Is Walla Walla the Next Napa?

 

In his post of August 10 in his Washington Wine Report (www.wawinereport.com) Sean Sullivan has an article entitled "Why Walla Walla will never be Napa." He points out that "Napa has a built-in tourist industry that Walla Walla will never have." Millions of visitors a year go to Napa, many of them day trippers (with its proximity to the Bay Area). Walla Walla is over four hours away from Seattle and Portland. Also, there are proportionally more small producers in Walla Walla than in Napa where the production scale is huge.

 

This post elicited 19 comments, much more than usual. One compared Walla Walla to the aggressive growth in Woodinville which seems to be aiming for Number One as a wine destination. The most impassioned comments came from Catie McIntyre Walker (the Wild Walla Walla Wine Woman) who wrote: "Right. I cannot tell you how many times I have stamped my feet, yelled at anybody who would listen to me, cringed when some enthusiastic writer from LA or NY (who has never actually visited Walla Walla) thought they cleverly coined that phrase and several times myself blogged, "Walla Walla will never be another Napa." Due to the fact that we are too far away from anything major - and thank goodness for that!"

 

Rusty Eddy's comment is right to the point: "Walla Walla doesn't want to be Napa any more than Washington wants to be California. The value of WW is its uniqueness. (On the other hand, WW wineries and merchants probably wouldn't turn down any additional wine tourist dollars." An anonymous commenter brought up the "Don't Bend Walla Walla" cry a few years ago when a developer from Oregon tried to build a 365 unit development complete with a golf course, trails and a restaurant, but also coveted rural water and farmland in the process.

 

Catie's final comment was "Walla Walla is a funny little town and has always been that way. We want growth, but not too much, especially if it means we have to change things. Believe it or not, there are several citizens who hate-hate-hate the wine industry and feel that everything wrong with the city, the wineries are responsible and should be made to fix the problems...." Sean's reply was, "Very difficult to get the balance right. I am sure there are many in Walla Walla who are not pleased that the wine industry has grown there...."

 

I concur with just about all that was said. As one who lives here 40% of the year, I do not want Walla Walla to become another Napa (or Bend for that matter) any more than Catie Walker does. The inherent charm of WW is its eclectic mix of wine people, academics (3 college campuses) farmers and artists, along with the small town ambience and the majestic Blues. That is Walla Walla's biggest asset and future growth needs to be built on that. Oh, about the lack of proximity to Seattle, Portland and other cities, hey, Alaska/Horizon Air where are the Air/Lodging/Car Rental packages for Walla Walla?!!