That.
That, my wine tasting friends, was the sound, of the Great Columbia River Basalt Group, which lava, defines the Willamette Valley soils, above the 300 foot contour line.
More on that, in a moment
The Willamette Valley vineyards encompasses 30 thousand acres. The Valley, has a wild geology. It is the story of 2 great floods.
The Willamette Valley was created, in part, according to scientists, by 2 great floods.
long ago, when floodwaters, incised the main canyon.
The falls, are the results of, the biggest floodwater cataclysms in the history of this planet: the Ice Age Missoula floods.
15,000 years ago, the Missoula Floods ripped across the Pacific Northwest.
Then, following that, the catastrophic, Ice Age Missoula Floods.
12,000 to 15,000 years ago,--
The birth of the Willamette Valley.
The true making of the Willamette Valley.
From here you can contemplate the natural forces that created the scene: Between 12,000 and 15,000 years ago, an ice age dam, holding back Glacial Lake Missoula, an inland sea, in Montana, collapsed, unleashing the greatest floods on earth, a cataclysmic flood that blasted through the Columbia River and Willamette valley's, known as the Ice Age Floods.
FOLLOW ALONG WITH PICTURES
FOLLOW ALONG WITH PICTURES, GO TO, wine tour oregon dot com, forward slash, pictures.
Or ask your driver for the QR code, to send to your Apple device.
AGAIN,
FOLLOW ALONG WITH PICTURES, GO TO, wine tour oregon dot com, forward slash, pictures.
Or ask your driver for the QR code, to send to your Apple device.
WE'LL PAUSE FOR A MOMENT TO BRING UP PICTURES 2 to 4.
The code is, eight nine zero one
PAUSE.
PAUSE.
PAUSE.
...
The pictures of these floodwaters, are pictures #2, 3, and 4., the Ice Age Floods, and Glacial Lake Missoula.
The 600 foot high wall of water shaved off the sides of the valleys, tore away the lower slopes, and changed its cross-sectional profile from a V, to a U shape. It turned gentle slopes into sheer cliffs, and left the streams hanging high on the walls, to form the plunging waterfalls. This happened again and again.
It is widely believed, to be, the biggest floods ever, to occur on earth. Occurring perhaps as many as 50 to 100 times, over 2000 years!
When Glacial Lake Missoula burst, the Columbia Gorge and Willamette Valley were the narrowest constrictions all along its route from Montana, where all 500 cubic miles of water were forced between these tall mountains and cliffs, only 1.5 miles apart. The flow accelerated from the narrow opening, reaching speeds of 80 miles an hour in the Gorge, before slowing and spreading out over the Portland Basin, and Willamette Valley, topping Portland with 400 feet of water. See Picture #4.
And topping the Willamette valley, with 300 feet of water, forming a great lake, called Lake Allison!
These GREAT FLOOD WATERS, deposited a blanket of sediment from Washington state and Wyoming, on this land below 300 feet.
Today, the 300 foot contour line defines the Willamette Valley soils.
This painting, (PICTURE #2), gives a hint of the awesome force, and volume, of the Ice Age Floods, originating from Glacial Lake Missoula, (picture #4).
It shows the first rush, of the Missoula Floods, coming down the Columbia River, and into the upper North Willamette Valley, between the Cascade and Coastal range foothills.
When glacial Lake Missoula burst through the ice dam and exploded downstream, it did so at a rate of 600 to 750 million cubic feet a second, draining the lake in about 48 hours.
That's 10 times the combined flow of all the rivers of the world, at speeds over 60 miles an hour.
At maximum flow, the largest of the floods filled the Willamette Valley, overtopping the Dundee and Eola-Amity hills.
The flood waters literally shook the ground, as it thundered towards the Pacific Ocean and Willamette Valley.
The animals, (woolly mammoths and saber toothed tigers), and native peoples living here at that time, would have had about 30 minutes vibrational and sound warning, to reach high ground!
Vertebrate bones of thousands of late Pleistocene animals, including woolly mammoths, have been found in Ice Age flood slackwater deposits. If they were around, people, would have been similarly inundated. But nothing has been found.
Let us know if you want to Learn more about the Great Missoula Floods
PAUSE.
PAUSE.
