2018 Horsepower Grenache, Fiddleneck Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley

“The point is to create an honest wine that has an identity. You want to taste the place,” says Christophe Baron. And the point of Grenache Day is to celebrate the pure identity of this grape which often gets lost and blended. So what better wine to feature on Grenache Day than Christophe Baron’s Horsepower Grenache paired with roasted blue cheese stuffed figs, bacon wrapped squash bites, eggplant bruschetta, and grilled rack of lamb laden with garlic and rosemary? 

At biodynamic Horsepower Vineyards located in the Stones of the Walla Walla Valley, Christophe Baron chooses to use Four Percheron and two Belgian draft horses help his human team work the land because horses are more gentle to the land and the vines, and these practices  connect vignerons with roots– literal and metaphorical. Christophe Baron is the oldest son from the Champagne house Baron Albert, and his family worked their land in the Marne Valley of France since 1677 with horses doing all of the vineyard cultivation until the 1950s. 

2018 Horsepower Grenache, Fiddleneck Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley

After studying enology in Champagne, in the 1990s, Christophe left France to travel the world and learn more about winemaking. Along the way, he found an ancient cobbled riverbed on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley that reminded him of the stony vineyards of Chateauneaf du Pape. When Christophe planted the first vines in the Stones in 1997 at Cayuse, he also chose “closed circle” farming. That evolved in 2002 to Christophe being the first to use biodynamic farming techniques in the Walla Walla Valley, and then in 2008, he became the first vigneron in the United States dedicated to using draft horses instead of tractors. With each of the horses making thirteen 44 mile passes in the vineyards, production is literally horsepowered.

“Since the beginning, Horsepower Vineyards has been committed to closed-circle, low impact farming so that we can craft terroir driven wines in the most environmentally responsible way,” Christophe Baron, who established Horsepower Vineyards in the Pacific Northwest’s Walla Walla Valley AVA in 2008, where he farms without the use of herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, chemical insecticides, or fungicides.

2018 Horsepower Grenache, Fiddleneck Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley

2018 Horsepower Grenache, Fiddleneck Vineyard, Walla Walla Valley

ABV: 13.7%
SRP: $100-200
Grapes: Biodynamic Grenache
sample for my review; thank you!

The name for the Fiddleneck Vineyard comes from a yellow flower with a curved “fiddle neck” which grows abundantly there among the three acres of Grenache and one acre of Tempranillo. Vines are spaced 3.5 feet by 3.5 feet with one vine per stake for a total of 3,555 vines per acre. All wines are very small productions; this wine is less than 300 cases. 

Appearance:  Burnt red, red orange, orange rim, cloudy

Aroma: Rose geranium, cinnamon, cranberry, raspberry, tobacco, smells like a sanctuary, a temple. As it opens, more savory notes, less floral and fruit.  

Palate: Rose petal, smokey, sandalwood, grilled stone fruit, grilled strawberry, the smoke is not unplesant it is just present, tart acidity, red pepper flakes, herbal finish, soft mellow tannins, very nicely crafted wine. The wine on its own is so very intriguing. 

Pairing: So yummy  with our blue cheese stuffed figs. We were both blown away by how good the two were together. With food this wine is so enhanced. Figs and this wine is a thing, there is nothing more pleasurable. Absolutely amazing with the eggplant bruchchetta. It was great with the grilled eggplant and the umami richness of the bruschetta on top of the grilled eggplant. What a great vegetarian option to go with this wonderful wine.  For meat eaters, consider smoked rack of lamb; we went with grilled rack of lamb laden with garlic and rosemary that had marinated in the rub for almost four hours. The wine continued to evolve in lovely ways the second day, and while I would have loved to have revisited on a third day, I lacked the resolve, and we finished it up! 

Horsepower Grenache

Happy Grenache Day!

Also for your consideration:

• 2019 No Girls La Paciencia Vineyard Grenache
• Read what we have to say about the No Girls La Paciencia Vineyard Tempranillo paired with Moroccan spiced lamb here.
• More 2018 Horsepower Vineyards Grenache Fiddleneck Vineyard reviews 
• About Bionic Wines