Horsepower

From Cayuse vigneron Christophe Baron, Horsepower creates singular Grenache and Syrah wines from high-density Walla Walla vineyards tilled by Belgian and Percheron draft horses. 

Like Cayuse, the Horsepower vineyards are planted in Walla Walla's deep stone soils in the ancient alluvial fan of the Blue Mountains. It was these soils that originally drew Baron to Walla Walla in 1996, as they reminded him of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and with Cayuse, he became the first to plant vines there. Walla Walla’s stone soils are extraordinarily deep—hundreds of feet—and produce a concentrated, mineral character. 

 Since inception in 2011, Horsepower is Baron’s homage to ancient and artisanal farming methods including cultivation by draft horses, a practice his family used in their Champagne vineyards until 1957. Recently, the greatest domains in France have reintroduced draft horses and Christophe continues to further these techniques in the vineyards at Horsepower, the first to do so in the Walla Walla Valley, and possibly North America.

Horsepower also features high-density vine rows spaced at 3’-3.5’ apart, among the highest density in North America; all farming is biodynamic.   

The wines live up to their name—they are intense, bold and sophisticated with ultra-smooth tannins and a sleek style. One might be surprised that the alcohol is at most 14.1 percent, yet the better explanation for their prodigious style is vine density, biodynamic farming, and of course, the stony soils.  The Horsepower wines are offered in the Spring; they come in three packs.