the community college’s winemaking program. Your taste buds will relish a layover at renowned red-maker Dunham Cellars, which opened in 1995 and will unveil a 2024 sauvignon blanc and a 2024 chardonnay.

When you find a designated driver (hopefully it’s not you), it’s mere minutes to impressive tasting rooms every direction, and extending south across the state line to Milton-Free-water in Oregon. West of Walla Walla waits Woodward Canyon, plus mainstays L’Ecole and Waterbrook. To the east is the farmstead tasting room at Abeja, where visitors can also stay the night in a former chicken coop.

It’s a second-generation family affair at Foundry Vineyards and Pét Project, where bubbly wines are made in the classic pétillant style, in which they are bottled while fermenting. General manager Lisa Anderson, whose brother Jay is now the winemaker and chef, remembers planting grapes on the family plot in middle school. They’ll be debuting several 2022 reds at their tasting room and contemporary art gallery, which also includes a sculpture garden.

Walla Walla offers varied wine-tasting experiences, from Foundry Vineyards (at top) to L’Ecole No. 41 (below) in a historic schoolhouse. — Walla Walla offers varied wine-tasting experiences. This is Foundry Vineyards.
(photo: Ilana Freddye/Visit Walla Walla)

Also on their list: a fizzy bright blend of chenin and chardonnay, called Sunlight Cuvée. Galileo would approve.

At Long Shadows Winery, the planned release list includes the 2022 vintage of Feather, a silky oak-aged cabernet, and the 2022 Pirouette, a Bordeaux-style blend. While you’re there, ask for an introduction to Saggi, a big, dark Italian (blend).

Of course, there’s more to Walla Walla than the wine, although nobody would blame you if that’s all you came for. At Pioneer Park, say hello to crooning birds at the free civic aviary, and maybe twirl your partner in the circa-1909 bandstand. Most days, it’s bring your own music. Also, it’s just an hour drive to picturesque Palouse Falls.

Just an hour from Walla Walla, the natural wonder of Palouse Falls drops 200 feet in splendor.
(photo: Jason Hummel Photography/State of Washington Tourism)

Can’t make the signature spring soirée? Like wines, you’ve got an array of options, said Guy Glaeser, a Portland transplant and the executive director of Visit Walla Walla. Tantalizing alternatives include a hot air balloon rodeo, a chamber music festival and the season-ending Fall Release Weekend in November.

And whenever you’re in town, if it’s paella night, book ahead and step upstairs to the idyllic fountain-decorated patio at Valdemar Estates, the Washington location of a longtime family operation with roots in Spain.

Gazing over the valley to the east, raise a glass to Galileo and sun-infused liquid magic, as the final rays paint the distant Blue Mountains.