Cayuse Horsepower and No Girls Washington/Oregon Wine Tasting with Special Guest Winemaker Christophe Baron Wednesday, November 20, 2024 - 7:30 PM
Bring water, bring wine, boy! Bring flowering garlands to me! Yes, bring them, so that I may try a bout with love. ~Anacreon
We have a lot of friends in Washington state and although Walla Walla is five hours away from Seattle it is kind of like the Napa Valley of Washington. They coined the term- “the town so nice they named it twice”. It is a charming town with a lot of great restaurants, small shops and a bevy of wine tasting rooms.
You can walk through the town and taste some of the best wines from this state all in one afternoon although every time that I passed by the Cayuse tasting room it had a sign that said “Closed” and the sign also said they are “sold out” and if you want to get on the waiting list to get on the mailing list you can sign up at www.cayusevineyards.com.
I have been a big fan of Christian’s work ever since he started in the late 1990’s but had never met him until last year when we had an event for Christophe’s distributor here at the Wine Bar and he was just blown away by the Wine Watch and he said- “This is Let’s do an event the next time I’m in town”.
He is famous for the wines from an area in Walla Walla that is actually in Oregon as 1/3 of the Walla Walla AVA is actually located in Oregon. Christophe discovered this area driving out to Walla Walla to visit a girl friend who lived there and recognized it’s unique terroir similar to that of the Chateauneuf du Pape region of France. I don’t what to say the rest is history, but we do have a more extensive story included on this offering along with some 3 Liter bottles that were purchased at the auction of Washington State a decade ago.
Join us as we welcome Christophe back to South Florida for the first event ever featuring almost every wine that he makes. The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $295 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.
Cayuse, Horsepower and No Girls Washington/Oregon Wine Tasting
with Special Guest Winemaker Christophe Baron
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
7:30 PM
2021 Cayuse Viognier Walla Walla
2021 Cayuse Syrah En Cerise Columbia Valley
2021 Cayuse Syrah En Chamberlin Walla Walla
2021 Cayuse Grenache God Only Knows Walla Walla
2021 Cayuse Camaspelo Red Blend Walla Walla
2021 Cayuse Impulsivo Tempranillo En Chamberlin Vineyard Walla Walla
2019 Horsepower Vineyards High Contrast Vineyard Syrah Walla Walla
2019 Horsepower Vineyards Sur Echalas Vineyard Grenache Walla Walla
2020 No Girls Wines Grenache La Paciencia Vineyard Walla Walla
2020 No Girls Syrah La Paciencia Vineyard Walla Walla
2020 No Girls Wines Tempranillo Walla Walla
Menu
Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie
Grilled Portobello, beefsteak Tomato and Mozzarella Big Mac with Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette
Hudson Valley Foie Gras served over Bourbon Vegetable Consumee with Edamame, Tomato Concasse and Cheese Tortellini
Syrah Braised Lamb Shank Shepards Pie
Cherry Pie with Limoncello Whipped Crème
The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $295 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any dietary restrictions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.
A bit about Cayuse and Christophe Baron
The story began near the village of Charly-sur-Marne in the Champagne region of France, where a very young Christophe Baron walked the family vineyard with his father and grandfather. He was the youngest of the centuries-old Champagne house, Baron Albert, and his ancestors had worked the land since 1677.
Like generations of fathers and sons before, it was in his blood to be a wine grower and creator—a true vigneron. “It’s a title you’re born with, not something you become or learn in school,” Christophe says. “So I followed my dad, and wherever he went, I went. That’s the way it started.”
After studying viticulture in Champagne and Burgundy, Christophe realized he wasn’t yet ready to enter the family business and gave in to the urge to travel. “In Burgundy, I had fallen in love with Pinot Noir, and had met some Americans with land in Oregon,” he says. “My English was terrible, but I wanted to go there.”
Christophe’s excitement over the field of stones he discovered on that cold April morning in 1996 was for good reason. He had seen similar terroir in the Marlborough region of New Zealand, and in the “galets roulés” [rolled stone] vineyards in southern France. The area has even been dubbed “Oregon’s Châteuneuf-du-Pape,” home to some of the finest grapes grown in the northwestern United States. Christophe believes great wines must deliver a mineral quality—something his stony ground offers in abundance.
