Bledsoe | McDaniels Winery

Drew Bledsoe grew up in the Walla Walla Valley and spent fourteen years in the NFL before returning home to make wine. Josh McDaniels — the winemaker, not the football coach — was also born and raised in Walla Walla, and fell for the industry early. He first worked at Leonetti Cellar, volunteered at local wineries, and was making his own wine as a teenager. He studied at the Institute of Enology and Viticulture in Walla Walla while continuing under his mentor Chris Figgins, worked a harvest in Argentina, then managed production for Figgins Family Wine Estates for nearly a decade. Wine Enthusiast has named him a Game Changer of Washington Wine.

The two founded Bledsoe|McDaniels in 2019, out of a shared conviction that Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and Walla Walla Syrah belonged in the same portfolio — and that tasting them together would show something about both.

In 2021 they bought an 80-acre property in the Eola-Amity Hills from Mimi Casteel of Hope Well, the regenerative viticulturist and daughter of the Bethel Heights founding family. Twenty-nine acres are planted to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Chenin Blanc. They named it Coulee Estate, and it became the first Willamette Valley estate vineyard in a portfolio that also includes Doubleback and Bledsoe Family Winery in Walla Walla.

Winemaking is minimal-intervention and site-specific, aimed at balanced, elegant, ageworthy wines. Production is limited.

Visits are entirely private — you and your guests only — in a farmhouse at the top of the hill with views across the vineyard toward Mount Hood. The flight typically covers Coulee Estate Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir, Coulee Estate Pinot Noir, and Syrah from their Walla Walla estates, which makes it one of very few places in Oregon where you can taste both regions side by side from one producer. Snacks are included, and there’s usually a walk through the vines.

The upstairs rooms are available to rent, individually or all together.