Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/81015
VINEYARD NORTHWEST WATCH Washington, the terrain rises to 1,500 feet above sea level at a for- mation called the Vansycle Ridge. It is here, just outside the Oregon town of Milton-Freewater, that the Seven Hills Vineyard has built a reputation during the past 30 years as one of the finest in the Pacific Northwest. "Actually, it's been named by Wine & Spirits magazine as one of the best vineyards in the world," said Marty Clubb, owner of L'Ecole No 41 winery in Walla Walla, and a co-owner of Seven Hills Vineyard. "More than 100 wines scoring 90 points or higher have come off that site." That excel lent performance served as motivation for what has become the SeVein development, the name of which is derived from Seven Hills. However, the original goal of the Seven Hills ownership group was to acquire just a 20-acre addition to the existing holding. 6 5 "There was a little triangle of land that dipped over the north side of the ridgeline into where we were growing grapes," said Clubb. "If you saw that parcel, you'd see how it made sense to just make it part of the vineyard." As it turned out, that triangle was part of an 1,800-acre dryland wheat farm owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When approached in 2000 by the partners, LDS was not interested in selling the small section – at least at that time. In 2004, it put the entire holding up for sale, and the Seven Hills Vineyard group pur- chased it. "Even if we bought it just to get those few acres for Seven Hills, we'd come out ahead," said Clubb. "We could spread our existing water rights to that triangle, and then sell the adjacent ground for dryland wheat." He added, "Then we really looked over the full site 4 3 and realized what huge potential it represented." DEEP WATER "We saw amazing sites across the top of that hill," said Chris Fig- gins, co-owner of Leonetti Cellar and a partner in Seven Hills and SeVein along with Clubb. "And each of us in the group was inter- ested in their potential. But there was no water." Irrigation is crucial in that corner of the Walla Walla Valley; annual precipitation averages only 8-9 inch- es. That's just enough for dryland wheat, but not wine grapes. So the partners applied for a large water right that could be used across the entire property, and more than a year later they got it. However, there was no guarantee that drill- ing a well there, through more than 1,000 feet of basalt, would actually yield water. 2 TOP-SELLING D profilalsace.us.com TRELLISING SYSTEM IN EUROPE C The EuroPost Patented CLICK LOCK® Cross Arm System B Maintenance Free Cost-Efficient Installation Mechanical Harvester Approved No Clips, Bolts or Nuts Necessary A Now available in the U.S. Exclusive Distributors: 6 5 30 VINEYARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT SEPT - OCT 2012 4 B ( 4:1 ) B CALIFORNIA - cvbsupply.com OREGON - ovs.com A info@cvbsupply.com 3 2 8,4 WWW.VWM-ONLINE.COM 1 D 1 C 5° 15° 9,63 2,33 28 - 0,5 0 + 19,5 12,7 6,35 6,35 8,65 2 60° R1 R4 75°