Cayuse Cailloux Viognier 2022

The vineyard is located in the ancient riverbed of the Walla Walla River on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley. The topsoil consists of 12-18” inches of a mix of silty loam and basalt cobblestones. Beneath is a layer of pure compacted cobblestones, hundreds of feet deep in places.

The vineyard has been cultivated using biodynamic farming methods since 2002.

• Date Planted: 1997
• Area: .4 ha / 1 ac
• Row Spacing: 10’ x 4’
• Vine Density: 2690 per ha / 1089 per ac
• Elevation: 875’ above sea level

• Vessel Type: concrete/stainless
• Aging: 10 months in concrete/stainless

The oldest son of the centuries-old Champagne house Baron Albert, Christophe’s family has worked their land in the Marne Valley of France since 1677. His plans to take over the family business came to an abrupt halt one April morning in 1996 in Walla Walla, when he spied an open field littered with acres of softballsized stones near the Oregon / Washington border. The terroir reminded him of the cobblestones of the southern Rhone valley and Chateauneuf-du Pape in his native France. Christophe purchased the property and planted his first vineyard in 1997. “People said I was crazy”, he recalls. “But I knew that vines need to struggle in difficult ground in order to provide their best.” He called the venture Cayuse Vineyards, after a Native American tribe whose name was derived from the French word “cailloux” - which means “stones”.