The Tribe Vineyards is a vineyard planted in the ancient Walla Walla River bottom on the Oregon side of Walla Walla Valley.
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The topsoil is about 30-46cm thick and consists of a mix of silt loam and basalt boulders, with several tens of metres below that being just boulders in places, and beneath that lies a basalt bedrock 300m or more thick.
This formation is one of the largest basalt lava flows on Earth.
Horsepower Vineyards is the second winery established by vigneron Christophe Baron, the eldest son of Baron Albert, whose Champagne house dates back to 1677, and who moved to Walla Walla.
The three vineyards listed below are located in the Walla Walla Valley in an area covered with boulders that was once a riverbed long ago, and are all grown biodynamically using the workhorses "Zeppo" (since 2008) and "Red" (since 2009).
The Tribe Vineyard (1.2ha, Syrah)Sur Echalas Vineyard (0.8ha, Syrah & Grenache)High Contrast Vineyard (1.3ha, Syrah & Viognier)Washington State's cult wine "Horse Power".
Horsepower Vineyards is a rare wine produced by Champagne genius Christophe Baron, who succeeded Cayeuse.
The fields are ploughed entirely by horse power.
Christophe's team represents tradition and history – and continues to write that history today.
This wine is Christophe's connection to his roots.
It is also a tribute to traditional techniques and family.
Like the Earth, it embraces all things, old and new.
That's Horsepower Vineyards.
Vigneron Christophe Baron first began practicing biodynamic farming in Washington's Walla Walla Valley in 2002.
Horsepower does not use any herbicides, chemical fertilizers, pesticides or fungicides. They work their vineyards with five horses, using vineyards trained to a single stake (called "sur echalas" in French) in a space of just 0.9m x 0.9m.
As the eldest son of Baron Albert, a Champagne House with a Hundred Years of History, Christophe's family has been farming the land in France's Marne Valley since 1677.
Until 1957, all vineyard work was done by horse.
Horsepower represents a return to this tradition, to an artisanal simplicity and purpose that has now been all but lost.
It's a window on the Old World, rooted in the New World.
Day in and day out, the only sound to be heard across all three fields is the thumping of hooves, a tradition that continues to plough and protect Horsepower's stony fields.