House of Smith Wines - Walla Walla Tasting Room

And we're back! Ten months since our last visit. Birthday weekend, doing our three faves: stay at FINCH, dinner at Passatempo, AND get the House of Smith wine experience. Thursday afternoon early December. Thanks, Jose for the amazing experience! We did the Fall Release and Bordeaux Blitz tastings at the counter then moved to a table for a glass and charcuterie board. Left with a dozen—some for now; some to lay down. Came back the next night (after dinner at Passatempto) for their square dancing. We shared a bottle of Riesling—perfect for post-dinner dancing watch-party. Thanks again, Jose, for your hospitality. ### Excellent wines. Third time. Good wine-snack options—from charcuterie to Marcona almonds. Friendly, attentive service. Industrial deceptively simple décor—like if Nirvana and Zeplin made a tasting room together. On this third visit (fresh snow), we stopped by late Friday afternoon. Sat at the bar. I did the "Burgundy Glass" flight (Chardonnay focused—new convert here). My husband did the "Little Italy" flight (his favorite House of Smith reds). Our host, Derek, brought out several more wines—each with a good Charles Smith story. Left with a bulging box of wine. 'Til next time!

Best tasting room I have been to! The staff was amazing! Super friendly and so knowledgeable! All of the wines were so easy to drink! I love Syrah. If you love red wine…….stop here!

Our favorite tasting room downtown. Really cool space, converted auto garage. The wine was delicious. The beautiful and super knowledgeable steward DINA made our wine experience at House of Smith's very enjoyable and enlightening. She share lots on interesting info, but didn't hover and let us enjoy our time there. Great music. Highly recommend.

Came for a wedding weekend event and had a good time. The space was inviting and the charcuterie board was well balanced. Overall we enjoyed our wine flight enough to grab a couple bottles for our Airbnb.

This was SUCH an amazing experience!! Kelly was phenomenal, the wine is perfect, approachable, reasonably priced, and just amazing. The atmosphere is down to earth, and enjoyable. Wow, I'm incredibly impressed, 10/10 recommend

A bit disappointing. I'm a fan of their Syrah and was excited to see such a long list of wines. I appreciate the inventiveness of Mr. Smith, but with experimentation, you get some misses which is how I would describe his flight of whites. Almost undrinkable.The SEX Rose was good. The reds were better but not great. Fortunately our server was spot on in her favorites. So many better options to choose from in Walla Walla.

My favorite winery, hands down!!! The decor is super cool. The wine keeps up with the times in flavor while keeping to old world traditions. Kayla was an amazing sommelier to us.

Having booked months ago for a party of 8 and informed via email from Kelly that it would be $30 per person, we were updated by Major that it would be $50 per tasting, refundable with $99 per person spend. He also informed us there would be an automatic 20% gratuity per taster. We were not enthused at spending $500 for 8 of us to taste 5 wines and decided to hit the road. Unfortunate. Great looking spot and excited to taste there. Two other people tasting on a perfect Sunday afternoon.

Great tasting room. Open concept where you can bring food/ games etc. Great afternoon spent here where you don't feel rushed. Kid friend which is a plus. Very clean and awesome service. All my tasting met the expectations. I opted for the Italian which was yum. The Tempranillo was delish followed by Sangiovese going home with few bottles. Highly recommend this place .

One of our favorite stops for tasting. Friendly staff, affordable wines, great snacks/charcuterie, large spaces, and very photogenic. There is also a pretty cool story behind the owner and a lot of the wines if you stay and listen. We did not experience small pours like others have mentioned. Kayla was fabulous and if you're nice and support the business- it will bless you in return.

Very fun atmosphere! Would recommend if you are looking for a party vibe. Beautiful space and great wine. Just do it, you know you want to party.

Came in to do a wine tasting. We made a reservation. Got there - 4 customers in entire space and we are told no table service. We are to sit, drink then walk back to them to get service. There are three people behind the bar. It's the first self service wine experience I have had where tasting cost $25 and I have to do the work. Oh now a 4th staff member is here. NO Service whatsoever. This model is not what the Walla Walla wine valley usual demonstrates. Disappointing. Space is lovely but lack of service destroys it. We will spend our money elsewhere.

