What’s a trip to Walla Walla without enjoying a bit of wine from America’s number one wine region? Here at The FINCH, we’re all about supporting local businesses and offering our guests a true Walla Walla experience. So, we’ve partnered with dozens of amazing local wineries for our Winery of the Month program. From a little taste upon check-in, to getting the down-low on which wineries to visit during your stay (with special discounts, of course!), we make sure you experience a unique Walla Walla wine adventure. Check out our upcoming Wineries of the Month for 2024 below and start planning your Walla Walla getaway.
Hailing from the restaurant scene in New York City, Steve Wells chose Walla Walla to learn how to make wine in 2011. He’s worked for Gramercy Cellars and M&L Production and earned his degree in Enology & Viticulture from the Walla Walla Community College before starting Time & Direction in 2016. Steve brings his restaurant background into winemaking by focusing on food-friendly wines as well as his personality to every label by making them all different based on things that have been important to him during his lifetime. Entering the Time & Direction tasting room is like stepping into his brain with 80's & 90’s pop culture references, music, video games, and of course wine, decorating all the walls. Not your average tasting room experience. It isn’t often that you’ll hear lo-fi jazz music playing one minute and then heavy metal the next. Drink wine and enjoy!
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“A love for wine has been in my family long before I was born. My ancestors viewed wine as simply an essential part of daily life. Sanitella, my great grandmother, knew each family in her small Italian neighborhood by their homemade wine. For her, a person’s very character was built on the quality of their craft. Now, with Caprio Cellars, I hope to honor the tradition my family has had with wine for over a century. I hope that you will become a part of the Caprio family and enjoy what for me is so elemental to the joy of life. Welcome to Caprio Cellars.”
- Dennis Murphy, Winemaker & Owner
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Foundry Vineyards is dedicated to the creation of finely-crafted low intervention wines that express the unique terroir of their vineyard. Each hand crafted wine is overseen from the wine to bottle and grapes are rigorously selected from the best lots. Their award-winning wines are created with a combination of estate-grown fruit from the Walla Walla Valley and thoughtfully sourced small-lot production from premier growing areas around Washington State. Foundry's commitment to limited production size, around 2,500 cases annually, ensures that each wine matures to its full potential and showcases the philosophy of quality over quantity. With deep roots in contemporary art, Foundry Vineyards hopes to reflect the spirit of artistic expression in each wine and continues to be creative with each vintage.
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Founded in 2013 and re-envisioned in 2017, Jason and Todd strive to make the best wines possible with some of the best fruit available in the Walla Walla Valley. They pick timeless and fun varieties to truly showcase the terroir of both the Walla Walla Valley and the greater Washington region.
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Pepper Bridge Winery represents the pioneering spirit of the Walla Walla Valley. Owned and operated by three families–the McKibbens, the Murphys, and the Pellets–the winery is a leader in quality winemaking, hospitality, innovative technology, and vineyard development. For over twenty years their hard work and dedication to the Walla Walla Valley has helped define it as one of the great wine regions of the world. By utilizing innovative design and techniques, Pepper Bridge Winery has enhanced its quality and dedication to crafting sustainable, premium wines. They built the first state-of-the-art, gravity-flow facility in Washington state, complete with subterranean caves. In a gravity-flow winery, the grape pulp and juice are moved from the sorting table to the tanks to the barrels via gravity, rather than by pumps. This gentle treatment prevents the shearing of seeds and the introduction of bitter tannins. As a result, all of their wines have elegant textures and exquisite flavor profiles.
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Sean’s path to Rotie Cellars wasn’t the one prescribed in the “How to become a prestigious winemaker” textbook. His college degree was in geology, and he spent ten years doing oil and gas exploration before making the leap to wine.
After working his first harvest at Waters Winery in 2004, he learned the profession in multiple positions before stepping out on his own in 2007. The non-traditional background turned out to be a perfect fit—he’s a winemaker who really knows his soils. Wine is personal with Sean, and as far as he’s concerned, there’s no right or wrong way to create or consume it. He just makes what he loves to drink—French-style Rhone blends. His philosophical approach is Old World and natural, and his fingerprints are on every step of the winemaking process. He believes great wine happens mostly in the vineyard and that his main job is to stay out of nature’s way.
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Bergevin Lane Vineyards is a small, dynamic winery in the heart of Walla Walla. Established in 2002 by Annette Bergevin, Bergevin Lane is well established as a winery known for making incredible wines accessible for everyone. Annette's roots go deep into the Walla Walla Valley, five generations back. The family homestead where Annette grew up is now the Bergevin Springs Estate Vineyard. Here they produce the classic Bordeaux varietals that make up benchmark wines, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Viognier, to name a few. In 2020, Bergevin Lane relocated its tasting room to downtown Walla Walla, making their wines more accessible for visitors. Their location features a complete line-up of wines, with a beautiful patio for music events, and serves a menu of appetizers from the local TMACS restaurant.
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The Tranche tasting room sits in the heart of the Blue Mountain Estate Vineyard, where guests can enjoy excellent wines paired with incredible vineyard views. In addition to a delightful ambiance, Tranche offers a variety of unique experiences in the Walla Walla Valley including, ATV vineyard tours, which take guests on a taste and tour loop of the vineyard, while learning more about the winemaking process.
