Jory: The Red Volcanic Soil Beneath Your Wheels
Near Dundee, Oregon
The magic of Dundee wine begins underground, in a soil called Jory. More than fourteen million years ago, enormous floods of lava poured across this part of the Pacific Northwest, part of a vast eruption known as the Columbia River Basalt. Over millions of years that dark volcanic rock weathered in place into a deep, crumbly, iron-rich clay loam, stained the rusty red that gives these slopes their nickname, the Red Hills.
Jory soil runs four to six feet deep on the upper hillsides, drains beautifully, and holds just enough water to carry grapevines through Oregon's dry late summers without drowning their roots. Winemakers believe the iron and the volcanic minerals give Dundee Hills Pinot Noir its signature, bright red fruit, an earthy, almost truffle-like depth, silky tannins, and a spicy edge. Jory is so important to Oregon that in twenty eleven the state made it the official state soil.
It is a strange thought, that ancient volcanoes, erupting long before any human walked here, laid down the exact recipe that would one day make this ground worth a fortune in wine.