Christophe purchased the property and planted his first vineyard in the Stones of the Walla Walla Valley on March 21, 1997. “People said I was crazy, that I’d break my equipment and waste my time and money,” 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.” In the following years, it has grown to five vineyards, encompassing a little more than 47 acres.
What was considered by many a foolish gamble on that field of stones has been rewarded year after year with some of the most acclaimed wines in the region—and in the nation.
Experts on the terroir of Cayuse vineyards describe vine roots snaking through an accumulation of cobblestones of varying sizes, a layer hundreds of feet thick in places. This soil, called “Freewater very cobbly loam,” sits atop 10,000 feet or more of pure basalt—a 15-million-year-old bedrock stratum that’s a part of one of the largest areas of basalt lava on the surface of the earth, outside the ocean basins.
“Wherever you go, there is something great terroir has in common—poor soils,” Christophe explains. Because the stony soil offers excellent drainage and limited nutrients, the vines have to struggle to produce their precious fruit. High density planting forces their root systems to compete and dig deeper for moisture and sustenance, and the heat transmitted by the stones helps the grapes to ripen.
It all makes sense when Christophe explains it, and as he says, “The proof is in the wine.”
Rockumentary
The creation of Christophe’s stony find can be traced back to the Missoula Floods, a series of geologic cataclysms that swept across Eastern Washington and down the Columbia Gorge at the end of the last ice age, between 12,000 and 15,000 years ago.
The massive floods, caused by periodic ruptures in the ice dam that created Montana’s Glacial Lake Missoula, inundated the Walla Walla Valley at least 35 times, experts say. At its highest point, the water elevation was about 1200 feet—or the equivalent of 150 feet higher than the top of Walla Walla’s tallest building, the 12–story Marcus Whitman Hotel.
To make a long, complicated tale deceivingly simple, each time those waters receded and the Walla Walla River rushed back into the Valley, the layers of sand and silt deposited by the floods were swept away and replaced with pebbles, cobbles, and boulders derived from the basalt bedrock of the nearby Blue Mountains. These gravels accumulated over time, creating a 12-square mile alluvial fan of 3,770 acres where the river exits the Blue Mountains. The fan’s viticultural potential sat unappreciated until Christophe’s arrival several thousand years later.
The chemistry of the alluvial fan soils that host the Cayuse vines is quite different than that of most other soils of the Walla Walla AVA. While sediments throughout much of the appellation are derived from Missoula Flood sediments that are rich in granite-derived silica, sodium, and potassium, Cayuse vineyard sediments are derived from Blue Mountains basalt, and loaded with iron, magnesium and calcium.
It’s a difference Christophe believes can be tasted in the wine, revealing the unique character and tempestuous history of the land itself. “Minerality is what makes the fruit intriguing and distinctive,” he says. And thanks to the power struggle between the Missoula Floods and the Walla Walla River, there’s plenty of excitement in every glass of Cayuse.
Currently, Cayuse farms five vineyards spread over 60 acres in the Walla Walla Valley. All are planted in the stony soil that first caught Christophe’s attention in 1996, resulting in highly stressed vineyards that average a yield of only two tons per acre. Syrah is the dominant fruit, with Cabernet-Franc, Cabernet-Sauvignon, Grenache, Merlot, Tempranillo and Viognier making up the balance.
All Cayuse wines are from estate fruit, and Christophe believes their true fingerprints are in the minerality. “The point is to create an honest wine that has an identity,” he says. “You want to taste the place.” As a result, each of his creations is true to the unique terroir of his vineyards:
Cailloux Vineyard—Christophe’s first Walla Walla Valley vineyard, this 10-acre plot was our first vineyard planted in the stones of Milton Freewater in 1997, and produces the flagship Cailloux Syrah.
Coccinelle Vineyard—It’s the French word for “ladybug,” and this 4.5-acre was first planted in 1998. Bionic Frog Syrah is produced from this vineyard.