Pop on over to Tranche on Friday or Saturday night and enjoy live music from local musicians, plus a rotating selection of local food trucks.
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Eternal Wines is making small lots of terrior-driven Washington wines, with a focus on single vineyard Rhone varietals. Native fermentation, extended maceration, and non-intrusive wine-making techniques. Eternal wines only uses hand-harvested fruit from premium vineyards. Their sister label Drink Washington State is focused on blends from the individual AVA’s in Washington that are also an amazing value. These are larger production wines that are more approachable early on.
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DAMA is the Spanish word for lady, defined as refined and well-spoken, which describes DAMA Wines. With a team of talented and passionate people, DAMA Wines combines the expertise of creative women in the vineyards, the cellar, and the tasting room with amazing fruit, science, and artistry. DAMA’s wines hold a story in every bottle – and we have many stories we hope to share with you! The wines are the balanced, graceful expression of world-class terroir that are not of fad or fashion.
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The Board Track Racer project began in 2007 with The Vincent Red. Mark wanted to create a lineup within the Mark Ryan family of wines that was ready to drink upon release and wallet-friendly for everyone. Maintaining the uncompromising quality of all Mark Ryan wines was paramount and the wines have been well received by critics and loyal customers ever since.
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Castillo de Feliciana is a family-owned and operated winery on the Southside of the Walla Walla Valley and known for their attention to detail and focus on guests, giving the truest experience of Spanish warmth and hospitality. They produce Pacific Northwest wines that exemplify a Spanish style, providing a culturally distinct tasting room experience, and inviting patrons to relax in the comfort of incredible wines, views, and estate vineyard. A "Spanish style" wine is not limited to grape varietal and vinification techniques. "Spanish Style" at Castillo de Feliciana conveys a relaxed lifestyle, where wine, food, and culture complement one another on a daily basis. Life is to be lived and enjoyed.
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Since 1999, Three Rivers Winery has been producing handmade wines from the remote and arid Columbia Valley AVA in Eastern Washington. Their fruit comes from some of the region’s most prestigious vineyards including Artz, Summit View, Seven Hills Vineyard, Sagemoor, Bacchus, Les Collines, Minnick Hills, and Gamache. The style is defined by moderate alcohols, firm structures, and varietal accuracy. Wines from Three Rivers Winery are concentrated, ripe, and juicy without being overblown or heavy-handed.
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Seven Hills Winery crafts authentic varietal expressions that reflect their places of origin. It’s always been their belief that Walla Walla Valley presents ideal conditions for growing Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Their estate Seven Hills Winery Founding Vineyard encompasses the first significant plantings of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon in the region.
Not only is founder, Casey McClellan, a fourth-generation farmer in Eastern Washington, but also he understands the commitment needed to help a community thrive. Over the years, Casey and his wife, Vicky, have promoted a spirit of collaboration, not just between Walla Walla Valley growers and winemakers but within the whole community. As proprietors of one of the area’s first vineyards, the efforts of Seven Hills Winery have helped strengthen a community that values environmental stewardship to protect the future. For the past 15 years, they have practiced sustainable agriculture in order to be responsible guardians of the land, and currently hold LIVE and Salmon Safe certifications for the estate SHW Founding Vineyard.
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Founded in 2007, Maison Bleue is dedicated to the production of terroir-driven wines from the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater AVA focused primarily on Rhône varietals such as Syrah, Grenache and Viognier. The Maison Bleue Estate Vineyard was planted in 2018 with 15-acres of Syrah, Grenache and Viognier. It is located at the entrance to the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater AVA and sits at one of the higher elevations to minimize frost damage. The site also features some of the largest stones in the appellation, because it was in the center of the path of the Walla Walla River where the water was moving the swiftest to leave these large deposits. Maison Bleue harvested their first crop from the estate vineyard in 2020.
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An exploration of the Walla Walla Valley and an open invitation to those who believe that celebrations of life’s victories - small or large - are always more memorable with unforgettable wine. Bledsoe Family is an important member of a family of wineries that make up Bledsoe Wine Estates. The nationally acclaimed Cabernet Sauvignon of Doubleback, accessible varietals of Bledsoe Family Winery, and boundary-pushing Pinot Noir and Syrah of Bledsoe|McDaniels all showcase Bledsoe Family Wine's commitment to exploring the full potential of their land to produce authentically representative American luxury wines..
True to their beginnings, they work everyday to ensure that each new vintage we craft is better than the last, and that
every bottle that bears the Revelry brand is one that you can trust to be excellent.
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House of Smith is the largest independent and winemaker-owned winery in Washington State with wines sold in all 50 states and 23 countries worldwide. They produce more than 55 individual wines and more than 500,000 cases annually. Winemaker Charles Smith is the most prolific and decorated American winemaker, having received 198 scores of 95 points and above and 768 scores of 90 points and above.
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Founded in 2016, Brook & Bull focuses on producing fine varietals and untraditional blends with a low oak profile. Purposely highlighting vintage variation and showing Washington State terroir. Brook & Bull is winemaker Ashley Trout's latest project in the Walla Walla Valley. Ashley began her wine-making career at 18, following her passions around the world in search of the best ways to combine a love of wine making with a goal for community betterment. She spent the better part of a decade working harvests in Mendoza, Argentina and has been an integral part of the Walla Walla Valley wine scene since 1999.
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