Yakima Wine

Yakima is the largest city in the Yakima Valley wine region, and it's a good base of operations to explore the dozens of wineries in the state's oldest AVA, as well as wineries in the newer Rattlesnake Hills and Snipes Mountains areas. Yakima is a city built on an agricultural base, so you'll find many terrific farm stands and lots of fresh produce in season. The city has been investing in making its downtown more of a destination in its own right in recent years. It has potential -- a quaint historic district, and a few terrific tasting rooms have opened up downtown -- but there's still a ways to go before Yakima is in the same category as, say, Walla Walla.

Visit Yakima Area Wineries

Alphabetical list of Yakima Valley wineries.

Map of Yakima Valley wineries (PDF).

• Zillah and Wapato: In the heart of the Rattlesnake Hills AVA, the towns of Zillah and Wapato together offer the largest concentration of wineries to visit West of Prosser. Many wineries in this prime farming area offer bucolic settings for wine tasting, including lovely vineyard views. Have a picnic at Claar Cellars (1001 Vintage Valley Parkway, Zillah), visit Masset Winery (620 East Parker Heigts Road)for hand-crafted syrah amidst apple, cherry, nectarine and pear orchards and vineyards, and then drive up a hill to Windy Point (420 Windy Point Drive, Wapato), where you can enjoy the dramatic view from chairs set up with wine bottle holders.
• Downtown Yakima and Naches Heights: There are several friendly and low-pressure tasting rooms in downtown Yakima, including Kana (10 S. 2nd Street) a winery that focuses on Rhone varietals and whose tasting room retains a distinctly old-world feel, and the sleekly sophisticated Gilbert Cellars (5 North Front Street), near the historic downtown area. Naches Heights, just northwest of downtown, makes it easy to forget that you're anywhere near a city. The vineyards blend into the Cowiche Canyon Nature Preserve -- enjoy the view and sample wines from Harlequin, Naches Heights Vineyard and Wildridge Winery at The Tasting Room Yakima's circa 1900s farm house. (250 Ehler Road at Wildridge Vineyard.)