Walla Walla Classics, Newcomers & Rarities
Depending upon who's counting there are in the neighborhood of 130+ wineries within the Walla Walla AVA, though not all own vineyards and many source grapes from outside the region. Walla Walla is a well-defined AVA, yet there is significant diversity in soils and elevation among the many vineyards scattered throughout the two states that share it. Taste locally-sourced wines from Spring Valley, Figgins, Pepper Bridge, Woodward Canyon, Delmas and Dumas Statioin, for example, and you can easily spot a half dozen potential sub-AVAs. The first of these, already well-established, is the Rocks District.
Along with these important differences there is a shared history here, with a 'modern' era of winemaking dating back to the start of Leonetti Cellar in the late 1970s. Of particular interest for me are the stories that go along with the individual wines and wineries, each as unique and interesting in its own way as the wines themselves. When you visit their tasting rooms you will usually find a winemaker or knowledgeable winery staff member on hand, and unless they are slammed, they will happily engage in conversation. As fascinating as talk about yeasts and barrels may be, there are plenty of other topics that may enliven these tasting counter chats.
I'm often asked to recommend specific stops to visitors on tight timelines. This is really an impossible task. If you want to get to know the true depth and character of Walla Walla wines and wineries you will need to make multiple visits to the region, or do as I did years ago and move here. Walla Walla wines and wineries have been and will continue to be a recurring topic on this website, which I hope you will find of great value when planning your next visit. Here are stories and recommendations from my most recent tastings.
Amavi Cellars
https://www.amavicellars.com
Amavi is a sister winery to Pepper Bridge. The modern tasting room sports a fantastic view stretching over vineyards to the southeast edge of the Blue Mountains. The wines are 100% estate grown, sustainable and sourced from Les Collines, Seven Hills, Pepper Bridge, Octave, Goff, Stone Valley and Summit View vineyards.
These are leaders in the local movement to sustainable practices, using compost tea to restore fungal and microbial components to the soil, drip irrigation and buried soil-moisture monitors to conserve water, leaving some ground cover un-mowed to preserve the habitat for beneficial insects and relying upon organic products such as sulfur and liquid fish oil to replace hard chemicals wherever possible.
Director of Winemaking Jean-François Pellet is a skilled veteran whose expertise ensures that all of these wines are expressive, balanced, lively and best of all priced below many comparable bottles.
Amavi 2021 Sémillon
Along with Syrah, Sémillon has long been one of the defining varietal wines at Amavi, and this is a fine example. With 14% Sauvignon Blanc in the blend it broadens the fruit spectrum to include a mix of citrus, melon, apple and peach. There is a suggestion of dried straw, but little or no oak influence as the wine was aged in all neutral barrels. Nice long finish, and a wonderful tasting companion to the Pepper Bridge Sauvignon Blanc.
679 cases; 13.9%; $28 (Walla Walla)
Amavi 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon
This estate-grown wine tilts in a Euro-style direction, with ample savory notes threaded around the core plum and berry fruit. The tannins take charge of the finish, ripe and full with just a hint of grit and toast. One quarter of the blend incorporates the four other Bordeaux grapes, all seamlessly integrated. This is the sort of wine that should cellar well over the next decade or longer.
4335 cases; 14.5%; $35 (Walla Walla)
Amavi 2020 Syrah
Just 9% Grenache was added to the blend, all grapes from the expansive estate vineyards in Walla Walla. A glass of this wine is a graduate level course in Walla Walla Syrah (apart from the Rocks District) – elegant, powerful and laced with touches of pepper, vanilla, balsamic, black olives and cold coffee. It does not have the in-your-face potency of the Rocks District, but expresses equal complexity in a more restrained style.
1133 cases; 14.5%; $42 (Walla Walla)
Neher Family
https://neherfamilywines.com
I was introduced to this micro-project by my friend Gordy Venneri, one of the founding partners (now retired) in Walla Walla Vintners. At first a home winemaking effort that dates back decades, it was re-built beginning in 2014 and went commercial in 2019. The family has called upon Gordy and another Walla Walla veteran winemaker, Roger Cockerline, to help with the wines which are produced and sold at Clay in Motion, another Neher family enterprise located in Milton-Freewater.
Gordy Venneri adds these thoughts: "We only make two barrels of three different wines, about 50 cases of each. The family drinks most of it, but there is a small amount for sale in the gift ship. Roger Cockerline, formerly from Bunchgrass helps, along with all the family members. I use my old contacts like Kent Waliser of Sagemoor, to get good grapes."
And yes, these are very good grapes!
Neher Family 2020 Raku Red
This is a Syrah-based blend, well-ripened and loaded with pretty black cherry fruit. It's concentrated and bold, with dense, dark flavors that reach beyond the fruit and bring in lighter suggestions of pipe tobacco, cured meat and espresso. Drinks quite nicely on the third day after first being opened - a good sign that it's a stable, ageworthy wine.
