The new winery, which is being built next to Bookwalter Winery just off the Interstate 182 and Kennedy Road interchange, is scheduled to open around the end of this year or early next year. First, it means another winery and tasting room for the Tri-Cities. Second, it means Griffin, the dean of the state's winemakers, soon will have a tasting room to show off his wines. Griffin has been making wines in Washington since 1977, first for Preston, then for Hogue and more recently for Powers Winery. This will be his first plunge into his own winery operation, which will have capacity to turn out 20,000 cases a year, plus some wines for other labels.
Plans are to keep the tasting room open seven days a week.
The landscaping will include the trademark tulips on the winery label, and the road to the winery will be called Tulip Lane. Barnard Griffin has made a style of wines that set a standard for the state. They are good tasting, cleanly made wines with lots of flavor and structure. To some retailers, this is the signature wine of Barnard Griffin. This sauvignon blanc has a deliciously fruity taste with slight herbaceous overtones.