PAUSE.
First, fifteen million years ago, shield volcanoes, of the Columbia River Basalt Group, flooded the Willamette Valley with molten andesite, and basalt.
Lava flowed from eastern Washington, northeast Oregon, and western Idaho, and pushed into the Willamette Valley, covering all but the highest hills with up to 400 feet of basalt. Eruptions from the Columbia River Basalt Group, are known to be some of the biggest eruptions on earth, after the Siberian Trappes during the Permian period, and the Icelandic volcanoes.
It is commonly thought these eruptions came from the, Yellowstone Super volcano hotspot, which was located underneath Oregon, at that time.
As mentioned. The Willamette Valley has a wild geology, shaped by tectonic plates, shield volcanoes (Also known as the Columbia River Basalt Group), ice age floods, wind, and time.
And pino noir is all about the place. It doesn't have an overriding varietal character that stamps the place, it is all about the place (the mother rock), it's a blank canvas.
There is no food or beverage on the planet that connects you with place, more than pino noir, according to Ken Wright of Ken Wright Vineyards.
And this place and its varied geology is the reason why the Northern Willamette Valley is an excellent area for growing grapevines.
Today the three dominant soil types (or mother rock) for growing Pino Noir in this region are, Willakenzie (or Marine Sediment, from when these hills and this valley were under the Pacific Ocean millions of years ago), Laurelwood (or Windblown Silt from the Great Ice Age Floods), and Jory Volcanic Clay from the Columbia River Basalt Floods, also millions of years ago.
When the pioneers of Oregon Pino Noir arrived in the Willamette Valley in the late 1960's, they recognized that the nourishing volcanic and ocean/lake sedimentary soils and the climate, were perfect for cool climate viticulture.
It is this mother rock, which gives our wines its character (see Ken Wright video). Volcanic mother rock will be typically fruity (berry) wines (Dundee for example), whereas marine sediment mother rock, being completely different, will give you spice & floral; violet, anise, clove, chocolate & tobacco (Yamhill/Carlton & Ribbon Ridge A V As for example).
Some ter wahrs speak in gradations of nuance, Burgundy for instance. The Willamette Valley is another.
The famous wine-growing region in Oregon was named an American Viticulture Area (A-V-A) in 1984, and now has 6 main sub A-V-A, and a number of other lesser-known A-V-A, known as the wine routes, to reflect the differing gradations of nuance. The different A-V-A were created based on their mother rock, not their soil.
The Willamette Valley enjoys a long, late growing season, perfectly suited for world class Pino Noir. Oregon is the premier Pino Noir wine growing region in the world; as no other area, except Burgundy, has a climate as ideal for producing this complex, elegant red wine!
It's a young wine growing region, and Oregon wines are considered to be rare, as you can put the entire Oregon production of about twenty two thousand acres, into 1 large-sized California winery. But it's estimated there is the potential of 100 thousand acres in the future.
This Valley is eerily similar, to the Napa Valley, of 70 years ago, but cooler, and filled with orchards before the vineyards came.
It is a potential paradise for wine production.
Today, Oregon has a reputation for producing world class wines.
The winemakers produce mostly Pino noir (70%), with Pino Gri (15%), Chardonnay, Reisling, Pino Blonk, Sémillon, Gewurztraminer, Muller Thurgau and other white wines.
Other delicious red wines include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Zinfandel and others, typically from vineyards in southern Oregon and eastern Washington.
Now with over 730 wineries in Oregon, it's still a small-scale, artisan wine making environment.
...
There is an old French song that says, that the best fertilizer in the vineyard is the footprint of the owner.
Oregon's Willamette Valley, is a small scale wine making environment, reminiscent of the village-strewn landscape of Burgundy, where the winemakers who tend their own vines, live next door and walk their vineyards, are called Veen-ye-rōns.
Producing primarily Pino Noir, Oregon's Willamette Valley, is full of Veen-ye-rōns.
What is a Veen-ye-rōn?
Most of the wineries sit amid their own vines giving the Veen-ye-rōn, and wine making teams’, total control over their fruit from beginning to end.
Daily access to their vineyards allows them to respond to changing conditions throughout the year.
It also allows them to work quickly during crush; the fruit is picked and processed the same day.