En Cerise Vineyard—Literally translated, it means “cherry”—appropriate since this 10-acre vineyard planted in 1998 was a cherry orchard in its former life. En Cerise Vineyard Syrah and grapes for the Flying Pig and Camaspelo Bordeaux blends are grown here.
En Chamberlin Vineyard—2000 saw the planting of 10 more stony acres. Grafted on phyloxera resistant rootstock, it's another first for our region. This vineyard produces The Widowmaker Cabernet-Sauvignon, Impulsivo Tempranillo and En Chamberlin Syrah.
Armada Vineyard—At 1815 vines per acre, this 7-acre vineyard, created in 2001, was the highest density planting in the Walla Walla Valley until 2008. Notable wines include Armada Vineyard Syrah, God Only Knows Grenache and Edith Grenache Rosé.
These wines are nearly impossible to find outside of Washington and Oregon and if you try to buy them direct from the winery you have to get on the waiting list to be put on the mailing list!
All the wines from Cayuse on Sale at Wine Watch:
2021 Cayuse Viognier Walla Walla
Price: $100.50 Your Price: $88.44 Quantity in Stock: 3
(95 Points) Rich and floral in the glass. A honeyed sweetness introduces notes of lemon oil and crisp yellow apples. This is deeply textural, nearly creamy, with salty minerality to balance and tart orchard fruits that cascade across the palate. This leaves a hint of confectionary spice and minty herbal tones, finishing with raw almonds nuances that linger on and on. This has a bit of an opulent feel, yet it maintains a fantastic balance. This is refined in an equal-part blend of stainless steel and concrete, no oak, making this a wonderfully pure interpretation of Viognier. —Eric Guido, Vinous
2021 Cayuse Syrah En Cerise Columbia Valley
Price: $149.50 Your Price: $131.56 Quantity in Stock: 3
(98 Points) Ripe black cherries, darker raspberries, sappy flowers, shiitake mushrooms, and a kiss of black pepper all define the 2021 Syrah En Cerise Vineyard, an incredibly pure, seamless, elegant Syrah from this estate. It's always a perfumed, exotic wine, yet the 2021 shines for its incredible purity, precision, and length. It benefits from air and will drink beautifully over the coming 15 years or more. —Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com
2021 Cayuse Syrah En Chamberlin Walla Walla
Price: $149.50 Your Price: $131.56 Quantity in Stock: 3
(97 Points) One of the more black and blue-fruited Syrahs in the lineup in 2021, the 2021 Syrah En Chamberlin Vineyard is deep ruby/plum-hued and offers a beautiful perfume of ground pepper, liquid violets, crushed stone, and bouquet garni. It's rich, medium to full-bodied, has a concentrated, layered mouthfeel, and ripe, polished tannins. It has a little bit of Cayuse funk, but this is a pure, focused, impressive Syrah that will benefit from 2-3 years in the cellar. Review Date: 07/2024, Jeb Dunnuck
2021 Cayuse Grenache God Only Knows Walla Walla
Price: $165.00 Your Price: $145.20 Quantity in Stock: 3
(97 Points) Boisterous acidity and restrained alcohol propel this Grenache-driven blend to “yowza” levels. A ripe blackberry aroma mixes it up with bursts of crushed walnuts and a vanilla soy candle. This perfume is followed by flavors like briary blackberries, candied rose petals, Assam tea and aged balsamic. — Michael Alberty Wine Enthusiast
2017 Cayuse Grenache God Only Knows Walla Walla
Price: $159.00 Your Price: $139.92 Quantity in Stock: 5
(95 Points) The 2017 Grenache God Only Knows Armada Vineyard displays a beautiful ruby color and offers up from aromas of wild raspberry and smoked cherry with an underlying savory tone of rosemary and lavender bushes after a dust storm. Medium to full-bodied, the wine is supple and ripe with a polished shine to the mid-palate, showing a balanced structure that is floral and lifted with a high-toned red fruit sensation. Showing fine-grained tannins, aligned with a soft umami character, the long-lingering finish delivers pleasure for more than a minute. The 2017 is showing beautifully now and is approachable in youth but has the propensity to age for a decade or more. Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2021 Cayuse Camaspelo Red Blend Walla Walla
