Echolands, 2019 Cabernet Franc, Walla Walla Valley, Washington, USA
Cab Franc du Jour #121
Echolands Winery was established in 2018 by Master of Wine and Master Sommelier Doug Frost and conservationist Brad Bergman. A Portland native, Doug has long been a champion for the wines of the Pacific Northwest and a particular advocate for Washington State Cabernet Franc. The project grew from a desire to showcase the range of terroirs across the Walla Walla Valley and bring greater attention to Cabernet Franc from the region and the diversity of expressions it is capable of producing. Doug, alongside winemaker Brian Rubin and vineyard managers Sadie Drury and Nick Mackay, currently works with about 9 acres of Cabernet Franc across three vineyard sites: Taggart Vineyard and Seven Hills Vineyard on the Oregon side of the AVA, and Blue Mountain Vineyard on the Washington side. Additional Cabernet Franc plantings are planned at a newly acquired site along Mill Creek, east of the town of Walla Walla. The 2019 Cabernet Franc from Blue Mountain Vineyard is the winery’s inaugural standalone bottling of the variety.
The Walla Walla Valley
The Walla Walla Valley AVA was established in 1984, making it the second oldest AVA in Washington State after the Yakima Valley. It is unusual in that its boundaries span two states, with roughly two-thirds of the area in Washington and one-third in Oregon, though the vineyard area is almost evenly split, with about 57% on the Washington side and 43% in Oregon. While red wines account for around 60% of production across Washington State as a whole, the Walla Walla Valley is even more red-focused, with 95% of vineyards planted to red varieties. Cabernet Sauvignon leads at 36% of plantings, followed by Syrah at 18%, with Cabernet Franc the fourth most planted red variety at around 7%. Given the diversity of microclimates across the region’s sub-zones, Cabernet Franc is showing genuine promise as a single-varietal wine in select pockets.
The Walla Walla Valley sits in the southeast corner of Washington and the northeast corner of Oregon at around 46 degrees north latitude, slightly north of Bordeaux and south of Burgundy. The climate is continental, with hot summers and cold winters. Like most of Washington’s wine regions, the Walla Walla Valley lies east of the Cascade Mountains, which create a rain shadow effect contributing to very low rainfall and abundant sunshine. The valley is generally one of the warmest and windiest regions in Washington, though considerable nuance exists within it.
The region is bounded to the east by the Blue Mountains, to the southwest by the Vansyckle Ridge, and to the north by the Palouse Hills. The majority of vineyards are dotted along a roughly 35km stretch running from southwest of the town of Milton-Freewater in Oregon, continuing northeast south of the town of Walla Walla and into the northeastern corner of the AVA. Vineyard elevations vary widely, from around 120m to over 600m above sea level, and with the Blue Mountains, the latitudinal range, and the varied terrain all playing a role, site selection for Cabernet Franc is particularly important given the variety’s preference for slightly cooler conditions and the elegance and finesse they support.
The valley can be broadly divided into two main growing environments. On the valley floor, at elevations of around 240 to 285m above sea level, days are generally warm while nights turn cold as cool air descends from the Blue Mountains, creating a wide diurnal range. Summer temperatures can reach 38C during the day and drop to 10 or 15C at night, which slows ripening and helps preserve acidity. The soils here are predominantly deep, silty loess overlying Missoula slackwater sediments, with two alluvial fans flanking the Walla Walla River and Mill Creek that carry very stony soils of basalt cobblestone gravels, most notably in the Rocks District, a separate AVA within the valley. These valley floor sites are planted mainly with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah.
At slightly higher elevations, in the foothills of the Blue Mountains to the east, the Vansyckle Ridge to the southwest, and the Palouse Hills to the north, vineyards typically sit between 310 and 480m above sea level. These foothill sites are cooler during the day but warmer at night, as cold air drains down to lower elevations, and the persistent winds help maintain warmer temperatures later into the season. Frost risk is lower in the foothills, and the combination of these factors produces a slightly cooler and longer growing season than the valley floor, along with marginally higher precipitation. Soils on the gentler slopes are a thick loess over basalt bedrock, while on steeper slopes and in canyons the loess thins and the basalt begins to influence the rooting zone more directly. In both cases the topsoil has a silt-loam texture with varying stoniness by site. These foothill areas, particularly on the gentler slopes, are where Cabernet Franc is showing its strongest potential in the Walla Walla Valley.
Blue Mountain Vineyard
The Blue Mountain Vineyard is emerging as one of the more important sites for Cabernet Franc in the region. The vineyard covers around 23 acres (9.5ha) in total, with Cabernet Franc representing just under a fifth of the plantings. Located east of the town of Walla Walla in the foothills of the Blue Mountains at an average elevation of around 360m above sea level, it is one of the coolest and latest-ripening sites in the valley. Doug works with 2 acres here, planted in 2011, on a north-facing block with deep silt-loam soils over basalt bedrock. Drip irrigation is installed, as is standard across most of the region given the low annual rainfall. The vineyard is farmed sustainably with organic practices, and yields are kept low at less than 2 tons per acre.
In the Cellar
Doug’s approach in the cellar adapts to the conditions of each vintage. In 2019, a cooler year, the grapes were hand-harvested, destemmed, and crushed before fermenting in stainless steel with ambient yeasts. The cooler vintage conditions called for a lighter touch with extraction, and the wine spent approximately 10 days on skins. Aging took place over about 16 months in a mix of French oak barriques and puncheons with approximately 20% new oak.
Wine Details
Producer: Echolands Winery
Region: Washington State, USA
AVA: Walla Valley Valley
Vineyard: Blue Mountain Vineyard
Soils: Deep loess (silty-loam texture) over basalt
Alcohol: 13.6%