While both Chelan and Walla Walla are easily defined regions centered around a specific city (OK, “city“ might be a stretch for Chelan, at least), what we’re calling the “Yakima Valley” region is harder to define. But there’s no question when you’re there — what Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said about obscenity is just as true about this region of Washington wine, you “know it when you see it.”
It starts in Yakima, where the endless acres of open hills and cattle-grazing land begin to give way to those telltale rows of fruit. More wineries start appearing as you leave town, first one at a time, then two or three together — by the time you reach Buena and Zillah, roughly 20 miles down Highway 82, there are nothing but wine grapes as far as the eye can see, and dozens of wineries lining the freeway’s northern border. Another 30 minutes down the road, Prosser and Benton City sit at the virtual heart of Washington wine country — where the Red Mountain, Horse Heaven Hills, Yakima Valley and Columbia Valley AVAs (American Viticulutral Areas) all meet — while the Tri-Cities, another 15 minutes east, pack another two dozen wineries into a relatively small (and easily drivable) footprint.
In other words, this region may lack for a specific name — we’ve picked “Yakima Valley,” though technically the Tri-Cities wineries lie just outside the actual Yakima Valley AVA — but it doesn’t lack for incredible wine.
Coming from the west, a good place to start is at Desert Aire Golf Club, due south from Vantage on the eastern shore of the Columbia River. If Desert Aire were anywhere except the middle of nowhere, it would likely be considered one of the state’s top tracks. With a recent redesign completed by Dan Hixson (of Wine Valley and Bandon Crossings fame, and whose new, unique reversible design at Oregon’s Silvies Valley Ranch was featured in our June issue), impeccable conditioning and expansive views of the Columbia River and Umtanum Ridge, what’s not to like? Fairways are almost never crowded, and the rate — just $39 on a summer weekend — is half what Desert Aire could charge for the same experience in Western Washington.
Starting at Desert Aire also gives you a few options — continuing southeast towards the Tri-Cities, cutting due south through the heart of the Yakima Valley AVA to the wine-tasting centers of Sunnyside and Prosser, or turning west after crossing the river to make straight for Yakima itself.
We like to start east and work our way back home — which means teeing it up at any of the Tri-Cities’ terrific tracks on the afternoon we arrive. That includes Canyon Lakes Golf Course (the first solo design by John Steidel, and not the last that we’ll play on this trip), with its massive greens; Sun Willows (with a back nine built by Robert Muir Graves), Columbia Point (designed by Jim Engh, one of just four designers in the world with three courses in Golf Digest’s U.S. Top-100) or Horn Rapids, whose par-3 fourth-hole was a finalist in our 2009 “Dream 18“ of Washington’s top holes. Or, you could skip your second round of the day and instead enjoy an afternoon tasting at Preston Premium Winery, Gordon Brothers Winery or J Bookwalter, and you’ll sleep well under the stars that night.
On day two, we’ll play early in the Tri-Cities before heading west, stopping off in either Benton City or Zillah. Realistically, it’s impossible to do more than one of these towns in a single day — your best bet is to choose one area and stick to it, then move on to the next the following day. In Benton City, both Corvus Cellars and Col Solare Winery have wines ranked among the top-100 in the world, while Kiona Vineyards and Winery is one of the state’s oldest; Prosser is home to favorites 14 Hands, Alexandria Nicole, Milbrandt Vineyards and http://www.airfieldwines.com/.
Our final day, we confess, is mostly about the golf — but, we’ll make a few stops along the way at places like J Bell Cellars in Zillah, or Owen Roe, on the outskirts of Yakima. You can’t hit a pitching wedge in Zillah without finding a winery, so you won’t be short of options.
When it comes to the golf, though, there’s only one must-play: Apple Tree Resort. A mainstay on the Washington golf scene since it opened in 1992, Apple Tree is known primarily for its apple-shaped island green, complete with a leaf-shaped bunker and a footbridge stem. Second only to Coeur d’Alene’s floating green among the Northwest’s most iconic golf course images, the apple green is every bit as fun to play as it is to look at — the elevated tee box at the par-3 17th looks down 100 feet to the green below; so many golfers stop to take photos and hit extra shots that the course has had to erect a sign reminding players to please keep it moving out of courtesy to the groups behind them.
The truth is, though, you’ll fall in love with Apple Tree well before you reach the 17th tee. For me, what started as a crush on the very first hole — an elevated tee par-4 whose sheer “greenness,“ for lack of a better term, overwhelms the senses — developed into full-blown passion by the time I made the turn, having played creatively designed holes routed through active apple orchards and along a delightful, burbling stream. The beauty of the apple orchards on the front nine is matched only by the water hazards and white-sand bunkers of the back — the green complexes at the 11th and 14th holes are among the prettiest in the state, while the steeply-sloping 16th hole, and the 463-yard, par-5, risk/reward 18th team with the island green to form one of our favorite finishing stretches.