Flying to Pasco and the Tri-Cities, Washington
Tri-Cities Airport (PSC) in Pasco serves Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland — the gateway to Columbia Valley wine country, the Hanford Site, and the Columbia-Snake confluence. FareOptic compares Alaska, Delta, United, and American for the cheapest fare into PSC.
Flights to Tri-Cities Airport (PSC)
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Why Visit the Tri-Cities?
Washington's wine heartland in a desert where every vine is irrigated, a Manhattan Project reactor open for free tours, and a landscape carved by the largest floods in geological history
Columbia Valley Wine Country -- More Than 200 Wineries Across Eastern Washington's High Desert, the Red Mountain AVA Producing Some of America's Most Concentrated Cabernet, and a Growing Region That Sits at the Same Latitude as Bordeaux
A Rain-Shadow Desert Getting 6-8 Inches of Annual Rainfall Where Every Vine Is Irrigated From the Columbia River, With 17+ Hours of Summer Daylight, 40-Degree Day-Night Temperature Swings, and Soils Laid Down by the Largest Floods in Geological HistoryThe Tri-Cities sit at the center of the Columbia Valley AVA, the appellation that contains roughly 99% of Washington State's wine grape acreage and makes Washington the second-largest wine-producing state in the country after California. The region's viticultural conditions are unusual and specific: (1) rain shadow (the Cascade Range blocks Pacific moisture, so the Columbia Basin receives only 6 to 8 inches of rain a year — a true desert; every vineyard is irrigated from the Columbia and Yakima rivers, which means growers control water precisely and can deliberately stress vines to concentrate fruit, a level of control that Bordeaux and Burgundy growers do not have); (2) latitude (the Columbia Valley sits at roughly 46 degrees north, the same band as Bordeaux and Burgundy, but far enough north that midsummer days run more than 17 hours — about two hours more sunlight per day than Napa during the growing season); (3) diurnal shift (summer days reach the 90s while nights drop into the 50s, a 40-degree swing that lets grapes accumulate sugar and phenolic ripeness during the day while retaining acidity at night); and (4) soils (windblown loess over the gravel, sand, and basalt cobble deposited by the Missoula Floods). The sub-appellations worth knowing: Red Mountain (a small, hot, southwest-facing slope near Benton City, roughly 15 miles west of the Tri-Cities — the most concentrated and structured Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux blends in the state, with wineries including Col Solare, Hedges, Kiona, and Fidélitas); Horse Heaven Hills (south-facing slopes above the Columbia, home to some of the state's oldest and largest vineyards); Walla Walla Valley (about 50 miles southeast, with more than 120 wineries and a walkable downtown tasting district); and Yakima Valley (northwest, the state's oldest AVA). Within the Tri-Cities themselves, tasting rooms cluster in Richland's Queensgate area, along the Columbia in Kennewick, and at wineries scattered across the surrounding countryside.
The Missoula Floods -- How Roughly 40 Catastrophic Ice Age Floods Carved Eastern Washington and Laid Down the Soil That Grows the Wine
Between about 18,000 and 15,000 years ago, a lobe of the Cordilleran ice sheet repeatedly dammed the Clark Fork River in what is now Idaho, backing up Glacial Lake Missoula — a body of water holding roughly 500 cubic miles, comparable to Lakes Erie and Ontario combined. When the ice dam failed, the entire lake drained in as little as 48 hours, sending water across eastern Washington at speeds estimated near 65 miles per hour with a peak discharge of roughly 10 cubic kilometers per hour — more than ten times the combined flow of all the rivers on Earth. This happened somewhere between 40 and 100 times as the dam re-formed and failed again. The floods stripped topsoil down to basalt bedrock across thousands of square miles, carving the Channeled Scablands — a landscape of dry canyons (coulees), enormous dry waterfalls, and giant current ripples that are 30 feet tall and only recognizable as ripples from the air. Where the floodwater slowed and ponded, particularly in the Pasco Basin behind the constriction at Wallula Gap, it dropped its sediment load, laying down deep beds of sand, silt, and gravel. That is the parent material of the Columbia Valley's vineyard soils. The geologist J Harlen Bretz proposed the flood explanation in the 1920s and was ridiculed for decades — the idea of catastrophic flooding sounded like biblical geology to a profession committed to slow, uniform processes. Bretz was vindicated only in the 1960s and 1970s, when the discovery of Glacial Lake Missoula's shorelines and the recognition of the giant ripples confirmed the mechanism. He received the Penrose Medal, geology's highest honor, in 1979 at the age of 96. The Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail now interprets the flood landscape across four states, and Wallula Gap, roughly 25 miles south of the Tri-Cities, is one of its designated features.