50 cases; 15.1%; $ N/A (Wahluke Slope)
Neher Family 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon
This rare wine is sourced from the tiny Domaine Juneau vineyard, and can label it with the Rocks District AVA because it is owned by a Milton-Freewater winery. Though known principally for Syrah, this special AVA does a very good job with Cabernet (think Widowmaker for example) as shown beautifully here. Cassis, dark chocolate, espresso and black cherry are the dominant flavors. The tannins have grip and focus, and the wine trails out with a clean, medium-long, lightly herbal finish. Highly recommended.
50 cases; 13.8%; $40 (Rocks District)
Pepper Bridge
https://www.pepperbridge.com
Founder Norm McKibben acquired the Pepper family’s former farm in 1988. The name “Pepper Bridge” refers to a low-water crossing on the Walla Walla River. Back in the days of stagecoaches and covered wagons, it was (I am told) the only place to ford the river for miles in either direction.
McKibben and his partners planted ten acres of vines in 1991 and expanded the vineyard to around 200 acres over the next several years. Predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah, the grapes were in high demand from the very beginning, sold to Rick Small of Woodward Canyon, Gary Figgins of Leonetti Cellar and Marty Clubb of L’Ecole 41. “That kind of marketing,” noted McKibben in a sly understatement, “got people to notice Pepper Bridge.”
The winery was bonded in 1998, the production facility opened in 2000 and the tasting room was added in 2003, nestled atop an atoll in the middle of the vineyard. Jean-François Pellet was hired as winemaker just ahead of the 1999 vintage. He was working at Heitz in the Napa Valley when Norm McKibben came to him with an invitation to take the head job at the soon-to-be-built Pepper Bridge winery. Pellet admits that he had “no clue where Walla Walla was, no clue at all about Washington.” As he drove up through the dusty desert to explore his new home he remembers thinking “I really pushed the envelope quite far this time...it’s all just wheat!”
As with Amavi, Pepper Bridge relies on estate-grown, sustainably farmed vineyard sources. Here are highlights from the current lineup.
Pepper Bridge 2021 Sauvignon Blanc
Principally fermented in neutral barrels, with about a quarter in concrete egg, this all-estate wine includes 12% Sémillon in the final blend. It's a full-bodied, fruit-powered, complex wine. Beautifully proportioned, replete with citrus and stone fruits lightly bedecked with spring herbs, this is a wine to challenge the best Sauv Blancs from anywhere on the west coast.
547 cases; 13.9%; $36 (Walla Walla)
Pepper Bridge 2019 Merlot
The blend here includes 15% Cabernet Franc and 8% Malbec, and all grapes are estate-grown though principally sourced from estate vineyards on the Oregon side of the valley. This is a fragrant, lightly earthy, smooth, dark-fruited, almost silky wine. The tannin management is especially impressive, as Merlot can often be a bit wimpy, and here it's built on a firm tannic foundation.
772 cases; 14.5% (Walla Walla)
Pepper Bridge 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon
This five-grape Bordeaux blend hits all the right marks – black fruits, polished tannins, a vein of graphite and a touch of savory herbs, all in a well-rounded, seamless wine. As with the other Pepper Bridge reds the tannins are ripe and polished, and the barrel aging (slightly more than half new) brings in just the right frame of lightly charred toast.
1682 cases; 14.5%; $70 (Walla Walla)
Pepper Bridge 2019 Trine
Trine is a Cab Franc-centric Bordeaux blend, a stylistic complement to the winery's Cabernet Sauvignon, which also includes all five Bordeaux grapes. Here the tannins are more prominent, their grittiness more apparent. The flavors bring black fruits, black olive, black licorice and espresso. Roughly half the barrels were new. This wine seems to be showing a bit of bottle shock, but should respond to aggressive aeration.
9603 cases; 14.5%; $70 (Walla Walla)
Time & Direction
https://timeanddirectionwines.com
It would be hard to find a winery anywhere with more diverse and mind-twisting names and labels than this micro-boutique in downtown Walla Walla. With an 800 case production spread out over eight or nine different wines. it's the sort of hidden treasure that you will only discover when wine touring or dining (Hattaways, the Marc, Passatempo) right in town. Owner/winemaker and self-titled Director of Awesome Steve Wells is a past sommelier/musician/computer nerd turned winemaker; on a recent afternoon he was entertaining some young visitors to the downtown tasting room with an energetic rendition of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’.