Were excited to check out House of Smith on our trip to Walla Walla as we've really like the value-based K-vine line we find at Costco. Were surprised to see how *many* wines the tasting room offered so wife and I got two different flights to taste them, excited to see what their premium offerings were like. Sadly, we were disappointed up and down the line. Some of this I think was tasting room mis-management - close to half our pours were from newly-opened bottles straight from the cooler. The server confirmed my questions that some (many?) of these wines needed to open up for ~1hr or more, so why serve these premium bottles freshly open and overly-cool? Staff was knowledgable about the wines, but got the impression they were trying to impress and prepare us with descriptors to make the wines seem more approachable than they were in the glass. While waiting patiently and swirling often helped some of the wines considerably (all-the-while enduring overly-loud music in an echo-y space), the overly-thin, austere, or super smoky-mineral quality of the wines (which was present across their line) were not for us. This was the most expensive tasting and smallest pours from our various tasting room visits this weekend and easily the least impressive wines. We've visited quirky, 'punk-rock' wineries before , but their wines were perfectly served, deep and delicious, and we could hear ourselves speak.

Charles Smith is probably the most famous winemaker in Washington, and this is the place where you can easily taste all of his wines (and there are a lot). We tried three different flights of five flights, ended up buying five of the K series wines, and joining their club. Great indoor and outdoor tasting areas. We love that the tasting flights are served in individual "shots" along with a large tasting glass, making it easy to share pours, or go back and forth to compare them

Great team working the tasting room. His wines are great value and well crafted. Worth the visit

Not owned by Prince Charles or by Smith of Smith And Wesson fame, but still well worth me Whining about it. Or should that be wining. This is a nice winery with friendly people working here. Their products aren't cheap, which is why I don't give them five stars, but we've tried a couple of them recently (and several previously when in WA state) off the shelves of Texas grocery stores and they taste pretty good. I'm not into wine but if I was, this would be one of my favourites in the Pacific Northwest.

Great winery tasting. They sat a group of 10 for us fast and easy. Only negative is tiny pour sizes for the tastings but all in all fabulous wine. We loved the Syrah which was so smooth and boosted us into a fun afternoon. Venue is very cool and has rock and roll vibes, nice open brick with lofted ceilings.

This place has a great interior and a nice look to it. However the vibe was off because of an employees refusal to be friendly or courtesy to us. She just wasn't friendly to us and at one point poured a wine and simply "red wine blend" with nothing else. Eventually though we just avoided her and got wine from another helpful person. Worth noting this place has some small bites and the wine selection here is pretty great. Just try to find a friendly person to show you the wines.

We had a great tasting at Charles Smith right in downtown Walla Walla. While the young woman directing our tasting was professional and attractive, she lacked warmth, and that was a bit unsettling. Laughter and a bit of frivolity should be an inherent part of wine tasting. She also tried to sell us a club membership before our tasting was done. That was kind of tacky. My palete is rather unique, and so we went through a variety of wines before focusing on what we liked respectively. I did join the club and also bought some futures. That will be fun. It was our first wine tasting in years, and the convenience of a wine tasting room located downtown appreciated, even if it takes some of the cache away. I yearn for the 1970s and 1980s when a trip to Napa and Sonoma was so organic. There was no Disneyesque aspect to wine. You met the winemakers and tasted on their farm. How cool was that? But, everything has changed. Just look at music. There is nothing organic about a concert these days. Charles Smith is producing some very good wines. When in Walla Walla, go and enjoy.

Overall good experience but would have appreciated flexibility in swapping Chardonnay for other options which the GM was no amenable to.

