Red Willow is a high elevation vineyard. The building at the bottom of the vineyard that we came from sits at 1100 feet. The top of the Marcoux block which is the furthest north block is at around 1300 feet. The Missoula Floods, washed into about one-third of the way up this hill. You can see the ancient soils that remain above where the floodwaters came through. The strata layers are different. You also find pumice here from the volcanos of the Ancient Cascade Mountains. This is like the lightweight stone that you often see for removing callouses, which is a direct projectile out of the volcanos. You also find compressed ash. Each of these soils tie back to a major geological event. We are looking at millions of years of geologic history in front of us.
The whole region is an uplift, that gives this region all these east/west ridges. Most of the world ends up with North/South Ridges. The Peninsula Hill was a unique fold that came out of the Anhtanum Ridge that sits North of the Vineyard. I ponder for a moment, visualizing this hill as an island in the Missoula flood.
Jonathan discusses how they are really farming to showcase the soil, looking for an active biological soil and trying to do things minimally.
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