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Feature Article
The Walla Walla Valley comprises vast valleys and low mountain hillsides, all of which face extreme seasonal influences.
Frigid Winters. Torrid Summers.
and Better and Better Grapes.
An interview with the up and coming winemaker from Basel Cellars Estate Winery, Trey Busch, reveals the true nature of the Walla Walla Valley terroir, its promises, and its challenges.
by
Paul Gregutt
February 1, 2007
Paul Gregutt (PG): Walla Walla seems to be undergoing an explosion of new vineyard plantings in new places. Can you give us an overview of the main sub-regions being planted?
Trey Busch (TB): I see the valley as clearly divided into four different regions right now, and I expect that it will undoubtedly continue to grow.
First, there is "The Valley Floor". Our estate vineyards, Pheasant Run and Double River Ranch, are located adjacent to Pepper Bridge Winery. They are planted in deep, sandy soils which are a combination of wind-blown loess and flood deposits from the Missoula Ice Dam floods (also called the Bretz Floods) of 12,000 to 15,000 years ago. These soils are very silty, almost powder-like, and are very deep, so we are able to control the irrigation, and therefore the canopy size.
This is probably the easiest area in which to grow grapes (if there is such a thing as an easy area... nothing about growing grapes is easy, but you know what I mean!). The vineyards are slightly elevated and look like rolling hills when driving thru the area. I call this area the valley floor, even though we are on these hills. We average 12-14 inches of rain a year at about 850 feet elevation.
PG: Valley floor suggests some frost/freeze issues.
TB: We have to use wind machines for frost protection because our slope and air drainage are such that the cold air would stagnate over the vines without them. It is a warm site, but not as hot as, say, Seven Hills. I generally pick Merlot mid-September, Cab at the beginning of October, and Syrah mid-October. The flavor profiles from our estate vineyards are on the darker side of the fruit spectrum, plums and blackberries, and are earthier as well. The Merlot tends to be very masculine with ripe, firm tannins. The Cabernet Sauvignon, rich and ripe in its fruit profile, is classic and elegant, and is usually the base for the Merriment (red blend) which I make every year. The exception was the 2003 vintage, which was Merlot dominated).
PG: So that’s region number one. What’s next?
TB: "Seven Hills" This area is on the southern edge of the Walla Walla Appellation, across the Oregon border. It was the first significant vineyard to be planted in Walla Walla—in 1981 I believe. There is a ton of new planting activity going on at the moment, with one of the largest projects in the valley to date happening right above the original Seven Hills vineyard. This is one of the warmest sites in the valley. It sits at 900 to 1200 feet elevation (the new plantings will be even higher) and has great air drainage, protecting it from the hard winter freezes which happen every several years.
The soil profile of the vineyard is called Ellingford silt loam. It is high in mineral content. The soils were deposited by the same floods as mentioned above. They are well-drained soils which receive about the same amount of rainfall as the Valley Floor. The wines I have made from Seven Hills fruit are always dominated by a beautiful red cherry profile. The Cabernets have a distinct spiciness and the classic tobacco, herbal scent which you get in great Cabernets.
The third area I call "Walla Walla Valley River Bed", and it’s located just north of Seven Hills. Many moons ago, the Walla Walla River used to run through this region. It has been in use as an agricultural area for many years, planted mostly to apples, cherries and such. It was not until Christophe Baron of Cayuse thought to plant wine grapes in an old apple orchard that this became recognized as prime vineyard land. It is now some of the most expensive land in the valley, given its reputation (in no small part due to Christophe and his highly acclaimed wines).
The land is made up of almost pure cobblestones, averaging fist-size, but some as big as your head. Crowbars are a good tool to have handy when planting the vines! The ancient cobblestone soils are deeper than a trencher can dig (I stood inside an 8 foot pit and it was cobbles all the way down!). This area has staked its reputation on Syrah, but has also produced some great Cabs, Tempranillo and even Viognier.
It is at about 800 - 900 feet in elevation, with absolutely no air drainage, so wind machines are a must. This is an area where burying canes each year is a wise (though expensive) decision. It is one of the coldest areas in the valley during the winter months and one of the warmest during the summer. The wines show a minerality and earthiness not found in many places outside of this area. They are high in pH but still maintain acidity, so even though the wines are rich and lush, they have a spine.
