Wine Industry Transforms Town Best Known for Big Prison

WALLA WALLA, Wash. (AP) — Walla Walla used to be best known for sweet onions and as home of the state penitentiary, where death row inmates once were hanged.

But the remote town along the Washington-Oregon border has reinvented itself in the past two decades into a center of premium wines and wine tourism.

Walla Walla is synonymous with high-priced, award-winning wines that have helped turn the state into the nation's second-leading producer after California.

The town didn't have a winery until the late 1970s. Now there are 120 wineries in the area, and growing. Many are less than 10 years old.