Willamette Valley: The Dundee Hills AVA (Chad Stock)

What is the Dundee Hills AVA in Oregon? Winemaker Chad Stock explains the nature of the volcanic soils in one of Oregon’s American Viticultural Areas known for Pinot Noir, the ability to be dry farmed, and its even climate.

See all of our videos with Chad Stock of Limited Addition Wines here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLddUmDhg4G_Kg1oas7H6T8BISEMPcWoK_

Subscribe to Ask a Winemaker for hundreds more wine videos: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=askawinemaker

Have a question for a winemaker? Post it in the comments and we will try to answer it for you.

Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/askawinemaker?ref=hl

Ask your question on Twitter: www.twitter.com/askawinemaker @askawinemaker.

www.askawinemaker.com

Video Text:
Well, what I know about the Dundee Hills is that it is basically all volcanic. It’s incredibly consistent. There are patches of sedimentary soils. Some of the better vineyards up there…so I know Thomas, which is interesting which is a very high profile winery here, their whole vineyard in my understanding is actually sedimentary soils. So it’s in Dundee, but the you don’t have any of the volcanic, which makes for a unique expression of the site, which I think helps set that apart.

One of the things about volcanic soil, primarily is that the pH is really really low. It’s an acidic soil and oftentimes we hear, especially from major parts of Europe, you know, Kimmeridgean limestone and things like that, very basic soils are really conducive to higher acid retention and lower pH in the resulting fruit. Here we have, Ithnk on volcanic soils, a bit of a reversal of that, to where we see a little bit less acidity and higher pH. I feel like that results in some of the prettier textural elements of Dundee Hills wines. They tend to be less laser-like and more ethereal and lifted. And it’s great for dry farming up there because the soil is so uniform, and it’s deep, that you have great water retention so it’s great for organic farming and sustainable farming, but the less desirable sites have a tendency to be overly vigorous as a consequence of that, so you still have to find the right plot of land.