PG: Certainly the “River Bed”, as you call it, has become highly desirable vineyard land, sometimes referred to as “The Stones” or “The Cobbles.” But isn’t there another, and quite different, emerging area for planting in the valley as well?
TB: Yes, "The Foothills". I don't know what else to call this area, because it is so new, but the Foothills is as good as anything! Along the Blue Mountains, running southwest to northeast is a ribbon of new vineyard acreage that has gone in over the past eight years or so. Included in this band are Les Collines and Uplands vineyards. This has traditionally been wheat land. It receives quite a bit more rain than the rest of the valley during the winter months, and because of that, I know of a few vineyards which have dry-farmed for 2 or 3 years in a row now.
PG: Isn’t it among the very few dry-farmed vineyards in the state?
TB: Yes. The soils are very deep, silty loam soils. Elevations are also the highest in the valley, up to 1700 feet. One of the dramatic differences in this area is not the soil, but the air drainage. There is a dramatic change in temperature in the evenings because of a nightly inversion, and temperatures will drop up to 40 degrees. These cool evenings help the grapes maintain their natural acidity and preserve the wonderful fruit flavors. The Foothills harvests quite a bit later than the rest of the valley, but with great balance and fully mature flavor development.
Because of the cooler temperatures, crop levels are lower than other areas in the valley in order to reach full physiological ripeness. Lastly, because of its sheer geographical range, there are many different pockets of soil profiles and exposures, so these micro-climates will eventually break this area up to even more sub-regions.
PG: Are you finding that certain grapes do better in certain parts of Walla Walla?
TB: I love Syrah from all over the valley, from Seven Hills, to the Valley Floor, obviously the River Bed, and what I tasted from Les Collines was rockin'! Merlot in the Foothills (and I would include Spring Valley vineyard in this area) seems to do well because it is allowed to hang longer, for better flavor development at lower sugars.
PG: I just popped a 2001 Seven Hills Merlot that was absolutely gorgeous - perfect balance, full and annotated with grain and spice, nothing overbearing, rounding out but a long, long way from over the hill.
TB: Our Estate Merlot from 2005 is a huge wine. I think some would mistake it for a Cab because of its sheer size. But that is the style of wine I like to drink, and so that is what I make. Seven Hills Merlot also has a great reputation...soft and lush with lots of floral tones.
PG: How about Cab?
TB: Cabernet Sauvignon seems to thrive in Seven Hills and the Valley Floor, where it has the heat units to get it fully ripe. I think the flavor profile is different due to the terroir more than anything. I have only tried barrel samples of Cab from the Foothills, and it was more Bordeaux-like, with lower sugars, and that classic leafiness. The Riverbed also grows Cab well. Essentially, early-ripening reds should do very well in the cooler areas, and late-ripening reds in the hotter areas.
PG: Which grapes do best overall?
TB: Syrah seems to be the most adaptable, and seems to show its stripes based off of site more than any other grape. So I would have to say Syrah does best overall.
PG: Can you give us an update on progress after the last big freeze (in 2004)?
TB: The only reason Washington State has a viable wine industry is due to the fact that we are planted on our own rootstocks. If all the vineyards were grafted, vineyard owners could not afford to replant every 7 or 8 years when the big freezes hit, and wineries could not skip a few years waiting for the vineyards to grow.
After we cut our vineyard to the ground in the spring of 2004, our focus was on retraining those vines and getting as much energy into those vines as possible, so that the 2005 harvest would be a successful one. Luckily for us, 2005 was a hallmark year for Washington, and you will see some of the greatest wines ever produced in the State coming from this vintage. Consumers will have a heyday with these wines. In the meantime, we were helped out by some very kind neighbors (mainly Chateau Ste. Michelle) for fruit sources for the 2004 vintage. I was able to craft some remarkable wines from vineyards outside the Walla Walla Valley. You can't duplicate what we get here in Walla Walla, though.
PG: What has been learned? What is being done to prevent future damage?
