Walla Walla hailed as the West’s Standout Wine and Dine region in the 2022 Sunset Travel Awards.
Walla Walla Wins best in the West
As Julia Child once said, “Wine is meant to be with food. That’s the point of it.”
Recognizing this, the editors of Sunset Magazine scoured the West to find a destination worthy of the “Standout Wine-and-Dine Region” designation in the publication’s coveted 2022 Sunset Travel Awards. What they found, not surprisingly to those who are already in the know, was Walla Walla.
As the West’s most respected travel and lifestyle authority, Sunset Magazine editors toil over hundreds of entries each year, before crowning winners in categories ranging from “Where to go” and “Where to stay,” to “What to eat,” “What to drink,” and “What to do.”
In their affirmation of Walla Walla’s perfect marriage of wine and food, Sunset editors described the town and surrounding area as, “No longer the new kid on the block, Washington’s fertile southeastern region is teeming with new restaurants and food trucks, a burgeoning arts scene, and more than 100 wineries that appeal to all types of palates.”
Good company
In addition to Walla Walla’s designation as Standout Wine-and-Dine Region, three other local businesses were also recognized in the awards. The FINCH and The Inn at Abeja were both honored in the Wine Country Escapes section, and L’Ecole No 41 was featured as one of the editors’ picks for Top Wine Tasting Experiences.
Elevated Dining
Home to long-standing culinary pioneers including Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen, TMACS, and Brasserie Four, Walla Walla’s culinary scene has been further elevated in recent years with newcomers like Kinglet, Bar Bacetto, Walla Walla Steak Co., AK’s Mercado, Hattaway’s On Alder, Passatempo Taverna, and The Kitchen at Abeja, to name a few.
Building for the future
Walla Walla is also one of very few destinations to practice what it preaches when it comes to food and wine. As home to both the Wine Country Culinary Institute and the Institute for Enology and Viticulture, the next generation of talent is being recruited and groomed to build on the solid foundation that has already been set.
Cheers to that
This is the second consecutive year that Walla Walla has received notable recognition from Sunset, having been named the West’s “Emerging Wine Route” in the 2021 Sunset Travel Awards. It also comes on the heels of the Walla Walla Valley being named America’s Best Wine Region for the third consecutive year (2020, 2021, 2022), and Long Shadows Vintners being named America’s Best Wine Tasting Room in the USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.
Whether you’re drawn here for the wine or the food, the two were meant to be together, and nowhere is that marriage more celebrated than in Walla Walla.
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