From the atlas
Reynvaan Family Vineyards
At A Glance
- Country: United States
- Region: Washington State; Walla Walla Valley AVA
- Grower and winemaker: Matt Reynvaan
- Estate vineyards: In The Rocks and Foothills in the Sun
- Core grapes: Syrah and Viognier, with Merlot added at Foothills in the Sun
- Bottle to know: In The Rocks Syrah
The Producer
Reynvaan Family Vineyards is a family-owned Washington winery built around estate-grown fruit and Rhône varieties, with Bordeaux varieties also in the cellar. Matt Reynvaan is both grower and winemaker, so the work runs from planting and pruning through to the finished bottle. That estate model keeps Syrah, Viognier and Merlot tied to two named sites rather than assembled from bought-in fruit.
The first planting was In The Rocks in 2005, a vineyard in Milton-Freewater on an ancient alluvial fan of the Walla Walla River. Its river stones are not background scenery: they shape the ripening conditions for the Syrah that carries the vineyard’s name.
Place
The estate works in and around the Walla Walla Valley, where its two vineyards offer different growing ground. In The Rocks sits in Milton-Freewater, while Foothills in the Sun rises to 1,600 feet on the eastern edge of the Walla Walla Valley AVA, at the base of the Blue Mountains. The distance between a stone-filled riverbed and a higher foothill site gives Syrah more than one setting in which to ripen.
Foothills in the Sun was planted with Syrah and Viognier in 2008. Merlot joined the vineyard in 2023, extending a site first planted for Rhône grapes into the Bordeaux side of the Reynvaan range.
Soil And Site
In The Rocks is an ancient riverbed of smooth, river-tumbled basalt and granite. Those stones absorb daytime heat and release it after dark, aiding grape ripening; the poor, freely draining ground also encourages roots to grow deep. For a Syrah bottling, this is a physical setting of stones, warmth and drainage rather than a generic vineyard name.
Foothills in the Sun has deep silty loam and wind-blown loess, with clay, iron and deposits associated with the Missoula Floods. At 1,600 feet beside the Blue Mountains, its soils and elevation set it apart from In The Rocks’ hard, rocky riverbed and provide a second estate source for Syrah and Viognier.
Story
Reynvaan’s estate story moved from one planted site to two. In The Rocks established the project in 2005; three years later, the family planted Foothills in the Sun with Syrah and Viognier. The later 2023 Merlot planting added another grape to the higher site, while the original Syrah vineyards remained the centre of the range.
The winery describes its work as minimally interventionist, with regenerative farming and old-world traditions informing the approach. Because all fruit comes from estate vineyards, those choices begin with the same vines that supply the named Syrah bottlings rather than with a separate grower network.
Vineyards And Cellar
The vineyard work is hands-on: planting, trellising, pruning, fruit dropping, hand harvesting and berry sorting all take place before wine reaches the cellar. Pruning and fruit dropping are crop-management decisions; hand harvesting and sorting place an additional selection step between the vine and the fermenter. The consequence is a winery process closely connected to the condition of its own fruit.
The stated cellar aim is to let Walla Walla Valley conditions and each vintage shape the wines. No ageing vessel, extraction regime or blend formula is presented as a house rule, so the useful constant is the estate fruit: Syrah grown on stones or foothill loam, with Viognier and Merlot widening the available material.
Wines
Syrah is the clearest line through the range. The listed bottlings include Stonessence, Contender, In The Rocks, Foothills Reserve, In The Hills and a Reynvaan Syrah. These names point to a range built around site and bottling distinctions, not one undifferentiated red wine.
Alongside Syrah, Reynvaan makes Rhône-style reds and whites, including Viognier, as well as Bordeaux varieties. Viognier at Foothills in the Sun brings a white grape into a site otherwise planted around red-wine material; the 2023 Merlot planting extends the estate’s Bordeaux-variety potential. The range therefore moves between red-wine body and tannin, white-wine fruit and texture, and the differing ground beneath the vines.
In The Glass
Syrah is the practical place to begin tasting Reynvaan. In a dry red, look first for fruit and spice, then for the weight of the palate and the grip of tannin. In The Rocks adds a warm, freely draining stone setting to that grape; Foothills in the Sun places Syrah at higher elevation in loam and loess. Those facts frame the comparison without pretending that every vintage will smell or feel the same.
Viognier provides a different register: white-wine fruit, body and texture rather than red-fruit tannin. Across the estate, the stated minimal-intervention approach puts attention on acidity, fruit weight, tannin and finish as vintage-and-site outcomes, rather than on a fixed recipe of oak or cellar flavour.
A Bottle To Understand It
Choose In The Rocks Syrah first. It comes from the 2005 planting that began the estate, on a riverbed of basalt and granite stones whose retained heat aids ripening. Expect a dry Syrah shaped around dark fruit, spice, body and tannin, then use the finish to judge how the wine carries its ripe fruit and stony growing context. It is the most direct bottle for connecting Reynvaan’s founding vineyard to the glass.
Anecdote
In 2005, the Reynvaan family planted In The Rocks Vineyard in Milton-Freewater, on an ancient alluvial fan of the Walla Walla River. The ground was an old riverbed filled with smooth basalt and granite stones, not a conventional patch of deep agricultural soil. Those stones absorb heat during the day and release it at night, while the poor, freely draining soil encourages roots to push down. That planting became the beginning of Reynvaan Family Vineyards and later supplied the estate’s In The Rocks Syrah. Three years after the first vines went in, the family planted Syrah and Viognier at Foothills in the Sun, 1,600 feet up on the eastern edge of the Walla Walla Valley AVA.
Final Word
Reynvaan is most clearly understood through its estate Syrah: one vineyard planted among basalt and granite stones, another at foothill elevation near the Blue Mountains. Start with In The Rocks, then compare it with the other Syrah bottlings to follow how grape, ground and site shape the range.
Sources
https://www.reynvaanfamilyvineyards.com/
https://www.reynvaanfamilyvineyards.com/about/
https://www.reynvaanfamilyvineyards.com/reservations/
https://americanwineryguide.com/wineries/reynvaan-family-vineyards/
https://esterwines.co.uk/reynvaan/