The Hanford Site and the B Reactor -- the World's First Full-Scale Plutonium Production Reactor, Which Made the Core of the Nagasaki Bomb, Now a National Historic Landmark Open for Free Public Tours
A 580-Square-Mile Federal Reservation Built in Secret in 1943 Under the Manhattan Project, Where 51,000 Workers Constructed a Reactor Most of Them Did Not Know the Purpose Of, Now Part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park and the Site of the Largest Environmental Cleanup in the WorldThe Hanford Site (a 580-square-mile federal reservation along the Columbia River, beginning roughly 25 miles northwest of the Tri-Cities) was established in 1943 as the plutonium production facility of the Manhattan Project. The government selected the location for specific reasons: it was remote, sparsely populated, had abundant cold water from the Columbia River for reactor cooling, and had large amounts of electrical power available from Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams. The residents of the small towns of Hanford and White Bluffs, along with Wanapum and other Native people who had used the river corridor for millennia, were displaced with little notice. Construction employed roughly 51,000 workers at its peak, the great majority of whom had no idea what they were building; the secrecy was so complete that most learned the purpose only when Nagasaki was bombed. The B Reactor was the world's first full-scale plutonium production reactor, going critical in September 1944. The plutonium it produced was used in the Trinity test at Alamogordo in July 1945 and in the Fat Man weapon dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Hanford eventually operated nine reactors and five plutonium processing complexes, producing the majority of the plutonium in the US nuclear arsenal through the Cold War until the last reactor shut down in 1987. The B Reactor was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2008 and became part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in 2015. Free public tours run seasonally (typically spring through fall) and are operated by the Department of Energy in cooperation with the National Park Service; they require advance online reservation, government-issued photo ID, and closed-toe shoes, and they fill up quickly. The tour takes visitors into the reactor building itself, to the face of the reactor with its 2,004 process tubes, and through the control room, which is largely preserved as it was.
The Hanford Cleanup -- 56 Million Gallons of Radioactive Waste in Aging Underground Tanks and the Most Expensive Environmental Remediation Project in Human History
Hanford's plutonium production left behind what is generally described as the most contaminated site in the Western Hemisphere. The core problem is 177 underground tanks holding roughly 56 million gallons of high-level radioactive and chemical waste — the residue of dissolving irradiated fuel to extract plutonium. Many of these tanks are single-shell designs built in the 1940s and 1950s with an intended service life of about 20 years; at least 67 are known or suspected to have leaked, releasing an estimated million-plus gallons into the soil. Contaminated groundwater plumes have moved toward the Columbia River, which flows through the site and downstream past the Tri-Cities and on to Portland. Cleanup began in 1989 under the Tri-Party Agreement between the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Washington State Department of Ecology. The central engineering effort is the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant — the 'Vit Plant' — designed to mix the tank waste with glass-forming materials and melt it into stable borosilicate glass logs, a process called vitrification, for eventual permanent disposal. The project has been under construction since 2002, has encountered repeated technical and safety-culture problems, and has seen its cost estimates and schedule extend repeatedly; treatment of low-activity waste began in the 2020s while high-level waste treatment remains years away. Total cleanup cost estimates have run well past 300 billion dollars with completion projected into the 2070s or beyond. The practical effect on the Tri-Cities is that Hanford cleanup is the region's largest employer: roughly 11,000 people work on the site, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland — a Department of Energy national lab with about 6,000 staff — grew out of the same nuclear infrastructure. The REACH Museum in Richland (1943 Columbia Park Trail, admission approximately $8-10) interprets Hanford, the Manhattan Project, the Ice Age floods, and the region's Native and agricultural history in one building.
