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As Oregon vineyards mature and its winemakers, with experience, seek nuance rather than new wood, vineyard site becomes all-important.
Although the "T" word is overused and some wineries think any plot of land is worthy of vineyard designation, terroir is real and worth capturing as a distinctive signature. What gives that essence, that sense of place? When present in wine from a specific site, there is a unique, fingerprint richness of aroma and flavor, differences that come from soils and climate.
During the last year, ten wineries collectively sought help from a French
geologist to understand differences between sites in the Northern Willamette
Valley. Yves Herody is an example of the peripatetic academic trying to
change basic understanding by consulting and teaching his way across continents,
passionate and Don Quixote-like, looking for glimpses of understanding
and small changes. We heard about him in France, where he is developing
a soils husbandry that involves composting and amendments. Over 100 domaines
in Burgundy are joined in an attempt to balance soils affected by centuries
of alternating inattention and overattention. Yves has applied his concepts
of soil sensitivity to many agricultural fields as consultant to the United
Nations, working in Third World nations to develop sustainable food sources
from marginal croplands - transferability being to me a sign that the
technological underpinnings are sound.
Our objectives are to better understand the mechanisms at work and to adopt methods that do not hurt or mask the reflection of typicity from a site. There are several influences which affect impressions from a site: soil, climate, plant and technologies.
In abnormal vintages, the climate can have strong influence due to rain, heat, cold, etc. When plants are young the vigorous, green or herbal flavors, and superficial color and frutiness predominate, not allowing site to assert itself. As vines mature, the plants come into better balance, becoming less dependent on fertilizer and irrigation and sending roots deeply and broadly. Underneath topsoils, the interface of roots and base rock is the source of ultimate, long-lived site expression as microbial action breaks down the rock matrix releasing trace metals in combinations that are unique to the site. Anything that interferes with this process, such as compacted or poorly formed soils, poor drainage, overdependence on irrigation (keeping roots superficial) or poorly growing plants due to lack of water or nutrition, can keep site expression down.
Dr. Herody's emphasis is to mitigate human technologies, except in remedial care such as correcting soil imbalances caused by past cultivation practices. He strives to balance the system, whether in opening up soils or guaranteeing microbial health or adding trace elements in compost amendments. Soils contribute to terroir by having metallic elements mobile, according to Herody, and mobility depends on proper soil structure and development. Red volcanic soils improve with browning and organic breakdown, sedimentary soils depend on keeping leaching from depleting the soils.
Our three sites run the gamut of Oregon soils, with a
purely volcanic site, a purely sedimentary site, and a transition soil
series site
with a combination of both. Although our three estate vineyards are strong,
we're convinced by understanding what we have a little better and making
management modifications we can better reflect terroir. We are already
learning some things, such as realizing that the top half of Ridgecrest's
oldest block has volcanic rock (basalt) underlying, whereas 100 yards
down the same rows in the bottom half we see sedimentary soils (sandstone)
as base rock. That site traditionally makes the core of Rion Reserve,
with nuance and elegance. But imagine the differences we are masking by
not vinifying the two halves separately.
A work in progress. More about our three estate vineyards:
Ridgecrest
Stoller
Corral Creek
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