Price: $141.00 Your Price: $124.08 Quantity in Stock: 3
(93 Points) The 2021 Camaspelo displays a rich array of dark red and black fruit tones complemented by earthy notes of scorched violets, hints of baking spices, turned earth and dried herbs. Medium to full-bodied, the palate exhibits freshness, firmness and layering, unveiling flavors of grilled plums and cherries with nuances of bitter dark chocolate and graphite. The mouthfeel remains tight, with a succulent tannic grip, indicating the potential for graceful aging of approximately 15 years. Decanting is recommended. Enjoy with food. This wine spent 18 months aging in 30% new and neutral French oak. Only 4,416 bottles were produced. (AM) Review Date: 03/2024, Wine Advocate
2021 Cayuse Impulsivo Tempranillo En Chamberlin Vineyard Walla Walla
Price: $162.00 Your Price: $142.56 Quantity in Stock: 3
(97 Points) Another expressive red from this estate, the 2021 Impulsivo has a great nose of both red and black fruits as well as iron, sandalwood, and violets. A rich, medium to full-bodied, structured wine on the palate, it has building tannins, a nicely balanced, layered mouthfeel, and plenty of meaty, gamey, umami character on the finish. It will benefit from just a few years in the cellar and will evolve for at least two decades. —Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com
2020 Cayuse Impulsivo Tempranillo En Chamberlin Vineyard Walla Walla
Price: $170.00 Sale Price: $140.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
(94+ Points) Tight and closed, with notions of bloody blue fruits, iodine, rose petals, and cedarwood, the 2020 Impulsivo hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a nicely balanced, layered mouthfeel, and ripe tannins that emerge on the finish. I like its concentration, and its tannins are polished and beautifully integrated, but this is in need of a solid 4-5 years of bottle age to show its full potential. It should have 20-25 years of overall longevity when all is said and done. —Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com
2019 Horsepower Vineyards High Contrast Vineyard Syrah Walla Walla
Price: $180.00 Your Price: $158.40 Quantity in Stock: 6
(98 Points) More iron, beef blood, and foresty, mushroom, almost metallic notes all emerge from the 2019 Syrah High Contrast Vineyard, another savory, powerful, incredibly impressive wine in this lineup. Deep purple/plum-hued, this full-bodied beauty has both black and blue fruits, ripe, building, yet polished tannins, a great mid-palate, and one heck of a gorgeous finish. There's a liquid rock-like minerality as well as a meaty, leathery character that's not far off a great vintage of La Chapelle. It's certainly the richest and most concentrated of the trio of Syrahs in 2019. Give bottles 3-5 years and enjoy over the following 25-30 years. —Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com
2018 Horsepower Vineyards High Contrast Vineyard Syrah Walla Walla
Price: $199.50 Your Price: $175.56 Quantity in Stock: 2
(97+ Points) Last of the Syrahs, the 2018 Syrah High Contrast Vineyard reveals a deep ruby/purple color as well as a wonderfully complex, classic Syrah nose of red and black fruits, cured meats, mushrooms, bacon fat, iron, and forest floor, with a touch of flowers emerging with time in the glass. With its medium to full-bodied richness, firm, focusing tannins, and great finish, it's another wine that takes savoriness to the nth degree. I love its texture, and there's almost a Burgundian style here that keeps you coming back to the glass. Hide bottles for 4-5 years and enjoy over the following two decades. –Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com
2021 Horsepower Vineyards Sur Echalas Vineyard Grenache Walla Walla
Price: $193.50 Your Price: $170.28
(96 Points) This offers such a pretty nose, beginning with a combination of boysenberries and sourdough bread. There's also a slightly sweet and earthy note of hay, which is perfect for a wine named Horsepower. A bowl of black cherries unites in pleasing fashion with savory flavors of grilled brats and sencha green tea. — Michael Alberty Wine Enthusiast