The Columbia and Snake River Confluence -- Where the Two Largest Rivers of the Pacific Northwest Meet at Sacajawea State Park, 23 Miles of Paved Riverfront Trail, and the Salmon Runs That Sustained the Wanapum and Umatilla for Thousands of Years
A Confluence Lewis and Clark Camped At in October 1805, 23 Miles of Connected Paved Path Along Both Banks, Water Warm Enough for Swimming and Boating All Summer at Around 300 Days of Sunshine a Year, and Some of the Best Sturgeon and Salmon Fishing in the NorthwestThe Tri-Cities — Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland, plus West Richland — are organized around water: the Columbia River runs through the middle of the metro area, the Snake River joins it at Pasco, and the Yakima River joins upstream at Richland. This is one of the major river junctions of North America. The Columbia is the largest river by volume flowing into the Pacific from the Americas, and the Snake is its largest tributary. Sacajawea Historical State Park (at the tip of the peninsula where the Snake meets the Columbia in Pasco; Discover Pass required for parking) marks the confluence and the campsite Lewis and Clark used from October 16 to 18, 1805, on their way down to the Pacific. The park's interpretive center covers the expedition and, more substantially, the Native peoples of the mid-Columbia — the Wanapum, Yakama, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Cayuse, and Nez Perce — whose fishing economies were built on the salmon runs that came up the Columbia in enormous numbers before the dams. The Sacagawea Heritage Trail is a 23-mile paved loop running along both banks of the Columbia through all three cities, crossing on the cable bridge and the blue bridge, connecting parks, boat launches, and the riverfront developments in Richland and Kennewick — it is the region's principal recreation asset and is used year-round for walking, running, and cycling. On the water: the Columbia here is impounded behind McNary Dam, producing a broad, slow, warm pool ideal for boating, water skiing, paddleboarding, and swimming through a long hot summer. Fishing is serious business — white sturgeon (a prehistoric species that can exceed ten feet, catch-and-release in most of this reach), fall Chinook salmon, steelhead, walleye, and smallmouth bass. The region gets roughly 300 days of sunshine a year and summer highs routinely in the 90s and low 100s, which makes the river central to how people live here.
Ice Harbor Dam, the Lower Snake River Dams, and the Salmon Debate That Defines Regional Politics
Ice Harbor Lock and Dam, roughly 10 miles upstream from the confluence on the Snake River, is the lowest of four federal dams on the lower Snake — the others being Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and Lower Granite. Built between 1961 and 1975, they generate hydroelectric power, and their locks make barge navigation possible all the way up to Lewiston, Idaho, 465 river miles from the Pacific — which is how Idaho and eastern Washington wheat reaches export terminals at Portland. Ice Harbor has a visitor center with an underwater fish-ladder viewing room where you can watch salmon and steelhead climbing past. The dams are also the center of one of the longest-running environmental and legal disputes in the United States. Snake River salmon and steelhead runs have collapsed: several stocks are listed under the Endangered Species Act, and returns are a small fraction of historical numbers. Juvenile fish heading downstream must pass eight dams to reach the ocean, and the slack-water reservoirs slow their migration, warm the water, and concentrate predators. Tribal nations of the Columbia Basin — whose treaty rights to fish at usual and accustomed places were guaranteed in the 1855 treaties and affirmed by federal courts — have pressed for removal of the four lower Snake dams, joined by conservation groups and commercial fishing interests. Opposing removal are the agricultural shippers who depend on barge transport, irrigators, port districts, and utilities. A 2023 agreement between the federal government, four tribes, and Washington and Oregon paused active litigation and committed to studying replacement of the dams' services, but the underlying question — whether the four dams stay or go — remains open and is the most consequential ongoing policy fight in the Columbia Basin. Visitors will encounter it in local conversation, in signage, and in the fish ladders themselves.