My husband and I had Charles Smith on our must try list during out Walla Walla visit bc I've been a big fan of their Kung Fu girl Riesling prior to visiting. We did the tasting of both the cheaper $20 or less wines as well as the more expensive line, mostly from the K Vintners. We both learnt that we really liked Syrah from our tasting today which is surprising! I also really enjoyed the moscato which just tasted like candy. The royal city Syrah was easily the best Syrah I've ever had but the $140 price tag was a bit too hefty. I limited myself to buying only one bottle of wine this whole day and we got the powerline Syrah which was quite expensive for our normal wine standards... unfortunately upon driving home the hubs took the wine out of the car and somehow it just shattered into pieces, leaving a big wet and sad mess. We won't be taking home any Charles Smith wines after all with this unfortunate incident. So we highly recommend the tasting room, but be ware of any bottles you purchase especially if you have to travel.

I had never been to Walla Walla and wanted a positive wine tasting experience with my family which did not happen here. The customer service was sub par, our server did not come and check on us or offer us water. Overall the price was 100 dollars for 2 wine tastings. They gave us a double pour when we didn't ask for it and up-sold us without disclosing the price. I only liked 2 out of the wines that I tried. I would recommend skipping this winery and checking out another one that's more reasonably priced with better service and better options.

Wow, what a circus this place is. Crowded and loud with a band playing in the middle of it all, and then a food truck out front? How tacky. My friends recommended this place and I was here with them. At their suggestion, I went with the K-line (?) of wines. The lady behind the counter was all over the place and the entire tasting took twice as long as it should have. And after all that, I only liked the Malbec. Good enough to buy a bottle, but pricey. Sorry, won't be back. Doesn't have a winery tasting room feel to it at all!

I discovered my all time favorite Moscato for only $12 a bottle; I wish I lived closer so I could get it frequently. The building has a hip industrial feel and the men who were workingman's there were sociable and knowledgeable.

Awesome wine tasting with Kayla! She was incredibly knowledgeable and super friendly! The wines were amazing, and the charcuterie was excellent! The wine was so outstanding, we purchased a few bottles to take with us, and boy am I glad we did! My favorite wine was the King Coal! Will absolutely return!!!

Had a great time at Charles Smith this morning. My mom and I were the first ones in the tasting room and so had the pleasure of getting one on one attention from an employee, Cia. The wines were great and so were the conversations. She made the experience fun and memorable! When we come back to Walla Walla we will definitely be coming back to this place. Best winery we visited all day!

This was our favorite winery of all that we visited today! The service was excellent. Mandy was hugely knowledgeable about the wines and about wine in general, giving us so much information about the grapes, aging process, and more! Dakota was great, too! We did the Reserve tasting which is $10 for 6 wines of your choice. So awesome to be able to choose your tasting experience, as one of us was looking to taste more whites and the other was looking for Syrahs. PS- the lavender soap in the bathroom is awesome!

So we have a group of 12 people, no one under the age of 50. Traveled across half the country to get to Walla -Walla with our wine group. I changed pants before leaving our B&B 30 minutes away and left my wallet in my other pants...and House of Smith refused to serve me because I did not have my ID. I will be 60 years old in a month!! I had the server bring out the lady who is "The Director". Supposably an adult. She would not serve me. So now we know the kind of people who love power, have virtually no common sense, and typically work for the DMV. If you are a common sense, think for myself, understand law is written but laws are interpreted by thinking humans, type of person, do not spend your money here, there are too many other wineries and tasting rooms.

With Covid restrictions, it was a relaxed and intimate tasting. Staff with incredible knowledge and passion for their wines. I felt safe and had an amazing time. Wines delicious, will be visiting again soon!!!

Wonderful experience! They have an enormous number of fantastic wines to taste. We had a couple of glasses plus a flight, and ended up coming home with a bottle of Cab that we purchased as a gift for a dear friend who is a wine lover. The staff is extremely knowledgeable about the intricacies of their wines. The place is fun and down to earth, with friendly staff. We will definitely visit House of Smith on our next trip to Walla Walla.

We did a tasting at House of Smith today and it was fantastic! The wines were all great but what made the experience top shelf was the service of Sam, he knows his wine, was extremely personable and went out of his way to make our visit memorable. Kudos to Sam!

