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Experience Yakima Valley
Overview
The famous Yakima Valley AVA was the first American Viticultural Area established within Washington State. It was established in 1983, it is Washington’s oldest appellation lying within the Columbia Valley, and includes 18,000 acres of vineyards and wine grapes which is the latest concentration of wineries in the state. The most widely planted variety is Chardonnay, followed by Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, and Syrah. Around 40% of the state's wine production is made from Yakima Valley grapes, the valley is also home to several fruit orchards growing apples, cherries, nectarines, peaches, pears, and plums. Drive the Zilla Fruit Loop through the area’s orchards and vineyards. The magnificent valley is home to more than 40 wineries that can be explored, the valley’s sunny slopes, and foothills provide the perfect growing conditions for producing intensely flavored, balanced, and complex wines. Interstate 82 forms a convenient route for visitors to tour the many wineries scattered throughout the Valley’s landscape, offering a rich diversity of microclimates, rugged hillsides, and wetlands.
Things to See and Do
There are many beautiful destinations to discover in Yakima Valley with many unique activities and adventures for everyone. The Yakima River stretches for 60 miles southeast of Mount Rainier National Park, built upon fertile soil the area is a fruit-producing city and a national leader for agricultural output, the food gown here helps define much of the culture and community. The Yakima River Canyon entices visitors with nearby adventures north of town.
The byway`s endpoint, Naches, is a tiny community 13 miles northwest of Yakima near the banks of the Naches River. The town is a gateway between the wild forests of the Cascades and the fruit orchards of the Yakima Valley. The portion you see from the highway does not tell the full story of this small farm community; pull off the road to cruise the downtown core to get a better picture.
The Yakima Greenway is a great place for a bike ride stretching for over 20 miles connecting the top natural attractions in the city. Visitors can access the Yakima Area Arboretum nestled along the greenway where many bodies of water are located such as Willow Lake, Lake Aspen, and Myron Lake. There is a non-motorized pathway that passes under shaded trees. There is a dog park at Sherman Park along the greenway.
The Yakima Valley Visitors Center is the first port of call in Yakima Valley, the center provides information on outdoor adventure sites. There is an on-site travel consultant offered to help visitors plan their itineraries. There are naturally recognized breweries, family-friendly attractions, and the wine country region of the state.
White Pass offers winter adventures with majestic views of Mount Rainier, they provide terrain for skiers and riders of every ability. There is steeper terrain off the Great White Express, visitors can explore Paradise Bason on the Couloir Express and Basin Quads. White Pass prides itself on providing a relaxed, family atmosphere with accommodations at the mid-mountain Lodge, The High Camp which is the perfect point for brunch or an afternoon beer. They also offer slopeside lodging at the Village Inn.
The Yakima Farmers’ Market is located in the heart of downtown Yakima and intended to provide an outlet for Washington State’s farmers, specialty food producers, artisan and craft makers, food preparers, and entertainers to directly sell their food and handcrafted products and to provide consumers with an opportunity to buy these products and enjoy delicious local food. The market entered ins 21st season in 2020 and hold in a Valley Mall king lot every Sunday from May through October.
Yakima offers several cultural attractions such as great museums, acres of orchards, and historic theaters. The Yakama Nation Museum and Cultural Center is located in the south of the city providing an awesome introduction to the Yakama Nation people and their history. The 12,000-square-foot facility contains a great collection of art, artifacts, and photographs. The Cultural Center houses the Yakama Nation Library and Heritage Theater.
Yakima Valley Wineries and Vineyards
Wildridge Winery
Wildridge Winery is a small family-owned and operated winery, vineyard, orchard, and distillery located in the famed Yakima Wine Country. They have two Washington locations the other is in Woodinville Valley, along with the vineyard in Yakima. Both locations offer tastings of their delicious hand-crafted wines as well as their brandies, which are made from apples, pears, and grapes all grown on the estate. Visit the vineyard and enjoy a picnic on the lawn, stroll through the verdant vineyards, or relax on teh deck of the historic farmhouse on site with a glass of wine. The vineyards started out making small amounts of wine, not they turned the business into a 7,500-gallon-a-year winery operation. The Winery is open year-round and offers award-winning wines and great food, there is a wrap-around porch with spectacular views of the canyon where hiking and mountain biking are popular activities. The Tasting Room Yakima is the perfect place to start your wine-tasting tour, take in beautiful views of a sunset from the porch, relax and soak in the scenery. The winery was founded in 1988 and is the oldest winery in Seattle, in 2007 they planted a certified organic and Biodynamic Estate Vineyard on Naches Heights near Yakima.