Downtown Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco -- Three Distinct Cities With an Atomic-Era Company Town, a Riverfront Commercial Core, and the Largest Farmers Market in Eastern Washington
Richland's Government-Built Alphabet Houses From 1943 and a High School Whose Mascot Is the Bombers With a Mushroom Cloud Logo, Kennewick's Columbia Center Retail Core and Riverfront, and Pasco's Saturday Market Where the Region's Agricultural Economy and Its Large Latino Community MeetThe three cities of the Tri-Cities have genuinely different characters, which is worth understanding before choosing where to stay. Richland was effectively created by the federal government in 1943 as the residential town for Hanford workers: the Army Corps of Engineers hired the architecture firm Pehrson and Whitehouse to design a set of standardized house types identified by letter — the 'alphabet houses' (A, B, C, D, F, H, L, R, and others), several thousand of which were built in a matter of months and many of which still stand in the older north Richland neighborhoods, recognizable once you know the types. Richland was a closed government town until 1958, when the houses were sold to their occupants and the city incorporated. Richland High School's teams are the Bombers, and the school's logo includes a mushroom cloud — a piece of local identity that generates periodic national controversy and that residents have consistently voted to keep. Richland today holds the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Washington State University Tri-Cities campus, the REACH Museum, and the largest concentration of wine tasting rooms in the metro area. Kennewick, across the Columbia to the south, is the largest of the three by population and functions as the retail and commercial center, with the Columbia Center mall, the Toyota Center arena (home of the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League), and Columbia Park along the river — the site of the Water Follies hydroplane races each July, one of the largest events in eastern Washington. Pasco, north across the Columbia, is the agricultural and transportation hub: it holds the airport, the rail yards, the Port of Pasco, and a large food-processing sector, and it has the region's largest Latino population, roughly half of the city's residents. The Pasco Farmers Market (Peanuts Park, downtown, Saturdays May through October) is the largest open-air market in eastern Washington and reflects that — regional produce at agricultural-town prices alongside Mexican bakeries, taquerias, and grocers along Lewis Street.
Kennewick Man -- a 9,000-Year-Old Skeleton Found in the Columbia River Mud in 1996 and the 20-Year Legal Battle That Reshaped American Repatriation Law
In July 1996, two young men wading in the Columbia River at Columbia Park in Kennewick, watching the hydroplane races, found a human skull in the shallows. The nearly complete skeleton recovered from the site was radiocarbon dated to roughly 8,500 to 9,000 years before present, making it one of the oldest and most complete human skeletons ever found in North America. The remains, called Kennewick Man by scientists and the Ancient One by the Columbia Basin tribes, became the subject of a legal dispute that ran for nearly two decades. Five tribes — the Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce, Wanapum, and Colville — sought repatriation and reburial under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), asserting that the remains were an ancestor. A group of eight anthropologists sued for the right to study the skeleton, arguing that early morphological analysis did not clearly establish affiliation with contemporary tribes — a claim that received extensive and often crude press coverage. In 2004 a federal appeals court ruled for the scientists on the grounds that cultural affiliation with a present-day tribe had not been demonstrated, and study proceeded. The question was ultimately settled not by law but by genetics: a 2015 study published in Nature, led by Eske Willerslev at the University of Copenhagen and using DNA extracted from a hand bone, found that Kennewick Man was more closely related to contemporary Native Americans than to any other population, and specifically showed close affinity with the Colville tribes who had participated in the repatriation claim. Congress passed legislation directing the return of the remains, and in February 2017 the Ancient One was reburied at an undisclosed location by representatives of five Columbia Basin tribes. The case is now taught as a landmark in the ethics of archaeological research and in the relationship between scientific institutions and Indigenous nations, and it substantially changed how ancient-DNA researchers approach consent and collaboration.
How to Find Cheap Flights to Pasco WA
Alaska's Seattle Route Is the Backbone -- Most Itineraries Route Through SEA
Alaska Airlines runs the most frequent service at PSC with multiple daily Seattle nonstops, so the majority of one-stop itineraries from anywhere in the country connect through SEA. Delta via Salt Lake City and United via Denver are the alternatives, but each usually runs only one or two daily flights. If your travel dates are fixed, check all three connecting hubs — the fare spread between them at PSC is often large.
Book B Reactor Tours Well in Advance -- They Are Free and They Sell Out
Department of Energy tours of the Hanford B Reactor, part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, are free but require advance online reservation, government-issued photo ID, and closed-toe shoes. They typically operate spring through fall, and slots are released in batches and fill within days. Check the Manhattan Project National Historical Park website as soon as your dates are set. There is no walk-up option.
Summer Is Hot and Peak -- Spring and Fall Are Better for Wine Country
The Tri-Cities get about 300 days of sunshine a year, and summer highs routinely reach the 90s and low 100s. That is great for the river and less pleasant for vineyard touring. Late April through early June and September through October give you mild weather, and September-October coincides with harvest (crush), when the wineries are most active. The Water Follies hydroplane races in late July are the region's biggest event and tighten lodging.