I know, its only rock and roll, but I like it! From its Olsen Kunding designed tasting room with exposed brick, industrial metal, alternative music track, and concrete floors, to the wines themselves, this tasting room experience is completely unique. I'm personally in love with the sparse black and white graphic design on the bottles and the BIG show-stopping taste of the K-Vintner's Royal City Washington State Syrah. This place makes me feel like I may be a rock n roll girl after all. We had a personalized tasting room experience, hosted by a knowledgeable young woman who knew her product and had a friendly and inclusive attitude. It was a quiet moment in the tasting room when we arrived, but I have to say as a family of 5, with two adults, two grandparents and a 6 year old, we were all treated well, learned a bit about the wines, and were able to taste while our daughter danced to the music. Not bad.

We did tasting of Charles Smith line only (not the K Vintner). Only liked the Kung Fu Girl Riesling, so we bought two bottles to enjoy at a table (later we bought a case to bring home). When our tab was larger than expected, we reviewed our receipt to find a $5 sit-fee for drinking our bottles there. Seemed weird, but whatever. The staff was nice and informative, but apparently they are not required to mention the sit-fee. A disservice to their patrons, in our opinion. Charles Smith, please take note and post the fee or ask staff to explain at time of purchase. It is only $5, yes. But it left us with a bitter taste of disappointment at the end of what was otherwise a fun experience.

rating is low because they required ID for everyone- even 64 year old woman. really? we parked 5 blocks away so one of our party could not partake I am sure it is because they were fined for serving minors but there is common sense. But the server could have explained and been a little more customer focused the place is hip and nice. reserve wine taste is not that good. nationally distribution for most so big wine corporate thing. better options elsewhere in Wala Wala lots of other options

Dakota a delightful wine tasting representative. Bought case of moscato. Delicious!!

Kristina is a rock star! She tasted us through the Charles Smith line(tasting $5) and the K Vitners ($10). We really enjoyed the wine tasting and the service she provided us. This place is a must visit place to get an idea what #wallawalla has to offer.

We would also give negative stars if we could. Customer service is addressed in many other reviews so I won't go there. I will address the confusing tasting fee structure, low quality of wines, and high prices. Tasting fees: We were told $5 to taste CS wines; $10 to taste K and CS wines. We agreed to the $10. We tasted a few CS wines before moving onto the K wines. None struck our fancy so we asked to pay our fees. $29 later, we were out of there. How did $29 come to be? No idea. Obviously we paid separate fees but we still don't understand. Wine quality: We visit Walla Walla yearly. We have been tasting all over Washington and to California's wine country. This was by far the lowest quality "good wine" I've tried. Disappointing to say the least. High prices: way overpriced. Compared to the other wineries that aren't appointment only, the prices were way off. $80 for the only drinkable wine there. We found much better wine elsewhere in WW. The ambiance was very cool and hipster and earns the one star. It felt a bit more like a brewery. We were excited to try their wine but the quality fell way short of typical WW wine.

First wine stop for us in Walla Walla, we loved our experience. Tried both flights $5 for the Regular flight and $10 for the K Vintners. Our favorites from the reg, flight were the Rosé, Syrah, and Cab. From the K Vintners, all the Syrahs were great, but the El Jeffe Tempranillo was my favorite. My fave of the 3 Syrah was the K Rock Garden. I limited myself to purchasing only 1 bottle of wine, so we picked up the El Jeffe Tempranillo because the lovely woman helping us let us know most folks say this is a unique Tempranillo that isn't as spicy as your typical Tempranillo, and she mentioned we could pick up the Syrah from the reg flight in a store. Anyway, hope this was helpful, cheers! x3, kim

Cool laid back tasting room. We went with the cheaper flight and they were all very unique. My favorite was the Kung Fu Girl. I love the label design and their merch. Best part: They distribute to Texas! I found Kung Fu Girl at my local HEB at a great price. Woohoo!