The wineries goal, is to express in their wine, the unique character of their place, also called ter wahr.
Ter Wahr, is, to have in the bottle be a direct reflection of what their land gives them, and where the wine is grown.
...
What is, ter wahr?
"It Tastes Like, The Dirt, It's Grown In".
Ter wahr, is the notion that the growing site, defines a wine's character.
Let me know, if you want to learn more about, Ter Wahr
'The concept of a Veen-ye-rōn', says, Gypsy Dancer Estate owner, Gary Andrus, 'is someone who grows his grapes, picks his rootstocks, picks his soil, his clones, his spacing, his techniques, like, L-I-V-E, biodynamic, organic, sustainable, or 'nuked', using Modern or Historic wine making techniques. And he makes those decisions, and executes those decisions inside the cellar.
That's because, he wants to make the wine, that's in his own mind.
It's his wine--the greatest--or the worst'.
Our Willamette Valley is full of Veen-ye-rōns.
They employ new world, and/or traditional techniques, and sometimes, bio-dynamic principles, to achieve their aim. The winemakers decide, some times, to seize the opportunity of their rich land — and what it could contribute to wine making — by embracing a biodynamic approach to farming.
Biodynamic methods emphasize sustainable practices in every aspect of the farm, where there's a role for every being.
Whether it's through composting leftover vines, or by rejecting the use of GMOs, and synthetic pesticides. For some farm’s, Scottish Highland cows and its goats and sheep and dogs play a part. Even the animals have a purpose, that goes beyond providing food.
"We employ a number of techniques that support the health of our [Bio-dynamic] vineyard from a holistic perspective", says, Soter winemaker, Chris Fladwood.
We use cover crops between our vine rows to improve soil health.
Where our vines need a boost, we might plant mixes of legumes to mine nutrients from the soil, and make them available to the vines. Where we have excess vigor, we will use grasses to temper growth. We also rely on animals and insects to assist with various pest problems. As grapes reach their peak ripeness in the vineyard, starlings and other birds are drawn to the sweet fruit and can cause excessive damage to clusters. We work with a falconer, during harvest, to provide natural bird abatement. We also rely on ladybugs, predatory wasps and other beneficial bugs to combat vineyard pests like, aphids and leafhoppers."
“Every single animal here has a job,” Chris continues. “The cows keep our pastures mowed so we don’t have to drive tractors and consume fossil fuels ... we also have a whole pack of dogs. Their job is to bring our blood pressure down when they sense it’s high,” ha ha ha, he adds with a laugh.
Let me know if you want to learn more about,
ter wahr,
new world and/or traditional wine making techniques,
or Bio-dynamic farming.
The Willamette and Tualatin Valleys, (which is the gateway for the Willamette Valley bounty going to Portland, that shapes wine country's very Northern tip), charming towns will embrace you with extraordinary hospitality.
It's the way the Wine Country used to be -- Un-crowded and Unpretentious.
Authentic wine, food, and people.
The original winemakers began in the nineteen sixties, with no wine making experience, no business skills, and no money.
But the 10 original families stuck together, and focused on quality right from the beginning, and the pino noir grape.
SEE PICTURES,
SEE PICTURES, PICTURE #1, of the 10 original families.
Most people stay in the tasting room while visiting wine country. But here are things you can do while visiting a winery:
1. Get in the vineyard, get your hands dirty, feel the soil, walk the vineyard as if your working it, eat a grape right off the vine and try to understand how that fruit expresses itself in the bottle.
It’s amazing when you can taste the similarities in the fresh fruit and the wine it created.
2.
The magic happens when your not in a hurry. Ask if the winemaker is around. See if there are any animals on the property you can say hello to. Ask all of the questions your heart desires.
Once in Forest Grove we got to sit on a tractor and play with a little baby goat.
That was my favorite visit of the entire day and it happened because we weren’t in a rush.
We will, on this tour, have a good road to drive on, something worthwhile to see, something worthwhile to eat, and some good wine to drink.
Do you want to make your tour more, educational, and fun
Please let me know if you do, for additional audio and or podcasts.
Highly Recommended!
Does anyone have any questions?
Please let me know.
Then, we'll take a look at these pictures.
The first picture.
