Owen Roe

Absolutely gorgeous setting, outside with the vineyards! Beautiful Sunday, not very busy as it was the opening NFL Sunday! Great tasting, lovely wines. Wonderful producer with varied production levels. None of which are slouches! A must visit if your in Yakima. DCB

Our first visit since the original family repurchased the winery. I'll give the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Good: All their wines are solid. You won't find a bad or undrinkable wine here. Some are excellent. The Bad: While their wines are solid, this still isn't the Owen Roe of 25 years ago. Their good wines are over-priced and their very good wines are exorbitantly priced relative to similar quality at other wineries (and yes, other wineries also make excellent wines too). We tasted their $85 wines and, while lovely, aren't at the $85 quality. There is a limit and for your wines to stand out at $80+ it needs to be life altering. These aren't. Their $20-$35 wines are much more reasonable but no longer outshine many other local wineries. Owen Roe seems to be living off their reputation of the past, but their wines haven't kept up and other wineries have improved dramatically in the past twenty years. Maybe the family will be a bit more realistic in the future. The Ugly: As wine snobs and frequent wine tasters and buyers, we are seeing an ugly trend in the entire wine tasting experience, and Owen Roe is a prime example. 1.) They charge $20 per tasting, and 2.) They don't waive it until you've purchased at least $40 in wine. Yes, I'm still bitter that tastings are often no longer free, and recognize that a small fee is probably reasonable. But wineries are often charging $10 or more and not waiving with a one bottle purchase. The tasting alone at Owen Roe was not a $20 experience nor $20 worth of wine. We had to buy two bottles before they would wave the fee. The Owen Roe tasting would be much more palatable at $10 and waived with any single bottle purchase. We left with a sour taste in our mouths and are pretty sure we've now scratched Owen Roe off our list of wineries to track. Their wines are good, but not good enough to merit the hassle and price of tastings. It's sad too because we used to really like them.

I've been a long-distance fan of Owen Roe wines for several years. Their Sinister Hand red blend has been a long-time favorite. I recently experienced a shipping mix-up with an order and David O'Reilly, the winemaker, was very understanding and generous in contacting me and quickly resolving the issue. I will continue to be a fan of Owen Roe wines and look forward to visiting the winery in person when visiting family in Washington.

A stunning little winery with beautiful grounds and great wines. The indoor seating area is pretty with plenty of tables. Not many nibble options - we bought a picnic basket with the nibbles but they were out of the cured meats but still charged us for the whole basket. A bit disappointing. What we got was nice though- would have liked a bit more. We had our Rivian with a small trailer and found plenty of space to park it. Toilets were clean and the staff all friendly. Would have loved them to engage a little more when we were curious as to the origins of some of the wines. It was fairly busy so likely just because of that. Very friendly otherwise. Most of our tasting fees ($15pp) were waived as we bought a few bottles of wine. Highly recommend a visit if you're in the area.

Did the tasting today and was able to bring in my dog. The lovely lady who assisted with my tasting also got my dog treats and water. When I told her I'm a travel nurse, she got me the Yakima Valley magazine with things to do and wineries and breweries to visit. She also recommended local places for me to visit. Got myself two bottles of wine. Will definitely be back to enjoy the beautiful large patio!

Great place. They had a very good collection of wine. The tasting was $15 which is waived if you buy a bottle. You get a mystery wine in your flight, which you'll have to guess. It was fun. The staff were really friendly and the ambiance was great. I highly recommend this place.

We tried Owen Roe for the first time yesterday, and it was excellent. Couldn't resist leaving with 13 bottles! Lauren and Ashlee were very knowledgeable and nice, and it was a real treat. Outside in the parking lot they have a cool old Pinzgauer that ALMOST runs! I was told that they hope to use it to give vineyard tours within the next couple years. I'm game!

Beautiful Winery. Great staff ... fabulous wine! Beautiful presentation of wines. All wines tasted were purchase worthy! Lovely place to spend the afternoon.