Dunham Cellars

This winery is one of the best in Walla Walla. The wine club is amazing with a 30% discount on cases for members! The Syrah and Lewis Valley wines are as good as it get and priced just right. I love turning my friends and family on to their offerings. I routinely pull out a bottle of Turtina for that mid-​week fix that I need right after a hard day at work. If you are in Walla Walla, don’t miss a trip to the beautiful winery and experience the lovely hospitality you will be afforded.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about this winery. The atmosphere, the family, the artwork, and last but not least the delicious wine. My husband and I always visit Dunham when we come to Walla Walla and enjoy their wines regularly when we’re home in Boise.

A beautiful setup outside for tasting, Dunham has a well designed patio with a good balance between plants, spacing, and shade. We noticed that the indoor tasting area was equally as nice. Their operations were 100 feet from our setting as we watched the workers bring in the harvest. There is something about the ambiance of a working winery vs. a pristine tasting room that seems to make the wines just taste that much better.
We loved many of their wines, purchasing five at the end. Since wines are a matter of taste, you may not like the same as us. That doesn’t change the experience though. A delight in every aspect, this is a winery worthy of your visit.

Such a beautiful tasting space! The wine is delightful, but the gem of this winery is the courtyard space with the babbling fountain, generous green space with tables, chairs and benches amongst ivy clad archways. Customer service was icing on the top. Perfect on a warm fall weekend

On our last visit to Walla Walla we visited a bunch of wineries. Not all of them, but a lot. Both my husband and I decided that this was our favorite winery on our tour for a couple of reasons. The obvious one being that their wine is spectacular. I’m not usually a big fan of riesling wines, but their Late Harvest Riesling is sooooo yummy. It is sweet, and full of flavor. Not just the sticky sweet that sticks to your tongue. The Chardonnay is also great. I think the white wines were hitting the spot because of how warm it was. My other favorite wine of theirs was their Syrah. So happy that we were able to bring a few bottles of these home with us to enjoy later with friends.
The second reason we loved it was because of the very inviting atmosphere inside. They have plush leather sofas and chairs that you can sit and relax on, with air conditioning to escape the heat. You can also sample some of their olive oils, vinegars, and chocolate while sipping. The ladies pouring also come around to where you are seated to pour your next taste.
A fantastic experience!!!

I am a wine fan and try to go tasting different regions several times a year. I like variety (and I am cheap) so I usually just get a bottle per place if it impresses. Never before my visit to Dunham have I bought more than two bottles on my first visit and signed up for their wine club. Their wines were just amazing for the price point.
In addition, their tasting room staff was incredibly friendly and went above and beyond what I have come to expect out of a normal visit. They even opened a bottle they weren’t tasting so we could get a better idea of what they had to offer.
This was my first time to Walla Walla and when I come back, this is the first winery I will be going. Loved it!

We love how welcoming everyone is at Dunham! Each time we visit Dunham Cellars, we remember why we are wine club members!
If you have a chance to attend an event at Dunham, go! Always wonderful food paired with excellent wines.

I now belong to a wine club. Had no idea that was going to happen, but I’m happy to belong to the wine club here at Dunham Cellars.
Before my trip out to Walla Walla I did a search for wineries on Unilocal.This was in the top 10 of most reviewed wineries on this site. Sue and I decided to pick 2 wineries (we ended up going to 3) and this was the first one we chose.
First and foremost I would like to say that AJ and Tristan were super friendly. They were doing our pouring today and had good information on Dunham Cellars as well as the Walla Walla area in general. I think Sue and I spent close to an hour here talking with these guys. In all that time only 2 other people came in for a tasting and they were there and gone within 20 minutes.
For the tasting we had I believe 7 or 8 different varieties. Reds and whites. There wasn’t a bad one in the bunch. Tasting will cost you $ 5, but the fee is waived if you purchase a bottle. We brought home 2 bottles with us and as I said, I also came home a member of their wine club.
Well worth a look. Very affordable wines and friendly employees. Look forward to getting back in the summer.

Came here to basically see what the highest rated winery on Unilocal was all about. The dogs were cute and charming, Mazey did meet us as the car. The Hangar Lounge was decorated very nicely.
Our tasting was just OK and shorter than others we had elsewhere. The woman pouring seemed like she had a hint of attitude and she skipped over all of the $ 40+ library wines (i.e. «the good stuff»). We found something to buy, but this was partly to avoid the tasting fee charges. The airport setting was OK, but the estate tasting rooms are generally more appealing. In general, we can’t understand what the fuss is about. There are other local tasting rooms that we prefer.

This is one of the top wineries in Walla Walla. Nice tasting room too, but the staff/​family (two Dunham’s working) were very friendly, pouring and telling us about each of their wines. A must visit. Loved the hanger building.