2019 Horsepower Vineyards Sur Echalas Vineyard Grenache Walla Walla
Price: $180.00 Your Price: $158.40 Quantity in Stock: 4
(98 Points) The 2019 Grenache Sur Echalas Vineyard is an utterly sensational new wine that screams terroir. Made from a tightly spaced vineyard, it shows off green peppercorns, nori, pomegranate seed, guava, satsuma zest, freshly tilled earth and stony undertones. The palate is plush with a soft texture and an incredible sense of tension. Layers of very delicate red fruits collide with stony minerals, blood orange zest and green olive tapenade. Utterly sensational to savor right now, this has another decade or more ahead of it. (OB) Review Date: 10/2021, Vinous
2017 Horsepower Vineyards Sur Echelas Vineyard Grenache Walla Walla
Price: $199.50 Your Price: $175.56 Quantity in Stock: 2
(97 Points) Power and elegance. The 2017 Grenache Sur Echalas Vineyard bangs with bright red fruit character with fantastic clarity and a pure sense of underlying terroir at its core. Intoxicating floral aromas of Sakura, crushed rose petals and hints of lavender flood the senses first, followed by layers of wild strawberries, bright cherry skin and crushed raspberries in the glass. It is medium-bodied on the palate, with delicate savory and spice tones that fade in and out between the seductive red fruit and floral notes, giving way to an impeccably balanced structure with energetic acidity and a robust shine and gleam to the fruit. An instant success, the palate is full of flavor and mouth-watering juiciness without being overripe. Immensely pleasureful, the wine delivers an elongated yet compact finish that continues to evolve and unpack in the mouth with persistence. Hands-down, it's a winner! —Anthony Mueller, The Wine Advocate
2021 Horsepower Vineyards The Tribe Vineyard Syrah Walla Walla
Price: $193.50 Your Price: $170.28
(98 Points) This wine is a pleasure palace of roadside attractions, beginning with aromas of dusty wild blackberries and pork belly. Ripe black cherries huddle with flavors of rosemary, cedar and the light salt of a water cracker. This is a Tribe called quench—pour with lamb and Donald Byrd records. — Michael Alberty Wine Enthusiast
2021 Horsepower Vineyards Sur Echalas Vineyard Syrah Walla Walla
Price: $193.50 Your Price: $170.28
(96 Points) The acidity involved here makes every sip of wine feel like the crackling snap of a cold piece of celery. The wine's huckleberry-pie, fennel and cinnamon aromas are no slouch, either. I could stop here and be happy. The vibrating palate shows off flavors of boysenberries, plums and black pepper, with a trace of molasses. — Michael Alberty wine Enthusiast
2020 No Girls Wines Grenache La Paciencia Vineyard Walla Walla
Price: $139.50 Your Price: $122.76
(96 Points) A beautifully balanced, medium-bodied wine, with nervy acidity, fine-grained tannins and a midpalate that builds slowly and gracefully. Boysenberry, roasted meat and dried rose petal aromas are a nice start. The wine's dark plum, blackcap raspberry, orange cake and pork fat flavors are intense. — Editor’s Choice Michael Alberty, Wine Enthusiast
2020 No Girls Syrah La Paciencia Vineyard Walla Walla
Price: $139.50 Your Price: $122.76
(97 Points) This wine is a poem to Syrah, with its earthy and savory aromatics juxtaposed with notes of sweet pea flowers, buttercups and fresh-baked blackberry scones. Raspberry, black cherry and cocoa nib flavors glide on a smooth, slick texture, with a trace of chestnut mushroom in the background. Spectacular. — Editor’s Choice Michael Alberty, Wine Enthusiast
2020 No Girls Wines Tempranillo Walla Walla
Price: $139.50 Your Price: $122.76
(94 Points) These aromatics are more about lilac, lemon verbena and orange pipe tobacco than they are about the black fruit. The fruit makes a comeback on the palate, with boysenberry jam on buttered toast point and black coffee flavors. "Just right" acidity with silky tannins. —Michael Alberty, Wine Enthusiast
2020 No Girls Double Lucky Walla Walla
Price: $51.00 Your Price: $44.88
