Le Chateau Winery

I’m always a little suspicious of wineries with the word “chateau” in their monikers. I like winery names that give a sense of place or family. Thus, when I drove to the Walla Walla Regional Airport’s winery district to visit Le Chateau Winery, my expectations weren’t high. However, life does throw us curveballs, and as I drove into the winery’s parking lot, my eyes took in the whimsical faux chateau mural covering the façade of the 1940s barracks building. Any thoughts that I was visiting a pretentious winery quickly dissipated. Instead, the artist’s wonderfully executed tongue-in-cheek rendering of a French castle had me immediately snapping pictures and grinning.

Once inside, a friendly tasting room employee greeted me. Her two miniature dogs, Lulu and Remi, were wrestling with each other, and it was hard to tell which dog had the upper paw. I placed camera and notebook down on what I surmise as Walla Walla’s finest wine bar and responded affirmatively to her question “Would you like to do some wine tasting?” I proceeded to smell, taste and spit my way through a portfolio of white and red wines.

To maintain my rep as a cheap date, as well as to keep my wits, I generally spit rather than swallow. But whatever discipline I had melted away when I took in a mouthful of Le Chateau’s Masterpiece Red, a blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon made from grapes sourced in the Walla Walla Valley. This one I swallowed, relishing its full mouthfeel, huge black fruit notes and long finish.

Now more open to learning, I discovered that Kennewick’s Dick and Diane Hoch own the winery. Under the banner “Wines from the Scablands,” they created Le Chateau Winery to sell their wine, display original art, and provide a winery event room for private parties and winery-sponsored functions. However, the pièce de résistance of Le Chateau Winery is the Hochs’ wine -- check it out.

While saying my goodbyes, I recalled that other Northwest wineries include “chateau” in their titles, such as Chateau Lorane, Chateau Bianca Winery, Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery and a little Woodinville-based winery called Chateau Ste. Michelle. I realized then that by any other name, Le Chateau’s wines would taste just as good.