The winery was established after Wells had been working with top producers here in Walla Walla. He indicates on his website that finding the name for the new enterprise was the hardest part. He writes "I had dreamed of starting my own winery. Along with this dream came the arduous task of coming up with a name. It had to be easy to pronounce, look good on a restaurant wine list, and have meaning. It took almost three years to come up with a name that I liked. Then one day, I simply looked down at my forearms and it hit me. The clock and the compass tattoos are of my own design and are full of symbolism and meaning for me. The hands on the clock point to 1:02, the time my daughter was born and the face has her initials and birth date written on it. The compass is a reference to my family and is the reason that I work as hard as I do. The letters on the points may look like directions but are actually our initials and the symbols in the middle are our astrological symbols. Combining the two gave birth to Time & Direction, two components essential to any journey in life. All you need is some time and a little direction."
We chatted about music as I tasted through the wines being poured, some of which may be gone by the time you read this. The reviews here are a mix of those wines and upcoming fall releases (noted as such). I've done my best to explain the labels but I urge you to visit T&D on a Friday or Saturday when Wells is in the house and pick his brain for the full stories.
Time & Direction 2021 1.21 Gigawatts White
A sharp, spicy field blend of Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne and Roussanne sourced from Les Collines. If you want an immaculately fresh, slightly smoky and citrus-laden quaffer, look no farther. The name has some connection to the flux capacitor in the DeLorean time machine in "Back to the Future".
13.5%; $30 (Walla Walla)
Time & Direction 2021 Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right Rosé of Grenache
The name has something to do (if memory serves) with a video game secret but then again I could be totally wrong about that. That is part of the charm of this winery. Sourced from the Thunderstone vineyard on the Royal Slope this is a fresh and elegant wine with strawberry/watermelon flavors and a clean, crisp finish.
12.9%; $24 (Royal Slope)
Time & Direction 2020 Space Pants Mourvèdre
The name is (sort of) explained on the back label as a reference to one of the greatest pick-up lines ever. That's debatable of course and the actual line is one I won't charm you with here. The wine is outstanding – pure Mourvèdre made in a single puncheon. Elegant, spicy and lightly peppery, it's a fine example of this grape which is most often found in blends rather than as a stand-alone varietal.
14.4%; $45
Time & Direction 2020 Diamond Cutter Red
The blend is 60% Syrah 21% Grenache and 19% Mourvèdre. Lightly brambly cranberry and pie cherry fruit is supported with plenty of acidity and finished with a savory sheen. The peppery highlights pierce through and linger. The 2020 will be out shortly; the previous 2019 version left out the Mourvèdre component.
133 cases; 13.9%; $35 (Columbia Valley)
Time & Direction 2020 Binary Syrah
The full name is 01110011 01111001 0111001001 100001 01101000 which apparently spells out ’Syrah’ in binary code. Some 20% was done with whole cluster fermentation; the grapes come from the Eritage vineyard. This is light across the board - lightly ripened, no obvious new barrel flavors, hints of herb and citrus. In other words a pleasant, easy-drinking wine for immediate enjoyment.
110 cases; 13.2%; $40 (Walla Walla)
Time & Direction 2020 P&S Reserve Syrah
This limited production reserve is dedicated to the winemaker's brother Peter, who also designed the label. Again the Eritage vineyard supplied the grapes. It's a solid, lightly-ripened Syrah, with clean varietal flavors that tilt to the savory side of the grape.
50 cases; 13.1%; $65 (Walla Walla)
Time & Direction 2019 Old School Syrah
Co-fermented with 5% Viognier) this punches through with pepper and stem, espresso and chocolate, balsamic and plum, tobacco and vanilla. The classic Syrah components are all here in a young, tight and powerful wine. The 2018 version of this wine may still be available and shows the potential for development with a bit more bottle age. Among the upcoming fall releases this is my clear favorite, though it remains tightly wound and definitely in need of a good decanting.
100 cases; 14.7%; $40 (Royal Slope)
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NOTE: The wines I recommend have been tasted over many hours and days in peer groups and are selected for excellence. I have chosen to eliminate numerical scores from this website. Only recommended wines are shown, no negative reviews. My notes are posted immediately with links to the winery website, so you may purchase them directly from the producer before they are sold out. I take no commission, accept no advertising, and charge no fees for wines reviewed on this website. Please contact me at paulgwine@me.com with your feedback and suggestions for future posts.
Coming next week: An Interview and Tasting With Josh McDaniels of Bledsoe|McDaniels
Heads Up: Coming this fall are features on Cabernet Franc, Syrah, GSM blends and more. I am also planning a detailed look at the wines from the McMinnville AVA, and a look at the all-too-often overlooked Willamette Valley Sauvignon Blancs. Please send current and upcoming releases for these features as soon as possible, but there is no final deadline as I can and do post regular updates to past features.. Shipping information is published on this website or text me at paulgwine@me.com for details. Wineries seeking a full profile on this website may write me with your specific proposal and we'll put our heads together.
Thank you for your support! – Paul Gregutt