Basel Cellars’s 03 Red Wine and 04 Cabernet are now available in the Appellation America online wine store. Buy it here
TB: As far as what we learned--not much, really! You can't beat or trick Mother Nature. She has no mercy sometimes. Smudge pots and wind machines won't help you one bit when the weather is 18 below zero. I guess that the one thing that I really got out of the freeze in relation to vineyards was that the higher elevation vineyards survived because of their excellent drainage. But we can't pick our estate vineyard up and move it, so we simply learn to manage it the best way we can.
~ Paul Gregutt, Regional Correspondent
To comment on Paul’s writings and thoughts, contact him at p.gregutt@appellationamerica.com
Trey Busch (TB): I see the valley as clearly divided into four different regions right now, and I expect that it will undoubtedly continue to grow.
First, there is "The Valley Floor". Our estate vineyards, Pheasant Run and Double River Ranch, are located adjacent to Pepper Bridge Winery. They are planted in deep, sandy soils which are a combination of wind-blown loess and flood deposits from the Missoula Ice Dam floods (also called the Bretz Floods) of 12,000 to 15,000 years ago. These soils are very silty, almost powder-like, and are very deep, so we are able to control the irrigation, and therefore the canopy size.
This is probably the easiest area in which to grow grapes (if there is such a thing as an easy area... nothing about growing grapes is easy, but you know what I mean!). The vineyards are slightly elevated and look like rolling hills when driving thru the area. I call this area the valley floor, even though we are on these hills. We average 12-14 inches of rain a year at about 850 feet elevation.
PG: Valley floor suggests some frost/freeze issues.
TB: We have to use wind machines for frost protection because our slope and air drainage are such that the cold air would stagnate over the vines without them. It is a warm site, but not as hot as, say, Seven Hills. I generally pick Merlot mid-September, Cab at the beginning of October, and Syrah mid-October. The flavor profiles from our estate vineyards are on the darker side of the fruit spectrum, plums and blackberries, and are earthier as well. The Merlot tends to be very masculine with ripe, firm tannins. The Cabernet Sauvignon, rich and ripe in its fruit profile, is classic and elegant, and is usually the base for the Merriment (red blend) which I make every year. The exception was the 2003 vintage, which was Merlot dominated).
PG: So that’s region number one. What’s next?
TB: "Seven Hills" This area is on the southern edge of the Walla Walla Appellation, across the Oregon border. It was the first significant vineyard to be planted in Walla Walla—in 1981 I believe. There is a ton of new planting activity going on at the moment, with one of the largest projects in the valley to date happening right above the original Seven Hills vineyard. This is one of the warmest sites in the valley. It sits at 900 to 1200 feet elevation (the new plantings will be even higher) and has great air drainage, protecting it from the hard winter freezes which happen every several years.
The soil profile of the vineyard is called Ellingford silt loam. It is high in mineral content. The soils were deposited by the same floods as mentioned above. They are well-drained soils which receive about the same amount of rainfall as the Valley Floor. The wines I have made from Seven Hills fruit are always dominated by a beautiful red cherry profile. The Cabernets have a distinct spiciness and the classic tobacco, herbal scent which you get in great Cabernets.
The third area I call "Walla Walla Valley River Bed", and it’s located just north of Seven Hills. Many moons ago, the Walla Walla River used to run through this region. It has been in use as an agricultural area for many years, planted mostly to apples, cherries and such. It was not until Christophe Baron of Cayuse thought to plant wine grapes in an old apple orchard that this became recognized as prime vineyard land. It is now some of the most expensive land in the valley, given its reputation (in no small part due to Christophe and his highly acclaimed wines).
The land is made up of almost pure cobblestones, averaging fist-size, but some as big as your head. Crowbars are a good tool to have handy when planting the vines! The ancient cobblestone soils are deeper than a trencher can dig (I stood inside an 8 foot pit and it was cobbles all the way down!). This area has staked its reputation on Syrah, but has also produced some great Cabs, Tempranillo and even Viognier.
It is at about 800 - 900 feet in elevation, with absolutely no air drainage, so wind machines are a must. This is an area where burying canes each year is a wise (though expensive) decision. It is one of the coldest areas in the valley during the winter months and one of the warmest during the summer. The wines show a minerality and earthiness not found in many places outside of this area. They are high in pH but still maintain acidity, so even though the wines are rich and lush, they have a spine.
