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We've compiled the best of the best in Southeastern Washington - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Just down the road from Maryhill Museum, this expansive winery enjoys the same phenomenal views up and down the Gorge. The largest tasting room in the Gorge has a good-size gift shop as well as a market selling cheese, charcuterie, and other gourmet goodies. Maryhill produces dozens of wines at a variety of prices—the reserves, including stellar Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Chardonnay, tend to earn most acclaim.
Celebrated Woodinville winemaker Michael Savage operates this intimate tasting room at the vineyard on which he grows the grapes in several of his most acclaimed bottles, including a vibrant Riesling, a lean and elegant Pinot Noir, and a complex Gewürztraminer orange wine. Enjoy the sweeping Gorge and Mt. Hood views while you sip.
The focus at this intimate winery with lovely seating set among beautiful gardens is predominantly on elegant, full-bodied Rhône-style wines. The friendly, knowledgeable tasting room has garnered plenty of awards for its aromatic Cuvée Elena Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre blend, as well as a first-rate stand-alone Syrah, and several racy, dry whites—Picpoul, Grenache Blanc—that seem tailor-made for the Gorge's warm summer nights. Note that several other outstanding small wineries—Domaine Pouillon and Tetrahedron among them—are in this same rural town.
Just a short drive west of White Salmon, this friendly boutique winery has one of the prettiest tasting-room settings in the area—it's high on Underwood Mountain, with outdoor seating that affords spectacular views looking east toward Hood River and deep into the Gorge. The cleverly named wines here—Puck, an Albarino, and Three Witches, a Rhône-style blend of Cinsault, Carignan, and Counoise—are paired with little amuse-bouche-style nibbles, typically chocolate, prosciutto, or fruit.
Appreciated for its sleek, glass-walled tasting room and landscaped courtyard as well as for producing complex, eclectic wines, COR is one of several excellent Lyle wineries. The Cabernet Franc is one of the best in the state, but don't overlook the distinctive Merlot-Malbec and co-fermented Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer blends.
