Roll on, Columbia, Roll on!

The Columbia River is well-known to wine lovers as the namesake of The Columbia Valley AVA. The Columbia Valley AVA is the largest AVA in Washington State, and a portion of the AVA dips down across the Oregon border as well. Another namesake, the Columbia  Gorge AVA – a tiny AVA located just to the east of Mount Hood – is also shared by the two neighboring states.

But the Columbia River extends well above and beyond its namesake wine regions, and is a treasure trove of interesting stories for geography geeks and travel buffs as well as the legions of wine lovers already familiar with the name.

The Columbia River flows for over 1,243 miles, beginning in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia in Canada. From there it flows northwest through a glacial valley between the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia Mountains to a town named Canoe; here the Columbia takes a sharp turn to the south around the northern edge of the Selkirk Mountains and begins its 200-mile trek into eastern Washington State.

Once in Washington, the Columbia River flows south/southwest for about 100 miles to the town of Deer Meadows.  Just after the point of confluence with the Spokane River, the Columbia River takes a sharp turn to the west and forms a huge “C” formation covering much of interior Washington State. This section of the river, known as the “Big Bend” was formed during the Missoula floods. Before the floods, the river took a much straighter path towards the southwest.

To the south of the “Big Bend,” in the wine country of eastern Washington State, the Columbia is joined by the Yakima River as the Yakima flows eastward down from the Cascades. The Yakima River catches the Columbia just after it rounds a small bend hugging the Horse Heaven Hills AVA. From here, the Columbia continues its trek to the Pacific Ocean, forming over 300 miles of the border between the states of Washington and Oregon from the Yakima Delta to the sea.

Near Washington’s Tri-Cities area, the Columbia River is joined by the Walla Walla River. Walla Walla is another name familiar to wine lovers, being the namesake of the Walla Walla River Valley AVA, a sub-region of the Columbia Valley AVA and one of the three AVAs shared between Washington State and Oregon.

The Walla Walla River is short in length – just 61 miles long – but of great importance to the wines of the area. The Walla Walla River begins in as two separate forks in the Blue Mountain range of northeastern Oregon. From there, the two forks run westward to Milton-Freewater, which was built along its banks. The Walla Walla River runs northwest and eventually meets the Columbia River for the journey westward towards the sea, but along the way it deposits the famous basalt stones – the rocks – which gave the newly-anointed “Rocks District of Milton-Freewater AVA” both its name and its famous terroir.

Another river familiar to wine lovers, the Snake River, joins the Columbia River near Washington State’s Tri-Cities area. The Snake River, at 1,078 miles long, is the Columbia River’s longest tributary. The Snake River actually begins several states over, in Wyoming’s Yellowstone Park. From Wyoming, the Snake flows across the width of Idaho. About mid-way through its trek across Idaho, the Snake River flows over Shoshone Falls – a waterfall that, at 212 feet high, is actually 45 feet higher than Niagara Falls. Shoshone Falls is often called “the Niagara Falls of the west” – although I am sure many citizens of Idaho wonder why Niagara Falls is not known as “The Shoshone Falls of the east.”

About 120 miles west of Shoshone Falls, the Snake River flows past Boise, and not too far after that,  takes a sharp turn north and forms the border between Idaho and Oregon. The Snake River Valley AVA is located along this border. The Snake River Valley is currently Idaho’s only AVA, although a second – Lewis-Clark Valley – has been proposed for northern Idaho/eastern Washington State. After leaving Oregon and forming a small portion of the Idaho/Washington State border, the Snake River turns west and joins the Columbia River.

The Columbia River, along with its tributaries the Walla Walla River, the Snake River, and the Yakima River (as well as many others not mentioned here) plays a huge roll in Pacific Northwest viticulture. Through their waters, they provide for the irrigation that makes viticulture even a possibility in much of the region. Over the centuries they have deposited alluvial soils, formed breathtaking waterfalls, sliced gorges through mountains and even delivered the namesake “rocks” to one of the area’s newest AVAs. Roll on, Columbia, Roll on.*

*Roll On, Columbia, Roll On is an American folk song written by Woody Guthrie in 1941. The popular song glamorized the building of a series of dams and the harnessing of hydroelectric power from the Columbia River under the American Public Works program of the New Deal.

The Bubbly Professor is “Miss Jane” Nickles of Austin, Texas… missjane@prodigy.net

The Land of the Landes

All good wine students know about the Landes Forest—that region of tall pines bordering the Bay of Biscay to the south and west of the Bordeaux wine region. The Landes—now the most extensive forest in France at 5,400 square miles (14,000 square km)—helps to somewhat moderate the Atlantic Ocean’s cold, maritime influence on the vineyards of Bordeaux.

However, even the sharpest wine student might not know the history of the region, including how local sheep-herders used to wear stilts to navigate the land, and the fact that the forest is largely man-made.

The area we now know as the Landes forest was once covered by moors and marshlands.  The area, basically a swamp surrounded by shifting sand dunes, was sometimes known as the “Moor of Bordeaux.” Not surprisingly, the area was sparsely populated. Another nickname given to the region was “the Sahara of France” due to the fact that it was notoriously difficult to travel across—as many pilgrims making their way from the north down to the Camino of Saint James needed to do.