Trevari Cellars
Treveri Cellars is located in the picturesque Yakima Valley, a family-owned and operated winery where Washington State’s exclusive sparkling wine house produces some of the finest handcrafted sparkling wines in the US. Treveri prides itself on a tradition of excellence in both winemaking and service in a setting that offers breathtaking views, hospitable service, and unbeatable sparkling wines. Visitors can take a behind-the-scenes tour of how sparkling wine is produced, they will have the opportunity to disgorge (finish) their own bottle of sparkling wine with the help of the winemaking team. Guests will finish this exclusive event with a seated tasting of four premium sparkling wines. Treveri uses the finest vineyard sources and their wines are expressive of each varietal and have distinctive flavors of both the unique terroir and style of its winemakers and their German heritage. Jurgen Grieb is the head winemaker here who holds degrees in Winemaking and Sparkling Winemaking from Karthäuserhof Winery in Germany.
Dineen Vineyards
Dineen Vineyards are located in the beautiful rolling vineyard valleys of Yakima Valley, owned and operated by Pat and Lanie Dineen. The estate vineyards at the winery are really rare in the state of Washington, they started in 2001 when the wine, food, and travel enthusiastic couple invested in 12 acres of apple orchards and transformed them into vineyards. They later invested in more land (a total of 75 acres) and expanded the estate and named the wineries after beloved family members. These beautiful vineyards are located on the hills of Lower Yakima Valley with views of Mount Adams and Mount Rainier in the distance, where the conditions are ideal for growing wine grapes. The family-owned and operated viticulture business is a highly acclaimed site for ultra-premium wine grapes and highly acclaimed Estate wines. They grow 13 varietals and craft an array of wines in limited quantities, emphasizing French varietals and wines of depth, complexity, and concentration. Wines here include Cabernet Sauvignon, a Bordeaux style red blend, Cabernet Franc, Viognier, Petite Verdot, Viognier, Semillon, Riesling, Rose, and special releases each year. Their tasting room offers flight tasting, custom tasting experiences, and light bites with a patio and an expansive lawn overlooking the surrounding vineyards and mountains.
Owen Roe
Owen Roe vineyard and winery was founded by winemaker David O’Reilly who has been crafting wines from the Yakima and Willamette Valley since 1999. The sophisticated, vineyard-focused style wines with tastings of pinot noir and red blends in a red, barn-style building with spectacular views of the rolling vineyard valleys with Mount Adams in the backdrop. They have a newer state-of-the-art winery in Wapato that was completed in 2013, tastings are offered with their estate and proprietary blends, enjoy a glass on the winery patio, or a tasting on the lawn. The path leading to the winery is lined with cherry and nectarine orchards, and the surrounding slopes are studded with volcanic outcroppings and planted with roller coaster rows of red wine grapes. O’Reilly has a devoted following for his Oregon pinot noirs, he blended his first Washington wines in 2013 Union Gap Vineyard syrah with wines called Mirth and WiseGuy. There are tours of the winery offered including private tastings, and a ride through the estate’s organically farmed vineyard in all-terrain Pinzgauer.
Gilbert Cellars Winery
Gilbert Cellars Winery is a venue located 20 minutes west of Yakima, at The Hackett Ranch, a destination winery perfect for private events, weddings, and special events. It was named for the original owners and cattle ranchers, The Hackett Family who purchased the ranch in 1920 when the first Gilbert arrived in Yakima. The family-owned vineyards feature orchards, and lavender, with the perfect setting fa or -weddings venues and concerts. There are views of the Ahtanum Ridge from Gilbert Cellars at The Hackett Ranch, a beautiful property located on a ranch that looks out over the Yakima foothills. The Yakima Valley climate is fairly dry meaning that you can almost always bet on having sunny weather from May to October. There is a wine cellar located at the south end of the property with big beautiful doors and a patio for chairs, there is an amphitheater hosting live concerts in the summer months. Gilbert Cellars hand-crafted seven different varietals into 10 fine wines including their flagship red blends, along with standard Bordeaux-style varieties and less commonly seen wines like Gruner veltliner and pinot noir.
JB Neufeld.
JB Neufeld is a vineyard is located in the fabulous Yakima Valley that focuses exclusively on Cabernet Sauvignon within the region. The verdant vineyards here in the upper valley with cool air create interesting aromatics from the grapes, and the lower valley features hot sites. JB Neufeld produced its first vintage in 2008, it is one of a kind winery in Washington that focuses solely on the best Cabernet in the Yakima Valley. Just and Brooke Neufeld are a husband and wife team that created the winery with the goal of the brand to not only showcase the diversity of terroir found in the valley through its vineyard designate bottlings. They use this diversity to build a more complex and balanced Cabernet by blending sites well. Their vineyards are located on south-facing slopes created by a series of ridges that are oriented West to East, which is a geological anomaly unique to Eastern Washington. The winery is open for tastings of this delicious Cabernet made by the same person, in the same ‘style’, but from two different vineyards, that make two totally different wines. They source fruit from Artz Vinyard in the acclaimed Red Mountain AVA, giving the wines their tannins, cherry cola notes, and gravel aromatics. They also get fruity from up the Valley, Two Blondes Vineyard-Andrew Will’s estate vineyard, with a more delicate mouthfeel and some really pretty floral notes.