Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/681909
www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER JUNE 2016 13 Alan Busacca, a leading expert on geology and soils who helped craft the Lewis-Clark Valley application, said the region has fabulous growing conditions for Vitis vinifera, or wine grapes. "It's sort of the buxom of the Bitterroot Mountains, where you wouldn't expect to have a place that is warm enough and would have the right conditions for grow- ing grapes," he said. Culturally, the area is signifi cant as a refuge for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their expedition from 1804 to 1806. It's where the Nez Perce sheltered and fed the travelers following an ardu- ous trip across the Continental Divide. In the broader geologic and geographic sense, the region is distinct from much of the surrounding area in one specifi c way, Busacca said. In much of Washington's neighboring Columbia Valley, ancient fl oods released from a glacial lake near Missoula, Montana, sculpted the land- scape, dumping gravel and silt in their wake. The soils there have been formed directly from the sediments dropped by the glacial fl oods. By contrast, the Lewis-Clark valley is a product of the mountain building and river cutting of the Clearwater and Snake rivers. Soils being farmed in the region have been formed from a secondary product of the fl ooding: the windblown silt, loess, since the end of the fl oods. "It settles one dust storm at a time, to form soils up on the canyon walls, up on the Lewiston orchards, and the Clarkston heights," he said. The result is mineral composition that is similar, but the mode of formation of the soils and how they sit on the land- scape is different. "It's going to take a few generations, perhaps, before we really fi nd out in the Lewis-Clark Valley which wine grapes, which varieties are really going to shine," he said. "That's what's pretty fun: It's wide open for the people who are grow- ing the grapes, to learn more every year." Growing grapes Jim and Dana Arnett, owners of Arnett Vineyard in Clarkston, grow roughly 2 1/2 acres of wine grapes in sandy loam, at an elevation of 840 feet at the center of the vineyard. Another 3 1/2 acres will be added to production next year. Jim Arnett planted his fi rst grapes in 1999, and in the years since has learned much about the varietals that like his site. Namely, reds. The whites are not happy there. "It's a little hot for them in the sum- mer," he said. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec shine, however. "It gets hotter than a blister in the daytime, then it will cool down into the 70s at night. So on the reds, if you do leaf thin- ning around the clusters, you get all that sun exposure. I'm pretty sure that gets it a whole lot of different character." Arnett sells grapes to Clearwater Canyon Cellars, which opened in 2004 and gets 75 percent of its grapes from vineyards in the Lewis-Clark Valley, including its own estate vineyard. "The bottom of the Lewis-Clark Valley sits around 700 feet above sea level at the river, and the boundary of the AVA goes up to just shy of 2,000 feet," Umiker said. "And within that, you have quite a bit of diversity, in terms of aspect and soil type, and I really enjoy the variation in fl avors I get from working with grapes from vine- yards in the valley." Recognizing the region as an appel- lation is huge for the growers there, she said. "For those of who have been making wine from grapes grown in the valley for years, we're fi nally able to tell the world, or show the world on the bottle, what we've been doing," she said. "It's nice to fi nally give credit to growers on the bottle." • Jim and Dana Arnett harvest wine grapes at Arnett Vineyard in Clarkston, Washington. www.davewilson.com 800-654-5854 Hot Ne w Va rieti es for 2 0 1 7 ! Fall Fiesta Pluot ® Ebony Rose Pluot ® Honeylicious Nectarine Snow Fox Peach Leah-Cot Aprium ® Summer Gold Peach