Drink of the Week: The Walls Stanley Groovy Lip Stinger 2024

August 28, 2026

An industrial stretch of Walla Walla, Washington, isn’t the most pastoral winemaking backdrop. But The Walls’ Downtown-adjacent winery and welcoming tasting room is home to legitimately great wines. Case in point? Stanley Groovy Lip Stinger, a blend of Northern Rhône white wine varieties grown in nearby Yakima Valley.

Lip Stinger is a “serious” wine that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s thoughtfully made and has layers of flavors and complexity, but is also approachable enough to pop open without ceremony at a cookout or on your couch. These are among my favorite types of wines to drink in any season, but especially on languid summer evenings when cheeseboards and tomato salads are the only things I want for dinner.

The wine combines Grenache Blanc, Roussane, Picpoul, Viognier, and Marsanne grapes from The Walls’ French Creek Vineyard near the Yakima River. It has juicy pear, white peach, citrus, and honeysuckle flavors, plus a pleasantly waxy texture and minerally finish. Whole-cluster pressing and fermentation in concrete eggs, stainless steel, and neutral and new oak barrels gives it ample energy and intrigue, as does all the time it spent aging on its lees.

Summer wines don’t have to be simple—and there’s nothing keeping you from sipping something this fresh all year long. thewallsvineyards.com, $32

Emily Saladino

Contributing Editor Emily Saladino is a New York-based journalist and recipe developer. Previously the managing editor of Wine Enthusiast and editor-in-chief of VinePair, her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Food Network, and many others. A former professional cook and bartender, she holds a Culinary Arts degree from The French Culinary Institute and Level II Certification from The Wine & Spirit Education Trust. She has a poorly behaved cattle dog named Arby.