One of the friendliest wineries in Walla Walla. Located near the airport in an old WWII hangar, Dunham produces some of the best reds in the valley for the price. Always greeted by the friendly winery dogs, they have something for everyone in multiple price ranges.
I recently attended one of their harvest dinners which consisted of a five course meal paired with Dunham wines. Delicious!
Disclosure: I am a member of their wine club, but consider their wines a go-​to bottle when having company over or celebrating an event. It’s always a must-​visit when in Walla Walla.

This is a must visit location and wine tasting. Everyone in my group bought wine and loved the venue. People were friendly (even met Mr. Dunham and the dogs).

Great spot to take a wine tour group, nice location for lunch in the old Airplane Hanger.
Be sure to include it in your tour.

Out of the five wineries my husband and I visited in Walla Walla last week (yes, we took it at a leisurely pace), this was tied for my favorite with L’Ecole No. 41. The airport area is an excellent area for hitting up a bunch of wineries with minimal driving. Once you embrace the oddness of «wine country» amid an old air force base (which Esquire magazine called «the wine ghetto» of Walla Walla), you’ll find some great personalities, generosity, and nice, affordable wines.
What I liked best about Dunham Cellars:
— lack of snobbery combined with genuine love and knowledge of wines
— our wine-​pouring dude (you can tell how experienced I am with wine tasting): he was wearing a rocker wig and tattoo sleeves for Halloween, and knew a lot about the wine-​making process, as he is in the viticulture program at the nearby community college. He even took us for a little tour of the machinery as they were pressing grapes that day.
— the wine: We got to try an estate Merlot not on the tasting list because another customer was interested in buying it. Score! Our favorite wines were under $ 20 a bottle: the Shirley Mays Chardonnay, which benefits breast cancer research, and the Three-​legged Red, a terrific table wine. Apparently, this region is better for reds than whites, but this was a crisp, low-​oak Chardonnay.
Like most of the area wineries, the tasting fee is $ 5 and refundable with any wine purchase. Definitely put this place on your list.

This place was my favorite for many reasons. Classy; simple, wonderful people and great wine.
We left for Walla Walla on a «WeekendCation» to see the balloon festival and taste wine. My boyfriend who has done this many times before was prepared with the do and don’t of wine tasting. We came upon many beautiful wineries and many average looking wineries.
Jay said «The best wine; is in least nicest looking wineries». SUPER TRUE. From the outside; right by the airport sits Dunham in a metal warehouse. Like a diamond in the rough.
I was lucky enough to meet the Dunhams and their wonderful dogs; on Mothers Day. Great people making great wine.
Cheers!

Dunham was on our must-​do Walla Walla winery list because of their support of the non-​profit organization my friend works for. Lovely grounds and a lovely, spacious facility decorated with a bonanza of whimsical art. I favored the whites over the reds, and I left with the 2007 Four Legged White and the 2008 Late Harvest Riesling. The Three Legged Red and Four Legged White have adorable labels perfect for dog-​lovers. Dunham is noteworthy in that it has a fantastic selection of «gift» items that are charming and unique. We both ended up purchasing the votive holders made from used barrel staves because they were really just that cool.

If our weekend trip to Walla Walla only included one winery to visit, it would have to be Dunham Cellars. Still being a relative newbie when it comes to tasting wine (about three years into it), I don’t consider myself too much an authority on quality. Of course I like what I like, and nothing really blew me away in terms of flavor here. There was one particular bottle of Riesling that was out of this world, and I picked up a couple bottles of it. Their reds were decent; nothing jumped out and grabbed me, but at that point, we were well on our way to a long day of wine tasting so again, it might have been my own fault.
So where does the 4 star rating and only-​needed-​stop designation come from then, if I wasn’t blown away by the product? The Dunham Experience. My friend Chris was interested in buying a used barrel for decoration at his house, so one of the ladies behind the counter brought us around back to the winemaker. Instead of simply pointing us to the barrels and sending us on our way, he went all out in giving us a full tour of the facilities.
But this was no ordinary «that does that, and that there does that» tour. We were in the heart of everything. We saw grapes being pressed. I asked him if I could try a grape off the vine, as I had never had a wine grape — he gave me a handful of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes (delicious) — and then he said, I can do one better. He then proceeds to pour a small glass of juice out of a large metal tank. He explained that it was the tank where the grape juice ferments. This particular juice was grapes on the vine just three days ago. Incredible; I was actually right in the middle of the wine making process! He then went on to show us where they store their barrels, and how they go about shifting them around, and basically every part of the winemaking process.
So the wine was decent, OK. The heart and soul that goes into it, though, is 100-​point.

