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Walla Walla Highlights
Walla Walla Travel Tip
Information courtesy The Langley Group, Inc.
Walla Walla: "the type of community people love visiting"
As you begin planning your next vacation or weekend getaway, make sure you put the Walla
Walla Valley at the top of your list of "can't miss" destinations.
It's just a 45 minute flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and an easy addition to
any driving tour of Eastern Washington's acclaimed wine-country. Having been noted as one of
"The
100 Best Small Art Towns in America" by author John Villani, Walla Walla has a lot to
recommend
itself.
Walla Walla has a rich agricultural past, evident in it's 100 years of success at growing world-
famous Walla Walla Sweet onions. The mild climate and rich soils that have made onion farming
so
successful in the area, have born a new agricultural triumph; the Walla Walla Valley is fast
becoming
Washington's premier grape growing and wine making region.
Most recently featured in the November 2000 edition of the Wine Spectator Walla Walla's
infamous L"Ecole No. 41 winery had no less than five of its premiere wines featured in their
"New
Releases" section. Four of those wines received a rating of 90 and above. An impressive rating of
92
was awarded to the L'Ecole No. 41 Merlot Walla Walla Valley Seven Hills Vineyards 1998
release.
In the September, 1999, issue of "Wine Spectator," Harvey Steiman touts Walla Walla Valley
wineries as producing six of the 11 best red wines in Washington State. Two of his top nine white
wine picks come from Walla Walla based wineries as well.
Walla Walla Valley winemakers themselves bring rich diversity to their wine-making. One
winery boasts a former auto mechanic as it's lead, while two other wineries have former
pharmacists
at the helm. There's an engineer, a management graduate of MIT, and a Frenchman who's family
has
been growing grapes and making wine in Champagne, France for more than 350 years.
As Walla Walla wineries continue to spring up all over the region bringing a new standard of
quality to the area, Walla Walla's downtown core area has risen to the occasion. Recently
nominated
as a semi-finalist for the Great American Main Street awards sponsored by the National Main
street
Center and Sun America Investments, this is the second year in a row that Walla Walla has made
the
top 20 list.
The downtown Walla Walla streetscape features turn-of-the-century architecture that has been
restored to perfection, and it's business district offers everything from an army of cappuccino
dealers,
to oodles of art galleries. A plethora of boutique-style shops offer unique gifts, and a number of
the
local wineries have popped-up with easy-access tasting rooms in the heart of downtown.
John Villani notes that "small art towns have come to epitomize rural cultural coolness a
type of community people love visiting on a weekend getaway."
Walla Walla definitely fits the bill.
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