Honestly, one of the worst tasting experiences we've ever had. We are members at many wineries, but couldn't even justify putting our tasting fee towards a bottle. Frustratingly disappointing. Also, a tip to the winery: don't open a sitting room that people aren't allowed to sit at.

I Have to give them 3 stars. We had gone in the day before to try to get a tasting in, There were 2 people at the tasting bar, and 1 person sitting in the lounge area. So my husband I walked up to the tasting bar, and waited, and waited and waited. After about 10 minutes we asked the 2 other people at the bar if anyone is here both of them at the same time had a long drawn out "ummm....yeaaaaaaaaaah." To that I replied If anyone does come tell them they just lost customers today. So I would add a star for this next part, but I'll stick with three. What a difference a day makes, we decided to try them again the next day, and we ended up having some of the wine to taste. I lady behind the counter this day was really nice and was a pleasure to talk too. We left with 2 bottles of wine.

Live Music so loud I could not communicate with my wife unless I shouted into her ear from 1 inch away. K wines viognier served luke warm --let me out of here.

We hit Charles Smith on our way out of town, which meant that we were arriving at the very odd hour of 10am on a Tuesday. We had the place to ourselves, but no one made us feel awkward or rushed. If you go, you should know that you will have a choice between a cheap flight ($5 for 6 tastes of under-$20 wines) or a more expensive flight ($10 for 6 tastes of any wine). We went cheap, and discovered that the wines were very nice considering the price. But what we really loved is that the employee explained each wine extremely thoroughly; she went over regional growing and style differences, the aging process, where the grapes of each wine had been grown, etc. Then she did us an amazing favor: she started pouring free samples of the more expensive wines so that we could make a fair comparison. She explained these just as thoroughly as the other wines, so we learned a ton. She was great! The venue is minimalist modern, and so are the labels. You'll either love it or find it too hipster-ish. It depends on you and your preferences. One other thing to note: food items were available, and so were tables and chairs. We didn't avail ourselves of either, but thought they would be very nice for folks who have hit far too many wine tasting rooms in one weekend.

Easily our favorite of the Downtown Walla Walla wineries, the new (spring 2011) Charles Smith Wines tasting room combines his three lines into one sleek, huge, flexible space. Barn-like rafters, polished concrete floors, sliding metal room dividers. Alternative rock music playing a little too loud for comfortable conversation - so it was just right for us. A no-bullshit, no-wine club approach to sales which lets the tasting room staff focus on the wines and customers rather than on selling. Oh yeah, and kick-ass wines, most of which are from his excellent under-twenty-dollar line. We bought a case, including his $12 Pinot Grigio and $20 Cab Sauv. We also bought a tee-shirt, and completely bought his rock and roll concept. If you like this, you should also visit K Vintners, his original Walla Walla tasting room. Which was our favorite of the trip two years ago. And his just-opened Anchor Bar which is wayyyy too hip for Waitsburg, 30 mins north of Walla Walla in the middle of wheat-world.

Enjoyed a delicious 6 wine tasting menu for $5 "wines of substance" menu. Spacious tables and a lively atmosphere. Great vibe to spend an afternoon or evening in. I imagine it'd be wonderful to spend a summer day drinking their delicious rose, highly recommend and can't wait to be back.

Great selection for the tasting, and I liked almost every one I tried. Our server was friendly, fun to chat with, and very knowledgable about the wines. I'd go back on another visit.

My boyfriend and I were immediately drawn to the design of this tasting room, which brought us in to try Charles' wine. We each got a tasting from either side of the menu then shared, giving us a total of 12 wines for $15. We were really happy with the tasting prices, but our favorite part of our experience was the gal who poured for us, Mandy. We threw every possible question at her about the wine itself, the region, and Charles' story. We were really just curious and didn't expect all the answers that she gave us. She was so friendly and educated which we really appreciated! Overall, we weren't particularly impressed with the wines but we had a wonderful experience at the tasting room.

