What’s the best winery in Tri-Cities? Vote for the elite 8 in our bracket

The Columbia Basin viticultural area encompasses millions of acres growing the vast majority of Washington’s wine grapes. This means there are numerous opportunities for wine tasting bottle shopping throughout the region, including here in Tri-Cities.

But which are the community’s favorites?

The Herald issued a callout form for readers to nominate their favorite local wineries in mid-June. Based on these submissions, we created a bracket of 32 area wineries. The first round of voting eliminated 16 wineries.

Last week, the sweet 16 round was open for voting, and hundreds of votes were cast. The results are in, and the following wineries have been eliminated:

• WIT Cellars

• Col Solare Red Mountain

• Barnard Griffin Winery

• Tucannon Cellars

• Fidélitas

• Bartholomew Winery

• Martinez & Martinez

• Alexandria Nicole Cellars

Matchups were much closer in this round, with the majority of winners receiving only 50 to 58% of the votes. The closest matchup was between Anelare Winery and Fidélitas, with Anelare Winery pulling off the win with 51% of the vote, determined by only nine more votes.

This week, the elite eight round is now open for voting.

This round will remain open for voting through noon on Monday, July 14. You can vote as many times as you’d like until then.