Wow, what an amazing beyond the bottle experience I had visiting the Amavi Cellars winery, which is located in an industrialized area west of downtown Walla Walla.

The name, Amavi, is derived from the Latin words, amor (love), vita (life), and vinum (wine). Their mission is “to capture the best of love and life in every bottle” of wine. It’s clear this mission extends to the winery experience. Whatever the Amavi Cellars winery lacks in terms of its setting, they more than make up for it in providing a great experience inside their tasting room. In fact, they lived up to their promise of providing a “relaxed, Old-West atmosphere as you sample our wines.”

I was really impressed by the generous reception I received when entering the winery. The first person to approach me was Travis, who is the regional sales manager at Amavi. This was actually her day off, with Travis standing at the bar hosting a friend to a sampling of their wine. The fact that she took time away from her friend to strike up a conversation was impressive. We ended up chatting at length about how Amavi got started, the people behind the wine, and the unique characteristics of each bottle.

Travis also shared a great story about the 1890’s cabin that was moved from their family property in Montana to construct the tasting room. Along with the Old West memorabilia hanging on the walls, those century-old cabin timbers make for quite an interesting tasting room. Overall, Travis' storytelling about their winery offered a great way to connect to their wines beyond the bottle.

Complementing Travis' hospitality was Patty, the tasting room manager for Amavi. Patty did a fantastic job explaining the terroir of each of the six wines available for sampling (a semillon, a cab franc rose, two syrahs, a cab, and an ice wine). Amavi charges $5 for tastings, but this fee is refundable with any wine purchase.

Even after more folks arrived, Patty continued to go beyond the bottle in providing a memorable experience. With each glass poured, she shared some great stories about the wine that went beyond the detailed tasting notes in front of me. I also liked the fact that Patty pointed out on their VinMap where the vineyards were located in the Walla Walla Valley.

Best of all, Patty let the wines speak for themselves. No bragging about ratings or reviews - just a focus on the people and places behind the wines I was sampling.

Another positive aspect of Amavi Cellars is their focus on producing wine from estate vineyards. If you’re looking for a Walla Walla winery that produces wines from grapes grown in the same valley, then this is your place. Although I normally don’t include tasting notes in winery reviews, I must commend Amavi on producing wines that are not your usual high alcohol fruit bombs frequently encountered around Washington. I also like the fact that they are reasonably priced, with bottles ranging from $18 to $25.

I highly recommend Amavi Winery on your next visit to Walla Walla. They very much exceeded expectations in terms of providing an experience that went beyond the bottle. The stories about their founding, fruit, facility, and family all helped connect me to Amavi in ways I would have never imagined. Delicious wines, passionate people, and great stories made for a exceptional experience.

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