Absolutely horrendous. We got into town today and spent some time wine tasting and decided to add Charles Smith Wines to our route. My father, mother and my nephew sat down on a couch while my sister and I stood in line to get set up with a tasting. Upon reaching the front of the line, the person behind us began speaking to the person that should have been helping us and we were completely skipped after spending 15 minutes waiting. When we mentioned that we had been skipped your people could not have shown any less concern for the situation. They were disconnected and disinterested. Great wine but absolutely awful customer experience.

Delicious and affordable wine. Great customer service. Both of the servers were friendly and very helpful with recommendations for dinner and breakfast the next day. Our favorites were the Eve Chardonnay and the Velvet Devil. I recommend this winery to everyone!

Whether this place has decent wine or not has yet to be determined. They would not allow me to taste wine without ID. Given that I'm 58 and they can't tell whether I'm old enough to taste, I'm highly suspicious of their judgment. The Boy Grenache tastes like dill pickles, according to my daughter, who did have her ID. Enough said

Nice place, great location. Paid my entry fee and went to get a drink. Bought a bottle of red, and was charged a Corking fee on a bottle purchased there at that moment. I didn't feel that was correct.

We stopped by the downtown location after a day of wine tasting. What a great space! We tasted their K Vintners line up the day before, decided to just sit back with a glass and some snacks. We ordered the almonds and a cheese plate. Perfect way to end the day. Big windows, big sound system. Comfy couch and great people watching. It seemed busy, their employees were bustling--but friendly, funny, seemed like they were having a good time too. New favorite spot.

Went there a few weeks ago visiting family and friends. Checked out this spot with some friends and the atmosphere is nice, open concept, with random seating through out, including outside seating. We did 3 wine tastings and ordered a meat and fruit platter. The platter was gross, maybe my palate is not quite up to par, but the dried meats tasted like straight blood! I was grossed out. The wines were decent. You have to go up the wine bar to get your next refill of wine, they do not come and check on you to see if you would like another sampling. Their Vino Moscato 2015 is absolutely delicious though, bought a bottle. This is where I give it THREE stars other than the platter. I bought my bottle and gave the lady my card, she swiped my card, handed me the receipt,and walked off...no thank for your service, no have a great day, enjoy your wine nothing....I stood there for a few minutes and she pretended like I wasn't even there. I said..."ok...thank you..." and walked off. If they would train their staff a little better to be more welcoming and friendly, a little would go a long way.

Great customer service, loved it here. Wines were great, friendly staff, cool hipster vibe. The names and labels were great. Overall great time and I have been back several times since my first visit.

I love Charles' wines but Christine from AZ made the tastings. Christine was fun, knowledgeable and great host at K vintners and Charles Smith. We bought a mixed case and half.

Stopped by early on a weekday and practically had the place to ourselves. The hostess was very friendly and knowledgeable and gave us some hints on other places to visit. You can't beat the vibe of the tasting room. We tried the K Vintner Wines and while they are very heavily Sarah based they demonstrated a lot of variety and were very good. While I can't remember her name the young lady that runs the wine club is outstanding. She definitely goes the extra mile to help out.

Where do I even begin with this place? The service was completely indifferent... the pourer operating the bar yesterday was clearly in the mood to rush us through the tasting. She kept pouring into my glass even though my fiancée wasn't finished with her glass. Unlike every other tasting room we visited, she didn't even make a token attempt to ask us where we were from, etc. It was the only tasting room in Walla Walla where we didn't feel welcomed. It wasn't busy either - two other groups of people left shortly after we began our tasting. The wine was fine, but it wasn't spectacular... nothing really leapt out at us. I did like the riesling though, so we decided to get a bottle of that. But the straw that broke the camel's back is that our single bottle of wine purchase did not cover two tasting fees - only one. We have been to tens of tasting rooms in Walla Walla, Woodinville, and Prosser, and I have never encountered one that didn't waive both fees with a single bottle purchase. It wreaked of stinginess... we won't be returning.

i would like to say something good about this place since the space is pretty cool and the wines are good but this guy's moodiness and attitude leaves little to be desired. There are so many other tasting rooms in Walla Walla where the wine is good and you don't have to deal with Charles arrogance.