Walla Walla Is 50 Miles Southeast -- Consider Combining or Comparing
Walla Walla has more than 120 wineries and a walkable downtown tasting district, and it is about 50 miles southeast of the Tri-Cities on US-12 — an easy hour. Walla Walla has its own small airport (ALW) with Alaska service from Seattle, but fares and schedules there are usually worse than PSC. Flying into Pasco and driving to Walla Walla is generally the better plan, and it puts Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills on the way.
Airlines Flying to Tri-Cities (PSC)
Alaska Airlines
SEA and PDX Nonstop Service to PSC -- Alaska's Pacific Northwest Network and the Highest-Frequency Carrier at Tri-Cities AirportAlaska Airlines is the dominant carrier at Tri-Cities Airport (PSC), operating multiple daily nonstops from Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) and service from Portland (PDX). The SEA-PSC route is the airport's busiest, running frequently throughout the day on Horizon Air E175 and Q400 equipment, and it exists largely because of business travel: the Hanford Site cleanup contractors, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the agricultural and wine industries all generate steady Seattle-Tri-Cities traffic. Because Alaska's Seattle hub carries a large domestic and transpacific network, SEA-PSC also functions as the standard one-stop connection from most of the country. Alaska's merger with Hawaiian Airlines has extended the reachable network from PSC through Seattle.
Key Routes
SEA to PSC (1h nonstop, multiple daily; PDX to PSC (55m nonstop; SAN to PSC (via SEA or PDX; SJC to PSC (via SEA or PDX; ANC to PSC (via SEA; HNL to PSC (via SEA; BOS to PSC (via SEA; JFK to PSC (via SEA
Delta Air Lines
SLC and SEA Hub Connections to PSC -- Delta's Mountain West Gateway Into the Tri-CitiesDelta Air Lines serves Tri-Cities (PSC) primarily through Salt Lake City (SLC), with additional Seattle (SEA) service. SLC-PSC is Delta's main artery into the region: Salt Lake is Delta's western connecting hub, and the route gives the Tri-Cities single-stop access to the Mountain West, the Southwest, the Midwest, and Delta's transatlantic network via Atlanta and Detroit. Delta Connection regional partners including SkyWest operate the route on CRJ-700 and E175 aircraft. For travelers coming from the eastern half of the country, the SLC connection is usually the fastest routing into PSC.
Key Routes
SLC to PSC (1h 40m nonstop; SEA to PSC (1h nonstop; ATL to PSC (via SLC or SEA; DTW to PSC (via SLC or SEA; MSP to PSC (via SLC or SEA; JFK to PSC (via SLC; LAX to PSC (via SLC or SEA; Amsterdam to PSC (via SLC or DTW
United Airlines
DEN and SFO Hub Connections to PSC -- United's Rocky Mountain and Bay Area Access to Eastern WashingtonUnited Airlines connects Tri-Cities (PSC) through Denver (DEN) and San Francisco (SFO). DEN-PSC is a genuine nonstop and the more useful of the two for most travelers, feeding United's largest connecting hub and giving the Midwest, Texas, and the East Coast a one-stop path into eastern Washington. SFO-PSC serves the Bay Area business corridor and connects into United's transpacific departures. United Express regional carriers including SkyWest operate PSC service on CRJ-200, CRJ-700, and E175 equipment. Frequencies on both routes are modest — usually one or two daily — so schedule flexibility matters more here than at a larger airport.
Key Routes
DEN to PSC (2h 15m nonstop; SFO to PSC (1h 50m nonstop; ORD to PSC (via DEN or SFO; EWR to PSC (via DEN or SFO; IAH to PSC (via DEN or SFO; LAX to PSC (via SFO or DEN; Tokyo to PSC (via SFO
Allegiant Air
Nonstop Leisure Routes From PSC to Las Vegas, Phoenix-Mesa, and California -- the Ultra-Low-Cost Option for Tri-Cities TravelersAllegiant Air operates seasonal and limited-frequency nonstop service from Tri-Cities (PSC) to leisure destinations including Las Vegas (LAS), Phoenix-Mesa (AZA), and various California airports depending on the season. These are the only nonstops from PSC that are not hub feeders, and they are typically the cheapest fares available from the airport by a wide margin. The standard ultra-low-cost tradeoffs apply: the base fare excludes carry-on bags, checked bags, and seat assignments; flights operate two to four days a week rather than daily, so your travel dates have to fit the schedule; and Allegiant flies into secondary airports (Mesa rather than Phoenix Sky Harbor). Add all fees before comparing against Alaska or Delta.
