Spokane's Best Kept Red Wine Secret
Downtown Spokane · Spokane · Wine Bar · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed June 17, 2026
Wingman Metrics
Walking into Barrister's Railroad Avenue tasting room, you immediately get the sense that this place isn't performing wine culture — it's just living it. The rustic rail district bones give the room a working-winery feel, not a boutique showroom feel, and that matters. You're here to drink Spokane-grown reds, not to Instagram a chandelier.
The list is tight and intentional — this is a single-producer house, so don't come looking for Burgundy or Barolo. What you get is a focused lineup of Barrister estate and Columbia Valley contracted fruit, leaning hard into the big red varieties Washington does best: Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and red blends that earn their place on the list. The depth isn't lateral — it's vertical within the Barrister portfolio, which means if you're curious about how this winery evolves across vintages or bottlings, you're in the right room. The gap, obviously, is anything outside Washington State, but that's a feature, not a bug.
With 8 to 16 pours available depending on the day, the by-the-glass program is genuinely generous for a single-producer tasting room. You can work your way through the Barrister lineup without committing to a bottle, which is exactly how you want to explore an estate you've never tried before. Rotation appears tied to current releases rather than a structured seasonal program.
Barrister Syrah — $$
Washington Syrah punches well above its price class nationally, and Barrister's version — sourced from Columbia Valley fruit — delivers the dark fruit and pepper weight you'd pay significantly more for from a Walla Walla cult producer. Tasting room pricing keeps it honest.
Barrister Red Blend
Most visitors zero in on the single-varietal Cab and walk right past the red blend, which is a mistake. Blends are where winemakers show their hand, and Barrister's version tends to be the most expressive and food-friendly bottle on the table.
Barrister Cabernet Sauvignon
Not because it's bad — it isn't — but because it's the obvious order and you can get a Washington Cab anywhere. At Barrister specifically, there are more interesting things to try, and defaulting to the Cab means you're leaving the best of what this tasting room has to offer on the table.
Barrister Cabernet Sauvignon + Charcuterie board
If the Davenport location has a charcuterie spread available, the Barrister Cab is the call — the structure and dark fruit in a Columbia Valley Cabernet cuts through cured meat fat cleanly without overwhelming the more delicate components on the board.
🎲 The Bottom Line
Barrister is a genuine Wild Card: a serious urban winery tucked into Spokane's rail district that most wine travelers blow past on their way to Walla Walla. If you're in eastern Washington and you haven't stopped here, you owe yourself a visit.
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