The Yakima Valley is one of my favorite wine regions. We visited a few years ago and were enamored by the wine and the people.

This month I’m leading the intrepid writers of the Wine Pairing Weekend (#WinePW) group on a virtual trip to the Yakima Valley AVA.

With the help of Wine Yakima Valley, many of the writers received wine from different wineries that source from this Valley. While you may expect to see Cabernet Sauvignon, I expect you will find our writers wrote about a variety of wines sourced from all over this valley.

I receive two wines, both from wineries outside the Yakima Valley AVA, but who source from the Valley. The Yakima Valley is revered fruit, so this is unsurprising. But these wines each have stories, one deeply tied to the history of this Valley.

They also have another thing in common. These wineries are not solo operations. They are groups of people, friends of like minds, who came together over their love of wine. Together, they did the hard work and founded a winery.

Here are their stories.