That, my wine tasting friends, was the sound, of the Great Columbia River Basalt Group, which lava, defines the Willamette Valley soils, above the 300 foot contour line.
More on that, in a moment
The Willamette Valley vineyards encompasses 30 thousand acres. The Valley, has a wild geology. It is the story of 2 great floods.
The Willamette Valley was created, in part, according to scientists, by 2 great floods.
long ago, when floodwaters, incised the main canyon.
The falls, are the results of, the biggest floodwater cataclysms in the history of this planet: the Ice Age Missoula floods.
15,000 years ago, the Missoula Floods ripped across the Pacific Northwest.
Then, following that, the catastrophic, Ice Age Missoula Floods.
12,000 to 15,000 years ago,--
The birth of the Willamette Valley.
The true making of the Willamette Valley.
From here you can contemplate the natural forces that created the scene: Between 12,000 and 15,000 years ago, an ice age dam, holding back Glacial Lake Missoula, an inland sea, in Montana, collapsed, unleashing the greatest floods on earth, a cataclysmic flood that blasted through the Columbia River and Willamette valley's, known as the Ice Age Floods.
FOLLOW ALONG WITH PICTURES
FOLLOW ALONG WITH PICTURES, GO TO, wine tour oregon dot com, forward slash, pictures.
Or ask your driver for the QR code, to send to your Apple device.
AGAIN,
FOLLOW ALONG WITH PICTURES, GO TO, wine tour oregon dot com, forward slash, pictures.
Or ask your driver for the QR code, to send to your Apple device.
WE'LL PAUSE FOR A MOMENT TO BRING UP PICTURES 2 to 4.
The code is, eight nine zero one
PAUSE.
PAUSE.
PAUSE.
...
The pictures of these floodwaters, are pictures #2, 3, and 4., the Ice Age Floods, and Glacial Lake Missoula.
The 600 foot high wall of water shaved off the sides of the valleys, tore away the lower slopes, and changed its cross-sectional profile from a V, to a U shape. It turned gentle slopes into sheer cliffs, and left the streams hanging high on the walls, to form the plunging waterfalls. This happened again and again.
It is widely believed, to be, the biggest floods ever, to occur on earth. Occurring perhaps as many as 50 to 100 times, over 2000 years!
When Glacial Lake Missoula burst, the Columbia Gorge and Willamette Valley were the narrowest constrictions all along its route from Montana, where all 500 cubic miles of water were forced between these tall mountains and cliffs, only 1.5 miles apart. The flow accelerated from the narrow opening, reaching speeds of 80 miles an hour in the Gorge, before slowing and spreading out over the Portland Basin, and Willamette Valley, topping Portland with 400 feet of water. See Picture #4.
And topping the Willamette valley, with 300 feet of water, forming a great lake, called Lake Allison!
These GREAT FLOOD WATERS, deposited a blanket of sediment from Washington state and Wyoming, on this land below 300 feet.
Today, the 300 foot contour line defines the Willamette Valley soils.
This painting, (PICTURE #2), gives a hint of the awesome force, and volume, of the Ice Age Floods, originating from Glacial Lake Missoula, (picture #4).
It shows the first rush, of the Missoula Floods, coming down the Columbia River, and into the upper North Willamette Valley, between the Cascade and Coastal range foothills.
When glacial Lake Missoula burst through the ice dam and exploded downstream, it did so at a rate of 600 to 750 million cubic feet a second, draining the lake in about 48 hours.
That's 10 times the combined flow of all the rivers of the world, at speeds over 60 miles an hour.
At maximum flow, the largest of the floods filled the Willamette Valley, overtopping the Dundee and Eola-Amity hills.
The flood waters literally shook the ground, as it thundered towards the Pacific Ocean and Willamette Valley.
The animals, (woolly mammoths and saber toothed tigers), and native peoples living here at that time, would have had about 30 minutes vibrational and sound warning, to reach high ground!
Vertebrate bones of thousands of late Pleistocene animals, including woolly mammoths, have been found in Ice Age flood slackwater deposits. If they were around, people, would have been similarly inundated. But nothing has been found.
Let us know if you want to Learn more about the Great Missoula Floods
PAUSE.
PAUSE.
