Salida’s fruit is sourced from the Yakima Valley. The inland desert climate is ideal for growing vinifera with warm summer days in the upper 80’s to low 90’s, cool nights, and often an extended, moderate fall. All of the vineyards are situated on sloping hillsides providing good air drainage.
The well-drained soils are a mixture of volcanic basalt uplift that provides complex minerality, coupled with glacial, fluvial sediment brought to the region about 16,000 years ago. A surface layer of silt loam provides a third element, generally averaging as shallow as six inches to a depth of 30 inches. Combined, these features offer excellent soils for growing wine grapes.
The vineyards from where we source our fruit encompass nearly the entire length of the Yakima Valley with Two Coyote situated on the western end, Dutchman fairly central, and Olsen at the extreme eastern end
TWO COYOTE
The Two Coyote vineyard is our primary source of Tempranillo. It’s located on the northern flank of the Yakima Valley northwest Zillah at an elevation of about 1,000 feet. There, we work with two clones of the grape as well as a small amount of Malbec. Soils are comprised of silt loam formed on loess over a limestone and silica durapan.
In the spring of 2009 we planted Graciano, a rare grape originating in the vineyards of Spain’s Rioja region. It’s primarily used as a blending component to enhance the color and structure of Tempranillo. As a stand-alone wine, it has good potential with deep color and a spicy, rich character. We’ll have our first harvest of Graciano in the fall of 2012.
DUTCHMAN
In the fall of 2010, we were very fortunate to have been offered Albarino, one of the two leading white grapes of Spain. This addition gives the Salida brand greater breath in our developing portfolio by including a white wine. Albarino thrives well at this location in the hills north of Grandview, with soils very similar to that of the Two Coyote vineyard. Beginning in the 2011 vintage, we’ve expanded to one acre, so there will be a good representation to come of this intense wine.
OLSEN
New to the Salida brand in 2011, the vines at the Olsen Vineyard are some of the most meticulously cared for we’ve ever seen. The vineyard is located at the far eastern end of the Yakima Valley, northeast of Prosser with the highest elevation of the three. Here, we source both Grenache and Mourvedre (or Monastrell as the Spanish name). Both varietals, being late ripening, have a great advantage at the Olsen property with elevations ranging between 1,200 and 1,300 feet, providing frost- free protection into late November. We hope to add Olsen Grenache Blanc to the line-up in 2012 as the vines will bear their first crop at that time.