PG: Certainly the “River Bed”, as you call it, has become highly desirable vineyard land, sometimes referred to as “The Stones” or “The Cobbles.” But isn’t there another, and quite different, emerging area for planting in the valley as well?
TB: Yes, "The Foothills". I don't know what else to call this area, because it is so new, but the Foothills is as good as anything! Along the Blue Mountains, running southwest to northeast is a ribbon of new vineyard acreage that has gone in over the past eight years or so. Included in this band are Les Collines and Uplands vineyards. This has traditionally been wheat land. It receives quite a bit more rain than the rest of the valley during the winter months, and because of that, I know of a few vineyards which have dry-farmed for 2 or 3 years in a row now.
PG: Isn’t it among the very few dry-farmed vineyards in the state?
TB: Yes. The soils are very deep, silty loam soils. Elevations are also the highest in the valley, up to 1700 feet. One of the dramatic differences in this area is not the soil, but the air drainage. There is a dramatic change in temperature in the evenings because of a nightly inversion, and temperatures will drop up to 40 degrees. These cool evenings help the grapes maintain their natural acidity and preserve the wonderful fruit flavors. The Foothills harvests quite a bit later than the rest of the valley, but with great balance and fully mature flavor development.
Because of the cooler temperatures, crop levels are lower than other areas in the valley in order to reach full physiological ripeness. Lastly, because of its sheer geographical range, there are many different pockets of soil profiles and exposures, so these micro-climates will eventually break this area up to even more sub-regions.
PG: Are you finding that certain grapes do better in certain parts of Walla Walla?
TB: I love Syrah from all over the valley, from Seven Hills, to the Valley Floor, obviously the River Bed, and what I tasted from Les Collines was rockin'! Merlot in the Foothills (and I would include Spring Valley vineyard in this area) seems to do well because it is allowed to hang longer, for better flavor development at lower sugars.
PG: I just popped a 2001 Seven Hills Merlot that was absolutely gorgeous - perfect balance, full and annotated with grain and spice, nothing overbearing, rounding out but a long, long way from over the hill.
TB: Our Estate Merlot from 2005 is a huge wine. I think some would mistake it for a Cab because of its sheer size. But that is the style of wine I like to drink, and so that is what I make. Seven Hills Merlot also has a great reputation...soft and lush with lots of floral tones.
PG: How about Cab?
TB: Cabernet Sauvignon seems to thrive in Seven Hills and the Valley Floor, where it has the heat units to get it fully ripe. I think the flavor profile is different due to the terroir more than anything. I have only tried barrel samples of Cab from the Foothills, and it was more Bordeaux-like, with lower sugars, and that classic leafiness. The Riverbed also grows Cab well. Essentially, early-ripening reds should do very well in the cooler areas, and late-ripening reds in the hotter areas.
PG: Which grapes do best overall?
TB: Syrah seems to be the most adaptable, and seems to show its stripes based off of site more than any other grape. So I would have to say Syrah does best overall.
PG: Can you give us an update on progress after the last big freeze (in 2004)?
TB: The only reason Washington State has a viable wine industry is due to the fact that we are planted on our own rootstocks. If all the vineyards were grafted, vineyard owners could not afford to replant every 7 or 8 years when the big freezes hit, and wineries could not skip a few years waiting for the vineyards to grow.
After we cut our vineyard to the ground in the spring of 2004, our focus was on retraining those vines and getting as much energy into those vines as possible, so that the 2005 harvest would be a successful one. Luckily for us, 2005 was a hallmark year for Washington, and you will see some of the greatest wines ever produced in the State coming from this vintage. Consumers will have a heyday with these wines. In the meantime, we were helped out by some very kind neighbors (mainly Chateau Ste. Michelle) for fruit sources for the 2004 vintage. I was able to craft some remarkable wines from vineyards outside the Walla Walla Valley. You can't duplicate what we get here in Walla Walla, though.
PG: What has been learned? What is being done to prevent future damage?
Basel Cellars’s 03 Red Wine and 04 Cabernet are now available in the Appellation America online wine store. Buy it here
~ Paul Gregutt, Regional Correspondent
To comment on Paul’s writings and thoughts, contact him at p.gregutt@appellationamerica.com