PAUSE.
First, fifteen million years ago, shield volcanoes, of the Columbia River Basalt Group, flooded the Willamette Valley with molten andesite, and basalt.
Lava flowed from eastern Washington, northeast Oregon, and western Idaho, and pushed into the Willamette Valley, covering all but the highest hills with up to 400 feet of basalt. Eruptions from the Columbia River Basalt Group, are known to be some of the biggest eruptions on earth, after the Siberian Trappes during the Permian period, and the Icelandic volcanoes.
It is commonly thought these eruptions came from the, Yellowstone Super volcano hotspot, which was located underneath Oregon, at that time.
As mentioned. The Willamette Valley has a wild geology, shaped by tectonic plates, shield volcanoes (Also known as the Columbia River Basalt Group), ice age floods, wind, and time.
And pino noir is all about the place. It doesn't have an overriding varietal character that stamps the place, it is all about the place (the mother rock), it's a blank canvas.
There is no food or beverage on the planet that connects you with place, more than pino noir, according to Ken Wright of Ken Wright Vineyards.
And this place and its varied geology is the reason why the Northern Willamette Valley is an excellent area for growing grapevines.
Today the three dominant soil types (or mother rock) for growing Pino Noir in this region are, Willakenzie (or Marine Sediment, from when these hills and this valley were under the Pacific Ocean millions of years ago), Laurelwood (or Windblown Silt from the Great Ice Age Floods), and Jory Volcanic Clay from the Columbia River Basalt Floods, also millions of years ago.
When the pioneers of Oregon Pino Noir arrived in the Willamette Valley in the late 1960's, they recognized that the nourishing volcanic and ocean/lake sedimentary soils and the climate, were perfect for cool climate viticulture.
It is this mother rock, which gives our wines its character (see Ken Wright video). Volcanic mother rock will be typically fruity (berry) wines (Dundee for example), whereas marine sediment mother rock, being completely different, will give you spice & floral; violet, anise, clove, chocolate & tobacco (Yamhill/Carlton & Ribbon Ridge A V As for example).
Some ter wahrs speak in gradations of nuance, Burgundy for instance. The Willamette Valley is another.
The famous wine-growing region in Oregon was named an American Viticulture Area (A-V-A) in 1984, and now has 6 main sub A-V-A, and a number of other lesser-known A-V-A, known as the wine routes, to reflect the differing gradations of nuance. The different A-V-A were created based on their mother rock, not their soil.
The Willamette Valley enjoys a long, late growing season, perfectly suited for world class Pino Noir. Oregon is the premier Pino Noir wine growing region in the world; as no other area, except Burgundy, has a climate as ideal for producing this complex, elegant red wine!
It's a young wine growing region, and Oregon wines are considered to be rare, as you can put the entire Oregon production of about twenty two thousand acres, into 1 large-sized California winery. But it's estimated there is the potential of 100 thousand acres in the future.
This Valley is eerily similar, to the Napa Valley, of 70 years ago, but cooler, and filled with orchards before the vineyards came.
It is a potential paradise for wine production.
Today, Oregon has a reputation for producing world class wines.
The winemakers produce mostly Pino noir (70%), with Pino Gri (15%), Chardonnay, Reisling, Pino Blonk, Sémillon, Gewurztraminer, Muller Thurgau and other white wines.
Other delicious red wines include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Zinfandel and others, typically from vineyards in southern Oregon and eastern Washington.
Now with over 730 wineries in Oregon, it's still a small-scale, artisan wine making environment.
...
There is an old French song that says, that the best fertilizer in the vineyard is the footprint of the owner.
Oregon's Willamette Valley, is a small scale wine making environment, reminiscent of the village-strewn landscape of Burgundy, where the winemakers who tend their own vines, live next door and walk their vineyards, are called Veen-ye-rōns.
Producing primarily Pino Noir, Oregon's Willamette Valley, is full of Veen-ye-rōns.
What is a Veen-ye-rōn?
Most of the wineries sit amid their own vines giving the Veen-ye-rōn, and wine making teams’, total control over their fruit from beginning to end.
Daily access to their vineyards allows them to respond to changing conditions throughout the year.
It also allows them to work quickly during crush; the fruit is picked and processed the same day.
