Horsepower Vineyards

Situated on the stony soils of Washington / Oregon Walla Walla Valley, Horsepower Vineyards is yet another venture by Christophe Baron, the French winemaker behind the Cayuse brand. The name is no metaphor. The vines are planted so densely that tractors cannot pass between the rows, so all the work is done by two draft horses. The wines here are almost exclusively Rhône-style reds, and they have become some of the most sought-after in the US Northwest.

History

Christophe Baron grew up in the Marne Valley in Champagne, where his family has been producing wine under the Baron Albert label since 1677. On that estate, horses carried out all the work in the vineyards right up until 1957. This experience inspired Baron to embrace traditional viticulture when he eventually set up his own business in Walla Walla. He founded Cayuse in 1997 after discovering a stony, abandoned cherry orchard that reminded him of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In 2002, he became the first to practise biodynamic viticulture in the Walla Walla Valley. Horsepower followed in 2008, when Baron began cultivating several densely planted plots using draught horses: first Zeppo, and a year later, Red. The first release was the 2011 vintage.

Vineyards

Horsepower cultivates four small vineyards, all in the rocky area around Milton-Freewater on the Oregon side of the valley. Sur Echalas is a 2-acre plot planted with Syrah and Grenache (density 4,840 vines per acre, highest in Walla Walla). The Tribe comprises 3 acres of Syrah. High Contrast, following the bend of the old Walla Walla River, covers 3 acres of Syrah and a third of an acre of Viognier. Fiddleneck, the name is derived from a yellow wildflower, comprises 3 acres of Grenache and 1 acre of Tempranillo. Each vine is trained individually, one vine per post, using an old French system known as sur échalas.

Terroir

It is this soil that makes the entire project possible. The vineyards are situated on the ancient bed of the Walla Walla River, with 12–18 inches of silty loam mixed with basalt pebbles on top, and hundreds of feet of compacted pebbles beneath. Beneath all this lies one of the largest areas of basaltic lava bedrock on the planet, with a thickness exceeding 3,000 metres in places. The climate here is dry and sunny in summer with cool nights, whilst the stones store heat during the day and dry out quickly after rain.

Grapes

The focus is on Rhône varieties, with Syrah and Grenache playing the leading roles, joined by small plantings of Viognier and Tempranillo. There are no Bordeaux varieties here, which sets Horsepower apart from most of Washington.

Winemaking

Farming is carried out entirely using biodynamic methods, in accordance with the lunar and astrological calendar, without the use of herbicides, synthetic fertilisers, chemical insecticides or fungicides. Horses plough, till the soil and weed. In the cellar, the approach is deliberately gentle: fermentation with natural yeasts, extensive use of whole bunches (around 70–100 per cent depending on the wine) and ageing mainly in neutral French oak barrels and puncheons for around 15 months. Production volumes are very small, often just a few hundred cases per cuvée.

Wines

Each vineyard is bottled separately, so the range resembles a farm menu: Sur Echalas Syrah and Sur Echalas Grenache, The Tribe Syrah, High Contrast Syrah and Fiddleneck Grenache. The Syrahs are generally spicy and meaty, with notes of black olives, pepper, iron and smoked meat against a backdrop of dark fruit. The Grenaches are more floral and feature aromas of red fruit, with white pepper and a mineral note that reminds many tasters of the Southern Rhône. Overall, the wines are made for ageing, and critics regularly rank them among the best wines produced in the United States.