Red Mountain & Prosser

By Doug Haugen

The story of Red Mountain is like that of most rock stars: modest beginnings, a little dumb luck, discovery and then fame.  Back in 1975, Jim Holmes and John Williams bought some land on Red Mountain as an investment property, having no idea what they’d do with it.  Just a few months later, they became aware of the research by Dr. Walter Clore, and realized they could grow grapes there.  Jim Holmes had been a wine hobbyist for a number of years, but he didn’t know what they’d do with the grapes other than sell them to home winemakers.  However, the Washington wine industry was beginning to emerge, and they found a market for the grapes among a handful of wineries.  That’s when they decided to make their own wine, and Kiona Winery was born in a Richland garage.

An official AVA since 2001, today Red Mountain grows arguably the most coveted grapes in Washington State.  The AVA has a total of 4,040 acres, but only between 600-800 of them are cultivated because of limited access to irrigation.  Limited supply and high demand means that vineyards on Red Mountain can sell their grapes for over 300 percent over average market value, some up to $8,000 per ton.  And land on Red Mountain, which used to sell for $200 per acre, can now be purchased at the bargain price of $50,000 per acre.

So, why are Red Mountain grapes so special?  According to geologist Dr. Alan Busacca, “It’s the summation of a lot of little things that make it stand out.”

Named after the red hue of the native cheatgrass in the spring, Red Mountain is a product of both plate tectonics and the Missoula Floods.  An uplift and folding of the Columbia River basalts created the shape of Red Mountain Ridge and the bench platform; the tectonics created an agricultural area that is inclined a little to the southwest, backed by the ridge, which funnels the winds and holds in the heat. Red Mountain has documented warmer temperatures and more sunlight hours than any other part of the larger Columbia Valley AVA, of which it is a part.  It sits perched above the Yakima River Valley, which means that cold air can drain off down the canyons in the winter, protecting the grapes from frost damage.

In the last ice age, the Missoula Floods came out of the North and slammed into the back side of Red Mountain, forming an eddy, and then swirled around and over Red Mountain, creating a lot of turbulent chaos, which resulted in an eclectic soil profile.  In some parts, it left behind very course gravel, in others sand, and in still others silt.  In addition to the flood deposits, wind blown sediments called “loess” have been deposited on top of the other soils, creating stringers of sand dunes that have spread out over the top.  The terrain of the area acts as a wind funnel, and the high wind intensity on the grapes puts the grapes into stress (physical stress, shaking, and water stress from transpiration), which leads to small berries with thick skins, resulting in very high intensity in the grapes.  According to Jim Holmes (who left Kiona in 1994 to start his own vineyard Ciel du Cheval), Red Mountain grapes are darker, blacker, more tannic, more powerful and “muscular.”  The thick skins of the grapes leads to about sixty percent higher tannins than in other AVAs, such as neighboring Horse Heaven Hills, and the grapes from Red Mountain are known for their structure. Holmes has been unofficially tracking the success of wines made from Red Mountain grapes, and he says that they’re averaging 92 points among the major wine raters.  In fact, Cabernet Sauvignon by Quilceda Creek Vintners received the rare 100 points from Robert Parker in 2002, 2003 and 2005.

Busacca continually reiterates that it’s the people on Red Mountain that are responsible for the great grapes:  “There’s unarguably fantastic fruit grown there, in large part because it is a special place, special terroir; but the people that grow grapes there…took on that job in a systematic way and a passionate way.  They’ve gotten the best out of Red Mountain, where other people may have just fooled around.”

It’s bound to get even better as people like Dr. Busacca begin to consult in the planting of vineyards, taking the micro-climate and soil conditions into consideration as they plant each block of the vineyard.  Take Coke Roth for example, whose company Vinagium owns two vineyards on Red Mountain. Roth hired the services of Dr. Busacca, who did a comprehensive analysis on the vineyards.  The forty-acre Scooteney Vineyard is comprised of about ninety-five percent Scooteney soil, and they have planted it all with Bordeaux varietals.  The second vineyard is composed of three soil types: Warden soil (brown dirt with no rocks), Hezel soil (fine sand that has been blown in from Horse Heaven Hills), and Taunton soil (a little soil on top of compacted hardpan calcified gravel).  This vineyard is planted with a bunch of Rhone varietals including three clones of syrah, three clones of Mourvèdre, two clones of Grenache, plus Zinfandel, Tempranillo, Petite Syrah and Carménère, all planted in specific blocks and rows to take advantage of the micro-terroirs.

“One unique thing that we did down there was, I had this thought that if you have one kind of soil, you’re going to be stuck with one flavor component unless you do something that varies that,” Roth said.  So, Vineyard Manager Damon Lalonee has incorporated “smart viticulture,” which is close to organic viticulture “without being stupid.”  Rows planted closely together mean a balanced crop and even ripening, and planting seven clones of Cab adds layers of flavors.  Rows are planted both from East to West and North to South to add different dimensions.  These unique practices using varietals planted on carefully chosen micro-terroirs can mean a harvest of highly sought-after fruit.

The area surrounding Red Mountain is also abuzz with the wine bug, most notably in Prosser, Washington.  A town of only 5,000 residents, there are now around thirty-five wineries, attracting wine tourists from all over the state.  This is good news for Jim Milne, Executive Director of the Prosser Chamber of Commerce.  He said that in 2007, it felt like a new winery was opening every month.  Traditionally an agriculturally-based community growing concord grapes, hops and apples, wine grapes (vinifera) have become the new cash crop, and the wineries are bringing tourism dollars into the hotels, restaurants, gift shops and other local attractions.

The Chamber of Commerce has an aggressive events calendar that capitalizes on the local wine industry, attracting weekend warriors from Western Washington—the next big event is the Prosser Wine and Food Fair in August.  They’re also getting ready to build the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center, which will feature on-site vineyards, interactive classes like cooking with wine, wine education classes, wine grape growing classes, lots of videos, a restaurant and more.  They expect it to be an Eastern Washington icon.

Dr. Walter Clore, the father of Washington wine, lived his entire life in Prosser, establishing the first AVA in the state: Columbia Valley.  As both the birthplace and the next big thing in Washington wine, the Prosser/Red Mountain area has it all.