The Best of Washington Wine Country
New lodging options offer indulgent appeal in the Walla Walla Valley
Anand and Naina Rao could have chosen to live anywhere in the world. They opted to settle in the small prairie city of Walla Walla, Washington, at the foot of the Blue Mountains.
Raised in Kenya by Indian parents, educated in England and Switzerland, the gracious couple spent a career in management and design with luxury hotel groups. They lived in Paris, Kuwait, Bangkok, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., among other cities. They worked for companies like Hilton International and Ritz-Carlton.
In 2007, when their son was in school in Seattle, the Raos bought a piece of farmland seven miles west of Walla Walla, not far from the Marcus Whitman National Historic Site. In 2015 they “retired” to their would-be estate. Armed with a creative vision and modest savings, they built a private retreat that blended perfectly with the natural environment. They called it “The Barn.”
The Barn opened on April 1 as a seven-room bed-and-breakfast inn.
“We didn’t want it to be big,” said Anand. “We knew it would be purpose-built. We could make every little detail happen.”
The inn pairs the simplicity of oasis-like guest houses, one of them in a granary, with special touches of the Ritz. Guests feel it in the mattresses, the pillows, the bath amenities. An outdoor shower occupies a corner of a rocky courtyard that could double as a meditation garden. A wine cooler chills the selections guests have made at vineyards during daytime excursions.
The “barn” itself is a common area adorned not with stable tack, but with a lifetime of the hosts’ memories — paintings, carvings, mirrors, door frames and musical instruments from Kenya, Tunisia, Kuwait, France and Thailand. Breakfasts are served here each morning, the joint effort of Naina and young chef Elizabeth Garza. Always globally inspired, they range from Moroccan shakshuka to Mexican huaraches. Monday and Thursday night dinners have a similar international flair.
We immediately were made to feel a part of the Rao family with a heartfelt reception, rare in the world of hospitality. One might say the couple are paying it forward. “There’s a beauty, a tranquility, in Walla Walla, that blows us away,” Anand said. “Our goal is to create a special place, with its own magic, to make people feel special.”
Even Justin Wylie, a rival hotel owner, recognizes the Raos’ accomplishment. “They are helping to change the dynamic of hospitality here in Walla Walla,” said the founder of Va Piano Vineyards and the new Eritage Resort.
The Eritage Resort
Eritage opened in mid-2018 six miles north of the city, where the valley begins to fold into the Palouse Hills. Prior to its establishment, Walla Walla had no “go-to” luxury getaway. Only the venerable 1927 Marcus Whitman Hotel in the heart of downtown rose above a flurry of franchise motels and ma-and-pa lodgings, many of them serving Whitman College visitors.
A visionary, Wylie had purchased 300 acres for the resort 10 years earlier. The Walla Walla native earned his degree from Spokane’s Gonzaga University and fled to the vineyards of Italy’s Tuscany region before returning to his hometown as a winemaker. The first crush at Va Piano Vineyards (the name means “Go Slowly”) took place in 2003.
Wylie had seen the Walla Walla wine industry grow from its infancy in the late 1970s to become one of the most highly regarded in the nation: Today, its 140-odd wineries make it a prime wine destination. But it didn’t have the lodging-and-dining infrastructure of California’s Napa and Sonoma valleys, or even Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
“We are an authentic farming community that grows seed grass, wheat and grapes,” Wylie said. “So our next step was to really focus on executing the hospitality.”
He teamed with developer Scott Knox, who built an elegant hotel with rooflines that mimic the surrounding hills. Ten suites in the main hotel, and 10 more bungalows facing intimate Lake Sienna, offer expansive views among acres of vineyards. There are lawn games, water sports, and fine dining overseen by executive chef Brian Price.
Dining out
Wylie met me for dinner at the Walla Walla Steak Company, which opened last year in the city’s 1914 Northern Pacific railway depot. Built of red brick on a sandstone foundation, the station has retained its original wood floors, respectfully restored and handsomely accented with rustic fixtures and leather upholstery. Manager Jim Kiefer assured that our steaks were as delicious as the vintage bottle of Va Piano syrah that Wylie shared.
We sampled more of Va Piano’s goodness the following day at his vineyards, located less than a mile north of the Oregon state line.
But our host understood that one can’t live on steak alone. He recommended these other Walla Walla restaurants:
- Whitehouse-Crawford, chef-owner Jamie Guerin’s long-popular restaurant in a converted lumber-planing mill. The wine-country menu is eclectic and hearty.
- Brasserie Four, a distinctly French restaurant on Main Street in the heart of the city. The menu is Parisian, the wine and art mostly local.
- Saffron, whose menu hits all corners of the Mediterranean, from Spain and Italy to the Middle East. A new West Main Street location makes it more spacious.
- Hattaway’s on Alder, which opened a couple of years ago in the former Saffron digs. Its cuisine is decidedly Southern-influenced.
A popular stop for a casual lunch is Andrae’s Kitchen, in a former Cenex minimart on the west side of town. New York chef Andrae Bopp has perfected the concept of food truck-moves-indoors.
Doubling back
One of Walla Walla’s best known wineries is Doubleback, owned by former Super Bowl quarterback Drew Bledsoe.
Bledsoe was a high-school star in Walla Walla before playing at Washington State University and for 14 years in the National Football League. Upon his retirement in 2007, he “doubled back” to his roots and began a career in the wine business. Today, Bledsoe’s Doubleback wines are among the most exclusive in the valley, with cabernet sauvignons fetching nearly $150 a bottle.
Josh McDaniels, the company’s president and director of winemaking, greeted us at the southeast Walla Walla winery and gave us a tour. “When Drew came out of the NFL and started a winery, he wanted to base the business on a single quality wine,” McDaniels said. “It was really important for him to get away from the celebrity thing.”
The cabernet they have perfected is a wine of understated elegance, rich and full-bodied, with flavor and balance. “We want a wine that is approachable on opening, but which peaks between five and 20 years,” McDaniels said.
Grapes chosen for the Doubleback label are “the best of the best,” he said. The second tier go into Bledsoe Family Wines — not just cabernets, but also syrah, chardonnay, rosé and a red blend. These are more modestly priced; they come from several vineyards in different parts of the Walla Walla valley. One of about three dozen tasting rooms in downtown Walla Walla, the Bledsoe Family Winery welcomes walk-ins from Wednesday to Saturday.
—By John Gottberg, Editor
THE BARN: 1624 Stovall Road, Walla Walla, WA 99362
509-795-0250, www.banbwallawalla
Rates from $350
ERITAGE RESORT: 1319 Bergevin Springs Road, Walla Walla, WA 99362
509-394-9200, www.eritageresort.com
Rates from $319
Book This Hotel: Booking.com
