Horsepower Grenache Fiddleneck Vineyard 2020

The vineyard is located in the ancient riverbed of the Walla Walla River on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley. The topsoil consists of 12-18’’ inches of a mix of silty loam and basalt cobblestones. Beneath is a layer of pure compacted cobblestones, hundreds of feet deep in places.

The vineyard is cultivated by Belgian and Percheron draft horses and has been farmed using biodynamic methods since 2015.

• Date Planted: 2015
• Area: 1.9 ha / 4.8 ac
• Row Spacing: 3.5’ x 3.5’
• Vine Density: 8780 per ha / 3555 per ac
• Elevation: 880’ above sea level

• Vessel Type: 100% French oak
• Aging: 15 months in neutral oak

Vigneron Christophe Baron pioneered biodynamic farming in Washington’s Walla Walla Valley in 2002.  Horsepower is farmed entirely without the use of herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, chemical insecticides or fungicides using two draft horses - ‘Red’ and ‘Zeppo’ - to cultivate vineyards with as little as 3’ x 3’ spacing, planted 1 vine per stake, or “sur echalas” in French.  The oldest son of the centuries-old Champagne house Baron Albert, Christophe’s family has worked their land in the Marne Valley of France since 1677.  As recently as 1957 horses still did all of the vineyard cultivation.  Horsepower represents a return to that tradition, to a simplicity of craftsmanship and purpose that has been largely lost.  It’s a window to the Old World taking root in New. That’s why, on any given day in any of our three vineyards, the only sound you’re likely to hear is the hoofbeat of tradition, played and preserved on the stones of Horsepower.

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