Key Routes
LAS (Las Vegas) nonstop; AZA (Phoenix-Mesa) nonstop; seasonal California routes; frequencies are typically 2-4 days per week and change by season -- check Allegiant.com for the current PSC schedule before planning around these routes
Things to Do in Pasco and the Tri-Cities
Essential Info for Your Tri-Cities Trip
State / Region
Pasco, Washington. Franklin County seat. The Tri-Cities metro (Pasco, Kennewick, Richland, West Richland) has ~310,000 people. Eastern Washington high desert, at the Columbia-Snake confluence. 215 miles southeast of Seattle, 220 miles east of Portland.
Airport
PSC -- Tri-Cities Airport, in Pasco, a few minutes from downtown and 15-20 min from Richland and Kennewick. Alaska (SEA, PDX -- the dominant carrier), Delta (SLC, SEA), United (DEN, SFO), Allegiant (seasonal LAS, AZA). Rental cars on site.
Currency
USD -- US Dollar
Time Zone
PST (UTC-8) / PDT (UTC-7) in summer -- Pacific Time, same as Seattle and Los Angeles
Weather
High desert: ~300 sunny days a year, only 6-8 inches of annual rain. Summer highs in the 90s and low 100s with cool nights. Winters cold and dry with fog and light snow. Spring and fall are mild and best for wine touring; Sept-Oct is harvest.
B Reactor Tours
Free, but require advance online reservation via the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, government photo ID, and closed-toe shoes. Typically spring through fall. Slots fill within days of release. No walk-up option. Book as soon as your dates are set.
Wine Country
Columbia Valley AVA holds ~99% of Washington's wine acreage. Red Mountain (15 mi west, Benton City) for Cabernet and Bordeaux blends. Horse Heaven Hills and Yakima Valley nearby. Walla Walla (50 mi southeast on US-12, ~1 hour) has 120+ wineries and a walkable tasting district. A car is required.
Emergency Number
911
Most Popular Airlines
Best Airlines for Domestic & International Routes
Frequently Asked Questions on Flights to Pasco WA
Airport info, Hanford B Reactor tour booking, Columbia Valley wine country, and Tri-Cities weather
What airport serves Pasco and the Tri-Cities?
Tri-Cities Airport (IATA: PSC) is in Pasco, Washington, and serves Pasco, Kennewick, Richland, and West Richland. Alaska Airlines is the dominant carrier with multiple daily Seattle nonstops plus Portland service; Delta connects via Salt Lake City, United via Denver and San Francisco, and Allegiant flies seasonal leisure nonstops to Las Vegas and Phoenix-Mesa. The airport is a few minutes from downtown Pasco and about 15-20 minutes from Richland and Kennewick.
Can I tour the Hanford B Reactor?
Yes, and the tours are free — but they require advance online reservation through the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, a government-issued photo ID, and closed-toe shoes. Tours are run by the Department of Energy in cooperation with the National Park Service, typically operate spring through fall, and fill within days of slots being released. There is no walk-up option. The tour goes inside the reactor building, to the reactor face, and through the preserved control room.
What wine region is the Tri-Cities in?
The Tri-Cities sit at the center of the Columbia Valley AVA, which contains roughly 99% of Washington State's wine grape acreage. Washington is the second-largest wine-producing state after California. Red Mountain, about 15 miles west near Benton City, produces the state's most concentrated Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux blends. Horse Heaven Hills, Yakima Valley, and Walla Walla Valley (50 miles southeast, with 120+ wineries) are all within easy driving distance.
What is the weather like in the Tri-Cities?
It is high desert — about 300 days of sunshine a year and only 6 to 8 inches of annual rainfall, because the Cascade Range blocks Pacific moisture. Summers are hot, routinely in the 90s and low 100s, with cool nights. Winters are cold but relatively dry, with some fog and light snow. Spring and fall are mild and are the best times for wine touring; September and October coincide with harvest.
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