Climate, soil, grapes and people...

I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Walla Walla in an effort to better understand what makes Walla Walla wines unique.
 
First the climate in Eastern Washington is the complete opposite of Western Washington.  We all know that the area around Seattle is cool and rainy most of the year.  The area around Walla Walla though is hot and dry.  Rainy Seattle gets about 35 inches while Eastern Washington is considered more of a dessert with rainfall ranging from 6 to 12 inches a year.  This contrast is due to the Cascade Mountains protecting Eastern Washington from the rain coming off the Pacific Ocean.
 
The soil is very unique from other great wine growing areas in the world.  The base rock is basalt which was shaped and formed million of years ago with a series of uplifts.  Then thousands of years ago during the ice age a very large lake in Montana called Glacial Lake Missoula was held back by an ice dam.  Eventually this ice dam broke and caused a cataclysmic flood of water rushing at a rate of 10 times more than all the current rivers of the world.  This flood of water rushed into Eastern Washington stripping away over 200 feet of topsoil, picking apart the bedrock until it came to the mile wide Wallula Gap.  This Gap formed a  brief dam creating another lake called Lake Lewis.  This new lake was over 300 feet deep and contained more water than all of the great lakes combined.  Although this lake lasted only a short time, some of the rocks and debris contained in these flood waters were able to settle out.  Some of these large boulders that settled out called Glacial erratics were held in place by icebergs as large as houses.   This occurrence happened several times over a couple of thousand years.  Active volcanoes also played a role in shaping the soil with the ash deposits as well as the wine blown loess soils.  This loess is about as fine as talc powder and when the winds pick up around 15 miles per hour the loess is picked up and blown around.  Driving around Walla Walla it is easy to see Sand Dune like hills around the area.  While I was there, they had a windy day that picked up the soil and created a dust storm making it difficult to see the nearby Blue Mountains.

Eastern Washington is one of the few places that can grow grapes on their own root stock.  Most wine areas have a nasty pest called phylloxeria that destroys the roots of the vines.  They combat this problem by grafting the grape vine onto a phylloxeria resistant root stock.  Eastern Washington does not have the phylloxeria problem (yet).  There is no direct correlation that this makes better wine, but …….  Walla Walla seems to do a lot of things very well.  Although the wine region in Washington is not that old, they have historically had success with Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.  Now there are seeing success with Syrah, Grenache, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot and the list just keeps going.  Walla Walla can differently do a lot of things well!

I found the people of Walla Walla make the biggest difference.  They are honest and open with each other trying to raise the quality and recognition of the area together.  40 separate wineries hosted 17 buyers from around the country to get a better understanding of the area.  It was fascinating to hear each of the winemakers talk about what they learned from their neighbor, or how they started in the wine business with the help of an existing winemaker.   The entire group had 3 ½ days to talk, assist and work with the winemakers.  We walked in the vineyards, examined the soil, tasted a lot of grapes and assisted with the crush.  I can confidently say that I came away with a new understanding of what makes Walla Walla wines unique and special.