Walla Walla - A Wine Good Enough to be Named Twice....

On our Spring Break trip, the last destination before re-entering Canada was Walla Walla, Washington.

Rewind to the Wine Festival - we tried some wines from Charles Smith that were so good - and that they didn't have in the on-site liquor store - that we decided to change our itinerary so we could stop in Walla Walla.

Ah, can't resist this brief film clip....

The wine that we loved at the festivals was called Motor City Kitty and is made by a winery in the Charles Smith group called K Vintners. We went to K Vintners and were shocked to find that the winery was closed! Upon careful examination, however, we found a small note telling us that their wine was available in the tasting room in Walla Walla. 

The tasting room was lovely. Charles Smith has a real love of old cars and the tasting room is in a building that was originally built as the Johnson Auto Electric Building in 1917.  The was also how Motor City Kitty (MCK) wine got its name - because of Charles Smith's love of cars. 

Kayla, our wonderful wine taster!

We got all of this great information from Kayla, our wine tasting room associate. She did a wonderful job of telling us the story behind each wine, not just the number of points or the flavours we were supposed to taste. 

The first wine was the wonderful Motor City Kitty ($35 US). It is a big, giant Syrah that makes you stand up and take notice!  I absolutely love this wine - and  purchased two bottles of our precious four bottle duty free wine allowance. 

The tasting moved along wonderfully - we had some very enjoyable wines but the other one that stuck was the Stoneridge Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon made by Wines of Substance - a winery that is also part of Charles Smith, like K Vintners. This one is their high end Cab and it is big and bold. There is a cheaper version available in BC Liquor Stores - it's good but not as good as the Stoneridge. Mind you, the cheaper one is only $25 while the Stoneridge is $45 US. 

Well, we bought a bottle of that as well - together with the two MCKs and the Oregon Pinot Noir, we had our full allotment. 

The thing I really like about American tasting rooms is that they are a bit like craft breweries here. Not only can you buy the wine and taste it, you can also buy a glass and have a snack. Which is exactly what we did. We both had a glass of the Cab and had a wonderful charcuterie plate. We were in heaven!

Afterwards, we wandered around Walla Walla for a bit - not too long, however, as it was getting a bit chilly. 

We eventually stumbled on a boutique winery called Eternal Wines. This was not the same slick operation that was Charles Smith. However, the wine taster was passionate about her wines and the prices were a bit better. The wines were all hand labelled so I was a bit hesitant at first but the wines turned out to be quite tasty. 

We purchased a Carmenere, a red blend, and a Cab Sauv. All were just $26. All were good. 

The next day, we came to the tiny border at Oroville and confessed that we had 3 bottles too many. The kind border guard ended up cracking a joke and let us through without paying extra duty - wonderful!

I really enjoyed the wines from the two wineries that we tried in Walla Walla but there are a lot we didn't get to. I would like to come back and spend a couple of nights - which would mean a whole lot of tasting rooms - and get a better sense of the industry in the Columbia Valley. 

It was a great end to the holiday!