(94 Points) This super double secret probation proprietary blend only tells you its name, aromas - sweet floral notes of jasmine and gardenia, with oodles of blackcap raspberries - and flavors - black cherries, smoked paprika, tobacco and espresso. The acidity is borderline tingly, and the tannins are plush. —Michael Alberty, Wine Enthusiast
2017 Hors Categorie Syrah Walla Walla
Price: $360.00 Sale Price: $300.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
(96 Points) "The nose shows classic Walla Walla Valley Syrah aromas of soot, black olive, black pepper and salami. The palate is intense and flavorful, but also brings a sense of deftness, density, intensity and detail, with abundant savory and floral accents. The balance is impeccable and the finish is seemingly endless. Best after 2026. Sean P. Sullivan" - 96/100, Wine Enthusiast
2020 Hors Categorie Syrah Walla Walla
Price: $322.50 Your Price: $258.00
(98 Points) A darkly alluring and rich blend of plum sauce and sage complemented by dusty rose, balsamic spice and sweet smoke wafts up from the 2020 Syrah Hors Catégorie Vineyard. This is a textural joy ride, silky and deep, with blood orange nuances adding tension. A juicy acidity creates an energetic feel, and saline minerals pinch at the cheeks. There's simply so much going on that its fruit takes a back seat, still vivid and fresh, mixing tart raspberry with peppery rose and inner sage. It tapers off dramatically long, and with a crystalline tannic structure. Bitter blackberries mingle with dusty tannins as suggestions of white pepper fade. This may be the wine of the vintage. It’s frankly amazing to think about what will be possible as this vineyard matures. (EG) Review Date: 08/2023, Vinous
Big Bottles of Cayuse!!
2011 Cayuse Flying Pigs 3 Liter (Etched and Signed bottle)
Price: $3500.00 Sale $3080.00
95 Points. A Merlot-dominated blend, the 2011 Flying Pig checks in as 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon that spent 12 months in 50% new French oak before being moved to large oak puncheons. Deep-ruby in color, it has beautiful cassis, plum, licorice, olive tapenade and lead pencil shaving-like aromas and flavors that give way to a full-bodied, layered and concentrated 2011 that has beautifully integrated oak, plenty of mid-palate and a terrific finish. Enjoy it anytime over the coming 10-15 years. –Jeb Dunnuck, The Wine Advocate
2011 Cayuse Camaspelo 3 liter (Etched and Signed bottle)
Price: $3500.00 Sale $3080.00
95 Points. More Cabernet Sauvignon dominated, the 2011 Camaspelo incorporates 20% Merlot and was aged in 50-60% new French oak. One of the few 2011s that has some upside, it offers up a smoke-laced array of black currants, singed herbs, graphite and hints of spring flowers to go with a medium to full-bodied, elegant and seamless character on the palate. Inky purple in color, with fine tannin and a big finish, it’s a smoking Cabernet that will evolve nicely for 15 to 20 years. –Jeb Dunnuck, The Wine Advocate
2011 Cayuse Syrah Armanda Vineyard 3 liter Walla Walla Valley (Etched and Signed bottle)
Price: $3500.00 Sale $3080.00
98 Points. ...Spectacular, and one of the highlights of this tasting, bursting from the glass with aromas of dark chocolate, smoked duck, blackberries, licorice, cassis, burning embers, tapenade and cracked black pepper. On the palate, it's full-bodied, layered and mouthwateringly savory, with cool fruit tones, a lovely underlying line of acidity and plenty of youthful energy, concluding with a refined but gently tannic finish... this compelling wine that screams Syrah and Walla Walla—but also more than nods to the Northern Rhône. —William Kelley, The Wine Advocate
2011 Cayuse Vineyards God Only Knows Armada Vineyard Grenache Walla Walla Valley
Price: $3500.00 Sale $3080.00
96 Points…The 2011 Grenache God Only Knows is shockingly good in the vintage. Sporting a big, masculine profile, with notions of lite gunpowder, ground pepper, herbs and wild strawberry and blackberry fruit, it flows onto the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a full, rich mid-palate and a healthy dose of tannin that will require short-term cellaring to integrate. (JD) Review Date: 06/2014, Wine Advocate
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