Beginning in 1801, the marshes were drained via a vast system of canals, the land was cleared, and pine tree plantations were established. This stabilized the sand dunes and created arable land suitable for farming. The local economy benefited through farming (mainly corn) as well as new opportunities in the timber, pine resin, and paper industries.

The benefits of the man-made Landes Forest went beyond the area’s new industrial prowess, as it was soon discovered that the near-by wine region of Bordeaux also benefited. This is due to the area of the Landes forest closest to the Médoc that shelters the vineyard regions from the bracing cold and howling breezes that blow in from the Atlantic. Thus, the vineyards of the Médoc are now able to fully ripen the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot that form the basis of the region’s red wines.

The Landes forest is one of the largest man-made forests in all of Europe, as well as a unique example of a man-made landscape that continues to benefit its region and the surrounding areas. The timber, pine resin, and other related industries are still active in the area, although a good portion of the region is now given over to tourism.

The area is also home to a large protected area of forests and coastlines that includes the Landes de Gascogne Regional Natural Park (Parc Naturel Régional des Landes de Gascogne). The park provides ample opportunities for hiking, cycling, and picnicking, and contains a bird sanctuary and a museum. The museum, L’Écomusée de la Grande Lande, focuses on the history as well as the architectural and cultural heritage of the region including, of course, the vineyards and wines of Bordeaux.

The Bubbly Professor is “Miss Jane” Nickles of Austin, Texas… missjane@prodigy.net

References:

• http://www.britannica.com/place/Landes-region-France 
• https://bellefrance.com/holidays/aquitaine/landes-forest
• http://www.abelard.org/france/les_landes_forestry_industry1.php
• “Inhabitants of the Landes” by Jean Louis Gintrac (1808–1886) is currently on display at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux (photograph of the work in the Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

It’s all about that CLORPT

It happened again. All I really wanted to do was to get a quick, google-assisted definition of the word “colluvial.” I had read somewhere (the particular book, magazine, or webpage long since totally forgotten) that many of the soils in Alsace were colluvial.

Colluvial soils, it turns out,  are made up of materials that tend to accumulate at the bottom of steep slopes and cliffs, mainly via the action of gravity – as opposed to alluvial soils, which accumulate due to the action of rivers and streams.

But here’s what I also found out…we are living in the pedosphere! The pedosphere, which rests above the lithosphere (basically the earth’s crust and mantle) but below the atmosphere, is the outermost layer of the earth. It is where soil lives, and where soil is formed, via the weathering (breaking down) of minerals, the decomposition of organic matter, and everything moving around (as in living things moving around, as well as -ahem – colluvial and alluvial actions). The pedosphere is the foundation of all plant life (and therefore animal life) on the planet. And here we thought it was all about the specific flavor of Riesling from the Haut-Rhin!

Soil has Texture

Here’s something else I learned: soil has texture. Good students of wine most likely know that the particles that make up soil are categorized by size, with clay being the smallest, silt the intermediate, and sand the largest. The blend, so to speak, of the particles is what makes up a soil’s “texture.” There are actually 12 major soil classifications, as defined by the USDA. Some of these, such as “sandy clay” or “silty clay” are self-explanatory; while “loam” is made up of somewhat equal parts of sand, silt, and clay.

Soil has Color

We know about bright-red terra rosa and glistening gray llicorella, so it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that the color of soil varies according to mineral content, organic material, and water. That lovely orange/brown color signals high iron content. Dark brown or black soils are high in organic material. A well-drained soil is brightly colored, while a poorly drained soil will show an uneven pattern of red, yellow, and gray.

Soil has Structure.

Is this beginning to sound a bit like wine? Color, texture, structure? Perhaps that’s a stretch – but you have to admit all things are connected. The structure of soil relates to how the soil particles arrange themselves into small clumps, called “peds.” Peds vary due to the nature of the particles themselves and the conditions under which they were formed. For instance, getting wet and drying out, freezing and thawing, being walked on, having things grown in it, and/or being moved around can all influence the nature of the peds.

There are six basic ways to describe soil’s structure, based on how these peds interplay. They are: platy, prismatic, columnar, blocky, granular, and single-grained. Platy soil is thin and flat; sometimes the result of being walked on or otherwise compacted. Prismatic soil is formed into columns; columnar soil is also formed into columns but with a salty “cap.” Blocky soil is irregular. Granular is crumbly, usually the result of plant growth. Single-grained soil refuses to “clump” together.

Good/Bad Dirt = Texture, Structure, and CLORPT

Soil “behaves” based on a combination of texture and structure. What a farmer might call “good soil” may be a granular soil with a loamy texture, as it holds water and nutrients. A vigneron, however, might prefer a sandy clay soil with a blocky texture, as it would be well-drained of both water and nutrients.

As for the specific soils we wine students love to talk about – jory, tufa, greywacke, marl, schist, shale, slate…they differ due to five major factors, known as CLORPT. (Now there’s a term I bet you never heard before!) CLORPT stands for climate, organisms, relief, parent material, and time – all the things that go into the various vineyard soils, all over the world, that make such tasty wine. And, lest we forget – they support all plant life and therefore animal life as well – one must eat before one can drink.

The Bubbly Professor is “Miss Jane” Nickles of Austin, Texas – missjane@prodigy.net

Note: I researched this post using about two dozen Wikipedia pages, the Soil Sciences of America Association,  and the “gardening resources” page on the Cornell University website.