The wineries goal, is to express in their wine, the unique character of their place, also called ter wahr.
Ter Wahr, is, to have in the bottle be a direct reflection of what their land gives them, and where the wine is grown.
...
What is, ter wahr?
"It Tastes Like, The Dirt, It's Grown In".
Ter wahr, is the notion that the growing site, defines a wine's character.
Let me know, if you want to learn more about, Ter Wahr
'The concept of a Veen-ye-rōn', says, Gypsy Dancer Estate owner, Gary Andrus, 'is someone who grows his grapes, picks his rootstocks, picks his soil, his clones, his spacing, his techniques, like, L-I-V-E, biodynamic, organic, sustainable, or 'nuked', using Modern or Historic wine making techniques. And he makes those decisions, and executes those decisions inside the cellar.
That's because, he wants to make the wine, that's in his own mind.
It's his wine--the greatest--or the worst'.
Our Willamette Valley is full of Veen-ye-rōns.
They employ new world, and/or traditional techniques, and sometimes, bio-dynamic principles, to achieve their aim. The winemakers decide, some times, to seize the opportunity of their rich land — and what it could contribute to wine making — by embracing a biodynamic approach to farming.
Biodynamic methods emphasize sustainable practices in every aspect of the farm, where there's a role for every being.
Whether it's through composting leftover vines, or by rejecting the use of GMOs, and synthetic pesticides. For some farm’s, Scottish Highland cows and its goats and sheep and dogs play a part. Even the animals have a purpose, that goes beyond providing food.
"We employ a number of techniques that support the health of our [Bio-dynamic] vineyard from a holistic perspective", says, Soter winemaker, Chris Fladwood.
We use cover crops between our vine rows to improve soil health.
Where our vines need a boost, we might plant mixes of legumes to mine nutrients from the soil, and make them available to the vines. Where we have excess vigor, we will use grasses to temper growth. We also rely on animals and insects to assist with various pest problems. As grapes reach their peak ripeness in the vineyard, starlings and other birds are drawn to the sweet fruit and can cause excessive damage to clusters. We work with a falconer, during harvest, to provide natural bird abatement. We also rely on ladybugs, predatory wasps and other beneficial bugs to combat vineyard pests like, aphids and leafhoppers."
“Every single animal here has a job,” Chris continues. “The cows keep our pastures mowed so we don’t have to drive tractors and consume fossil fuels ... we also have a whole pack of dogs. Their job is to bring our blood pressure down when they sense it’s high,” ha ha ha, he adds with a laugh.
Let me know if you want to learn more about,
ter wahr,
new world and/or traditional wine making techniques,
or Bio-dynamic farming.
The Willamette and Tualatin Valleys, (which is the gateway for the Willamette Valley bounty going to Portland, that shapes wine country's very Northern tip), charming towns will embrace you with extraordinary hospitality.
It's the way the Wine Country used to be -- Un-crowded and Unpretentious.
Authentic wine, food, and people.
The original winemakers began in the nineteen sixties, with no wine making experience, no business skills, and no money.
But the 10 original families stuck together, and focused on quality right from the beginning, and the pino noir grape.
SEE PICTURES,
SEE PICTURES, PICTURE #1, of the 10 original families.
Most people stay in the tasting room while visiting wine country. But here are things you can do while visiting a winery:
1. Get in the vineyard, get your hands dirty, feel the soil, walk the vineyard as if your working it, eat a grape right off the vine and try to understand how that fruit expresses itself in the bottle.
It’s amazing when you can taste the similarities in the fresh fruit and the wine it created.
2.
The magic happens when your not in a hurry. Ask if the winemaker is around. See if there are any animals on the property you can say hello to. Ask all of the questions your heart desires.
Once in Forest Grove we got to sit on a tractor and play with a little baby goat.
That was my favorite visit of the entire day and it happened because we weren’t in a rush.
We will, on this tour, have a good road to drive on, something worthwhile to see, something worthwhile to eat, and some good wine to drink.
Do you want to make your tour more, educational, and fun
Please let me know if you do, for additional audio and or podcasts.
Highly Recommended!
Does anyone have any questions?
Please let me know.
Then, we'll take a look at these pictures.
The first picture.
