Castillo de Feliciana Vineyard and Winery takes home best winery and best wine experience at the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin's 2024 Readers' Choice Awards.

MILTON-FREEWATER — Family owned with Spanish flair, the Castillo de Feliciana Vineyard and Winery’s tasting room greets customers with Spanish-style wines and music in Milton-Freewater.

The Castillo family took home the award for best wine experience and best winery during the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin’s 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards.

The family, who released their first wine in 2007, said being recognized by the community for their work left them feeling honored.

“Getting a community vote as best wine winery and best wine experience amongst all these highly competitive wineries out here really makes you feel like … that hard work you’re doing to make sure people have a good time out here is paying off,” said Chris Castillo, the winery’s general manager, brewer and winemaker.

The vineyard and winery were also nominated for best place to take out-of-town guests.

Chris Castillo began his winemaking journey in 2010 after starting classes at Walla Walla Community College. He then joined his parents, owners Deborah and Sam Castillo, to make and bottle their wine.

Castillo De Feliciana’s wine is sourced from both their own estate and from other grape growers and vineyards in Washington.

“We’re working our way toward a 100% estate winery. We grow 7 acres of grapes … It’s all crushed and produced here on site, and then we store barrels and mature wines on site, and we bottle on site,” said Chris Castillo.

Wines, beer and sangria are offered in their tasting room in Milton-Freewater with plenty of indoor seating and outdoor tables with views of the Blue Mountains.

The Castillos hope their tasting room provides a slice of Spain and allows their customers to slow down for a while.

Deborah and Sam Castillo designed the tasting room, which sits on the 66-acre property, after southern Spain’s Andalusian white villages.

Deborah Castillo said she experienced Spain’s little white hill towns during one of her trips to southern Spain.

Before moving to Walla Walla in 2016, the couple lived in Redmond, Washington. The pair first thought about opening a winery after stumbling on the property in Milton-Freewater, which at the time was a wheat field, while trying to find a wine release party. They decided to buy the property in 2007.

And their wine business has been fermenting ever since in terms of customer base and selection.

In October, the winery offered pink sangria to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer.

“In October … we do a special pink sangria that’s breast cancer ribbon pink. And those proceeds go to Providence St. Mary’s, to the Jan Erickson Lifesaver Fund, which is for women who can’t afford mammograms. And this is the 10th year that we’ve been doing it,” said Deborah Castillo.

The winery’s typical sangria, known as Tia B, has gained a cult following.

“It started off with two gallons and now we have made over 2,000 gallons, and we put it in kegs,” Castillo said.

Other drinks offered at their tasting room and for sale online at castillodefeliciana.com include graciano, miercoles red blend, tempranillo and a rosé tempranillo, brillante sparkling wine and malbec wine.

Also, those with an interest in beer can order beer flights. The types of beers available include India pale ales, pilsners, lagers and ambers or darker beers, which are offered seasonally.

Castillo de Feliciana Vineyard and Winery

Tasting room location: 85728 Telephone Pole Road, Milton-Freewater

Hours: Friday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. After the first week of November, the winery and vineyard will have seasonal hours — Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To get more information, including making reservations, visit castillodefeliciana.com or call 541-558-3656.