Cayuse Vineyards - God Only Knows - Grenache 2017
Cayuse Vineyards is located in the Stones of the Walla Walla Valley within Washington state and extending partly into the northeastern corner of Oregon. The story began near the village of Charly-sur-Marne in the Champagne region of France, where a very young Christophe Baron walked the family vineyard with his father and grandfather. He was the youngest of the centuries-old Champagne house, Baron Albert, and his ancestors had worked the land since 1677. After studying viticulture in Champagne and Burgundy, Christophe realised he wasn’t yet ready to enter the family business and gave in to the urge to travel. An unexpected winery internship brought Christophe to the Walla Walla Valley for the first time in 1993. At its completion, he travelled the world gaining more experience in Australia, New Zealand, Romania and Oregon. Christophe had returned to Walla Walla for a strictly social visit, and was wandering the countryside with a friend. As they drove on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley, he spied an open field littered with acres of softball-sized stones: Christophe resolved to buy the property and planted a vineyard in 1997. He called the venture Cayuse Vineyards after a Native American tribe whose name was derived from the French word “cailloux” which means “stones”. Currently, Cayuse farms five vineyards (Cailloux, Coccinelle, En Cerise, En Chamberlin and Armada) spread over 19 hectares and all Cayuse wines are created from estate fruit. From the beginning, the vineyards have been farmed organically, and in 2002 Cayuse became the first domaine in the Walla Walla Valley to fully implement biodynamic farming.
God Only Knows is a blend of Grenache (90%) and unknown varieties, hence its name. The grapes come from the Armada Vineyard of 2.8 hectares and created in 2001.
Grape varieties: 90% Grenache, 10% unknown varieties
