Canoe Ridge Vineyard

Canoe Ridge Vineyard focuses primarily on Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. The estate vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA was first planted in 1989, followed by the opening of its Walla Walla winery, established in 1994. The name comes from the vineyard site on the eastern side of Washington adjacent to the Columbia River. Famed explorers Lewis & Clark named this crest of land; they thought the ridge looked like an overturned canoe. In its two decades of winemaking, Canoe Ridge Vineyard has earned more than twenty-five scores of 90 points or better. Cited on the National Register of Historic Places, the Canoe Ridge tasting room building originally served as the town’s streetcar and train facility in the early 1900s (Walla Walla Traction Co.). Although the winery has operated continuously since 1994, the tasting room underwent an extensive renovation befitting of its turn-of-the-century character; it reopened after a two-year closure in May 2012.