On Vines and Volcanoes
Welcome to my blog! Words I thought I would never utter, as I never considered myself to be much of a writer, but here we are. Thank you for taking a moment to visit my page and learn about the world of wine. A topic I’m quite fond of, as you can see.
My love of wine began the first time I went wine tasting - the beautiful settings, enjoying wine with friends, the sense of community and connectedness. Living in Washington State, wine country is not far away, with a couple wineries right here in the town I live in, and for that I feel fortunate. I love the care that goes into producing each bottle, the love the winemaker has for their product, the nerdy science behind fermentation and flavor, the dirt and rocks that grow the vines and tell a story of Earth’s past. I have a background in geology; I’ve always been in awe of the natural world and how it came to be.
Wine has a deep connection with the land where its grapevines were cultivated. Take the Inland Northwest, for instance. Once a desolate place, covered in thick layers of basalt that oozed as lava from massive volcanic fissures in the northeast corner of present-day Oregon and the southeast corner of present-day Washington. You can still see outcrops of these flood basalts throughout much of Oregon and Washington, following the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. Millions of years later, our region was frozen in an Ice Age. As glaciers retreated, they deposited layers of wind-blown silt, called loess - the fertile soil that makes up the Palouse. And as the last Ice Age began to retreat, a massive ice dam in northern Idaho, that helped to contain Glacial Lake Missoula, gave way, time and time again, sending immeasurable volumes of flood water and ice careening through what’s now the Columbia River Gorge and out to the Pacific Ocean. These massive floods carved out the Channeled Scablands that stretch from Spokane to Wenatchee, south to the Tri Cities and west through the Columbia River Gorge along the Washington/Oregon border.
Fast-forward to present-day and you’ll see vineyards planted on much of this same land, in the well-draining soils of loess, loam and gravel of the Ice Age and Glacial Lake Missoula Floods. According to the Washington Wine Commission, the Columbia Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area), that follows a wide path around much of the Columbia River Gorge, is home to 99% of Washington’s vineyards. A vast geologic history that determined the future of American wine, from volcano to vine.
Image of Palouse Falls, a remnant of the Columbia River Flood Basalts and
Glacial Lake Missoula floods