This was truly one of the highlights of our Washington trip…
After some research on the internet of highly scored wines, I found that Dunham offered RV hook-​ups. Since this was our first RV trip, I thought it would be great to hook up at a winery. Joanna and Mike really rolled out the red carpet for us and we had an amazing visit. They took us on a private tour of this 10 year-​old operation, including a beautiful reception room that would be great for private dinners. The wines are exquisite and the pours were generous. Be prepared for a hairy welcome from one of their 2 dogs Konnie and Maysie. Joanna and Mike are avid philanthropists which includes humane societies. We had a truly wonderful time and highly recommend a trip out to the airport area.

On our first trip to Walla Walla, me and the hubby heard about the airport area, with its high density of wineries in a concentrated space. We missed it the first time around, but made a point to start here on our follow-​up visit.
My guess is Dunham Cellars has one of the larger facilities amongst the airport clan — right off the tasting room is the Hangar Lounge, which is a high-​ceilinged, gallery/​hangout space adorned with installation art pieces and a variety of very cool lighting features. It’s open on Fridays, but was available to tasters walking around with their almost-​empty glasses.
We got there right before a group of six arrived and while the tasting room was large enough that we didn’t feel cramped, the tasting counter was a different story. I didn’t mind, though, cause Dunham’s employees were easy to strike up a conversation with and willing to share details about the wine and winery that gave you a little more appreciation for it all.
Left with:
* 2007 Shirley Mays Chardonnay — proceeds from the sales of this wine are made to the Susan G. Komen Foundation
* 2006 Trutina — Italian for «balanced», this is Dunham’s fancily-​named table wine
Notable notes:
* Eric Dunham has partnered with Kyle MacLachlan to develop the Pursued by Bear label — rich and doesn’t taste like the Dunham wines, but also pretty spendy
* Kyle MacLachlan grew up in Yakima and actually hangs out at the Dunham Cellars tasting room now and again
Return rate — 9 (out of 10)
* Hangar Lounge would be cool to check out on Friday night
* I dig their politics (philanthropy and paying homage to their three-​legged former friend)
* Would be cool to run into Kyle MacLachlan

The Tasting Room:
Of all of the tasting rooms I visited in Walla Walla, this has to be the most decked out with souveniers, wine gadgetry, and assorted nick-​nackery. It’s large, and reminds me more of a larger scale winery such as Château Ste Michelle. That notion was a bit reinforced when a big SUV stretch limo pulled up out front and unloaded a gaggle of college-​aged couples, some posing out of the sunroof of the limo for a picture (my sense of impending doom was lightened by the collective groan heard inside the tasting room as someone said «here comes a limo!» — we all had a good laugh at that one).
I have to give some extra stars for the ladies pouring the wine here. They were very friendly and welcoming, and did a great job of quickly distinguishing themselves from a commercial winery tasting room. We got interesting stories about the inspiration behind each of the wines being poured, and what went into the process. Sounds like Mr. Dunham is doing a good job of acting out his life’s passion: Winemaking.
The Wines:
The wines are good, solid, Walla Walla reds. They would do a great job of complimenting any table. That said, there is nothing about these wines that make them stand out. The Bordeaux blend was par for the course, and the two Cabernets were equally un-​inspiring. I found myself wanting more from each wine, but I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was.
There were 2 single-​vineyard wines on pour as well, and those did restore my complete and utter faith in Dunham’s ability to make fantastic wine. A Syrah and Cabernet from Lewis vinyeard — both with amazing label art, and fantastic flavor to boot. Now these were the character-​filled, complex, yet balanced wines I was looking for. I’ll take, uh, wait, how much are those? $ 75?! Hmmm. That’s a bit much for my wallet.
I know Dunham is one of the names that put Walla Walla on the map, but $ 75 is a tad much for this wine. K Vintners is making similarly amazing Syrah for about ½ to ²⁄₃ the price. At some level, it gets a bit beyond.
That all said, I did find myself walking away with a bottle of their table red (a true table red, made from whatever is left over after the rest are made). This will be a great Thursday night wine when we cook up a spaghetti dinner.
Why did I buy a bottle when I was not all that impressed? $ 5 tasting fee x2 is refunded with purchase. So canceling that out, I got a $ 9 bottle of decent red. Problem is, I can get a fantastic red here in Portland for $ 10.
Walla Walla, please don’t go the way of Dundee. Don’t overprice your wines. If you do, I’ll have to switch to Australia, Argentina, and Spain, who are all producing award winning wines for $ 10-​$ 15.
I would mark this on your «hit-it-if-you-are-near-the-airport-but-don’t-make-a-special-trip-out-for-it» list.